# @
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/103107
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 11, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/103107 "2002-04-11T20:59:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Supersaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Supersaurus)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/1 "2002-04-11T20:59:00Z")
What’s the story behind the invention of the “@” character, and what was it used for before e-mail was invented?
---
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2002, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/2 "2002-04-11T21:07:49Z")
Invented by a grocer in Peoria, Wisconsin, the ampersand allowed him to list prices as “Bannanas 5@ .50” instead of “You bought five bannanas at fifty cents each.”
Where is Peoria, anyway?
😉
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/3 "2002-04-11T21:12:57Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \*
> the ampersand
I won’t dispute any of your story except this part. _@_ is not the ampersand. The ampersand is _&_.
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### Author:  [@Jpeg\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jpeg_Jones)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2002, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/4 "2002-04-11T21:15:56Z")
Also, what’s a **bannana**?
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2002, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/5 "2002-04-11T21:18:03Z")
Hey, no fair.
I asked first, “Where is Peoria?”
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2002, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/6 "2002-04-11T21:28:35Z")
Awright, dammit, it’s an “at sign”, “at mark” or “commercial A”.
[http://www.hut.fi/~dzhao/glossarysign.html](http://www.hut.fi/~dzhao/glossarysign.html)
Now, where the hell is Peoria?
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### Author:  [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2002, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/7 "2002-04-11T21:49:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \*
> \*\*Now, where the hell is Peoria? \*\*
[Illinois](http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?Pyt=Tmap&addr=&city=Peoria&state=IL&slt=40.692665&sln=-89.590492&name=&zip=&country=us&&BFKey=&BFCat=&BFClient=&mag=5&desc=&cs=8&newmag=6&poititle=&poi=&ds=g).
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### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2002, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/8 "2002-04-11T21:57:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \*
> \*\*Now, where the hell is Peoria? \*\*
Well, you _said_ it was in Wisconsin…
It’s actually in Mississippi, Colorado, Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Oregon, New York, and Illinois.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2002, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/9 "2002-04-11T22:51:49Z")
That’s a hell of a town.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/10 "2002-04-12T00:34:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by racinchikki \*
> \*\*
> Well, you _said_ it was in Wisconsin…
> \*\*
And you believe everything you read in the web?
Thanks, Finch, Nice to know that **some** posters are helpful here.
:rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/11 "2002-04-12T00:38:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \*
> \*\*
>
> And you believe everything you read in the web?
>
> Thanks, Finch, Nice to know that **some** posters are helpful here.
> :rolleyes: \*\*
What, I’m not helpful? There is, indeed, a city called Peoria in each and every one of the states I listed.
However, most people mean the one in Illinois.
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/12 "2002-04-12T02:10:15Z")
Peoria is in fact located in Wisconsin.
:DBut only if you’re reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally drunk!
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/13 "2002-04-12T02:31:30Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by pkbites \*
> \*\*
> :DBut only if you’re reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally drunk! \*\*
So, what about the bannana?
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### Author:  [@Trucido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trucido)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/14 "2002-04-12T02:48:36Z")
Try [here](http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,24139,00.html). It’s more a search for the name of the sign than a true history, but what it does have is interesting and relevant, much unlike the previous posts.
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### Author:  [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/15 "2002-04-12T07:25:10Z")
Was this the shortest, coolest thread title ever?
I guessed exactly what the thread was about just from that one keystroke.
Congrats to **Supersaurus** on a sterling effort to cut down on the bandwidth-clutter on today’s crowded internet!
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/16 "2002-04-12T12:28:53Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by istara \*
> \*\*
> I guessed exactly what the thread was about just from that one keystroke.
> \*\*
Two key strokes. He held down the bananna. Er, Shift key.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/17 "2002-04-12T12:35:24Z")
…unless the OP is using some foreign keyboard. The @ symbol is a single keystroke on Japanese keyboards, right next to the P.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/18 "2002-04-12T12:44:46Z")
Well, dang!
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### Author:  [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/19 "2002-04-12T13:20:11Z")
Getting back to the OP, I should point out that some applications in the pre-Internet days made special use of the @ key. Lotus 1-2-3, for example, used the @ symbol for functions such as @SUM(A1…A10), whereas Excel uses the notation =SUM(A1:A10). I don’t know if more recent versions of Lotus still use this convention or not.
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### Author:  [@cybersnark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cybersnark)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/20 "2002-04-12T14:20:28Z")
As noted above, PEORIA is in Mississippi, Colorado, Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Oregon, New York, and Illinois.
As to the other question, BANNANA is in Hawaii:
[http://www.hawaiibid.com/annabannanas/](http://www.hawaiibid.com/annabannanas/)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/103107.md?page=2)