# Origin of @username in online conversations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-username-in-online-conversations/747209 "2016-02-26T15:52:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-username-in-online-conversations/747209/21 "2016-03-08T17:55:16Z")
Some forum software also hyperlinks these “@ mentions” of usernames automatically, and notifies the person that they have been mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-username-in-online-conversations/747209/22 "2016-03-08T20:13:37Z")
_What did the @ sign add that the usual written comma and space after an noun of address didn’t?_ In the days of IRC, there were often channels with tons of traffic and the scroll would be going by pretty fast. Not a problem if the conversation is between two people as you pretty much just ignore what other people are saying. People would use the @ symbol in front of your name to signify that they were jumping in. Not strictly necessary, as you say, but it helped, especially on a crowded channel and when you’re throwing out comments from the peanut gallery. ---
**Author:** ![AmanoJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AmanoJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmanoJ)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-username-in-online-conversations/747209/23 "2016-03-09T11:43:35Z")
Happened to catch this article recently and remembered this thread. So, for further reading on the @ symbol: > **[The Accidental History of the @ Symbol](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-accidental-history-of-the-symbol-18054936/)** > > Once a rarely used key on the typewriter, the graceful character has become the very symbol of modern electronic communication ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-username-in-online-conversations/747209/24 "2016-03-09T16:14:10Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > It’s an abbreviation (or, more correctly, ligature) of _at_. > [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Aaaaah! Thank you! > [@gnoitall](#): > > Wait what? You needed an explanation of the “at” ligature? > [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Eh. . . no. . . but thanks for playing. :dubious: Sounds like that was \*exactly \*what you needed an explanation for. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-username-in-online-conversations/747209/25 "2016-03-09T17:08:24Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > :dubious: Sounds like that was \*exactly \*what you needed an explanation for. Eh. . . no. . . The actual question in the GQ was > [@](#): > > What did the @ sign add that the usual written comma and space after an noun of address didn’t? And in the various responses, I think we have as close to the reasons as we’re likely to get. My response that you quoted was itself a response to a) an answer to a question that I was not asking, and b) something that in this day and age, I kinda think most people are hip to. Sarcasm often translates poorly in a printed/typed medium. But thanks for bringing this back up. [No sarcasm intended!] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-username-in-online-conversations/747209/26 "2016-03-10T02:46:44Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It turns out the symbol “@” that is fairly widely known in English as the “at symbol” or “at sign” and has done so for 150+ years, doesn’t have that connotation even a little bit in many (most?) European languages. > > IIRC the Germans just call it “monkeytail.” > > So with no connotation of _towards_, “@username” to mean “directed at username” is exactly as non-obvious and arbitrary a syntax as “$username” or “)username” would be to an English speaker. > > And with no connotation of \*location \*or \*membership \*“[BobJones@BigCorp.com](mailto:BobJones@BigCorp.com)” doesn’t obviously mean “the Bob Jones who works for BigCorp” any more than “BobJones! [BigCorp.com](http://BigCorp.com)” or “[BobJones^BigCorp.com](http://BobJones%5EBigCorp.com)” does. > > More and more non-English languages are picking up on the \*towards \*and \*membership \*connotations of “@”. But they didn’t have any such meaning as the internet and email first came into being and all this syntax was created of, by, and for Americans plus a few Brits. English didn’t used to have the “towards” sense for “@” either, though. English prepositions are fairly ideosyncratic, and while “@” meant “at” in the sense of “6 cwt. cement @ $2/cwt. = $12”, it didn’t use to mean “at” in the directional sense. Nobody would have addressed a note to “Oscar Wilde @ the Albemarle Club”, for instance. That was a computer-driven innovation in English as much as in every other language. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-username-in-online-conversations/747209.md?page=1)