# Usage of "&" to mean "and" disappeared. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2004, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-to-mean-and-disappeared-why/225446 "2004-01-21T11:15:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-to-mean-and-disappeared-why/225446/21 "2004-01-22T07:35:39Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > The ampersand as displayed on this Message Board appears as & - which is a somewhat uncommon style (at least to me). Of course, to me what you wrote here appears almost exactly like it does on my keyboard, and not at all like Trebuchet. I think font settings might have something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-to-mean-and-disappeared-why/225446/22 "2004-01-22T07:56:40Z")
Art Barber says, “However, one thing has always puzzled me. Writers back then used the character “&” to mean “and”. Howcum? And howcum this usage died out? I mean, you might use it in, say, a company name like “Smith & Jones”, but big-time usage has died out…You never see “We went to the movies & had a nice time”. What’s up with that?” I’d just like to point out that the grammatically correct usage of the ‘&’ is for titles only. Thus, ‘Smith & Jones Office Supply’ would be correct but ‘We went to the movies & had a nice time’ is not. When used in a sentence, one should always use ‘and’. 'Smith and Jones went to the movies and had a nice time" is also correct. ::So ends Tikki’s little lesson of the day:: ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-to-mean-and-disappeared-why/225446/23 "2004-01-22T09:13:57Z")
Open your nearest newspaper to the classified section and you’ll see hundreds, if not thousands of ampersands. They’re useful when you’re being charged $42 per line for a Help Wanted ad. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-to-mean-and-disappeared-why/225446/24 "2004-01-22T11:55:12Z")
> [@](#): > > the grammatically correct usage of the ‘&’ is for titles only I suspect that you meant _stylistically correct_ rather than _grammatically correct_, (which was, in fact, the point of the OP). 200 years ago we find a significant number of publications and (formal) handwritten documents that employed the ampersand and other abbreviations and ligatures. Now we do not find them in formal texts. The _grammar_ has not changed, only the accepted style of presentation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-to-mean-and-disappeared-why/225446.md?page=1)