# @
**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:** 2
### Author:  [@EVO95](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EVO95)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/21 "2002-04-12T14:41:55Z")
OK, now does everybody know where Peoria’s @?
---
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/22 "2002-04-12T14:53:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by EVO95 \*
> \*\*OK, now does everybody know where Peoria’s @? \*\*
Yessir!
Thankyousir!
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### Author:  [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/23 "2002-04-12T15:18:23Z")
FWIW, I recall being told as a kid and later in a typesetting class that “@” was properly called “at-each”. Supposedly, this is because it’s an “a” inside an “e” (both lower case).
BTW, fifty cents for one banana is outrageous, especailly if you’re talking about the old days when @ was devised. Maybe bananas cost fifty cents (or however many equivalent yen) each in Japan, but not anywhere in the US that I have ever been. …Although I haven’t been to Sutton Place Gourmet lately. 🙂
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/24 "2002-04-12T15:22:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by JCHeckler \*
> \*\* fifty cents for one banana is outrageous \*\*
Living up to the screen name, aren’t we?
Well, what about a bannana fammine, hunh?
What about that, Mr. Smarty Pants?
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### Author:  [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/25 "2002-04-12T16:43:27Z")
Does anyone else think that it’s really bizarre for this symbol to have evolved? I mean, it takes about as long to write as “at” in cursive, so I don’t really see how good of an abbreviation it is.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/26 "2002-04-12T16:55:26Z")
It takes up less space on signage and in a fixed-width font, so from the standpoint of making signs and printing out things like receipts, I’d say it’s pretty sensible.
And I’m kind of sad that no one like my _New York, New York_ allusion.
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### Author:  [@smaft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smaft)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/27 "2002-04-12T17:23:23Z")
Just for trivial mind-filling and boring party conversation, you’ll find more info than you ever wanted to know about @ in various languages, cultures, etc., [here](http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/7/7-968.html).
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/28 "2002-04-12T17:30:56Z")
I believe in Spanish countries the @ stood for “arroba” which was a commercial unit of weight or volume or something but then the decimal metric system was invented and took all the fun out of the measuring systems.
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### Author:  [@Briminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briminator)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/29 "2002-04-22T18:39:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> fifty cents for one banana is outrageous
Ummmm…the signs says bananas 5@ .50 cents, I would take that to mean 5 bananas for .50 cents so it would be .10 cents for 1 banana. Which is not to bad…if you liked bananas.
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### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/30 "2002-04-22T18:56:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Briminator \*
> \*\*
> Ummmm…the signs says bananas 5@ .50 cents, I would take that to mean 5 bananas for .50 cents so it would be .10 cents for 1 banana. Which is not to bad…if you liked bananas. \*\*
No. 5 bananas at 50 cents apiece. Fifty cents per banana.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/31 "2002-04-22T19:05:57Z")
No, the purpose of the @ in receipts is to mean “each”, so “bananas 5 @ $0.50” means “Five bananas, each one of which cost a buck, for a total of two-fifty”.
Of course, bananas @ .50 cents would be an exceptionally good deal, as that’s half a cent per banana.
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### Author:  [@Briminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briminator)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/32 "2002-04-22T19:25:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> ```
> No. 5 bananas at 50 cents apiece. Fifty cents per banana.
>
> ```
Look that is just silly, what if you wanted to buy 4 bananas? The grocer wouldn’t sell you 4 bananas? Why not just put up a sign saying “Bananas .50 cents” or even "1 banana @ .50 cents.
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### Author:  [@jmalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmalin)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/33 "2002-04-22T19:57:27Z")
\>It’s actually in Mississippi, Colorado, Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, \>Texas, Iowa, Oregon, New York, and Illinois
Sounds more like Mobile, Alabama…
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### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/34 "2002-04-22T20:05:16Z")
**Briminator** , the grocer will sell you as many damn bananas as you want, each @ 50 cents. The 5 @ $.50 is what the grocer would write IN HIS LEDGER so he knows what he sold you, how much it cost and how much you owe him.
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/35 "2002-04-22T21:22:46Z")
Lotus does indeed still use the @ symbol to identify functions. At least, as of their 1999 version, I don’t expect them to change it any time soon.
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### Author:  [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/36 "2002-04-22T21:50:48Z")
Just for the record, Peoria, Illinois, is the first place i’ve found on the drive up to the Quad Cities from St. Louis that carries Kitchen Cooked Potato Chips, the best potato chips that ever lived. Now that i live in California, i can order them at [http://kitchencooked.net](http://kitchencooked.net)
i just know you all cared…
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### Author:  [@robertwa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertwa)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/37 "2002-04-22T22:12:42Z")
**Tars** ,
Those chips better be damn good for the price. $18.64 for 6 6oz. packages?!?
Or, to follow the topic, 6 @ $3.10!
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### Author:  [@Theobroma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theobroma)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/38 "2002-04-22T22:17:50Z")
Hey, there’s a Peoria in Arizona, too! I think we have a poster around here somewhere from Peoria, AZ…
They also sell bananas in Peoria, @ about $1.29 a pound.
“Banana Famine”–BAND NAME!
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### Author:  [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/39 "2002-04-22T22:20:29Z")
Here they have an 8 pack of 13.25 oz for $34.02, or 8 @ 4.25
[http://www.kitchencooked.net/catalog/product\_info.php?cPath=2&products\_id=2&PHPSESSID=77b86949db038ef52f52bd88f8ab68b7](http://www.kitchencooked.net/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=2&PHPSESSID=77b86949db038ef52f52bd88f8ab68b7)
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t//103107/40 "2002-04-22T22:25:07Z")
scr4 wrote:
> [@](#):
>
> …unless the OP is using some foreign keyboard. The @ symbol is a single keystroke on Japanese keyboards, right next to the P.
Now only that, but on the old TRS-80, there was an entire key JUST devoted to the @ sign.
And this was before domain-style e-mail addresses. In fact, if you got the low-end TRS-80 with Level I BASIC, the @ sign was totally useless for _anything!_ Yet they had a whole key devoted exclusively to it. Ah, the mysterious workings of Radio Shack.
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