# what was the @ originally called?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 25, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964 "2008-01-25T15:46:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964/1 "2008-01-25T15:46:08Z")
The ubiquitous @ symbol, so necessary in e-mail, is called - by everyone I know, anyway, the “at” or “at symbol.” But it existed before E-mail became common. What did it used to be called?
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964/2 "2008-01-25T15:49:21Z")
As far as I know, it’s always been the at symbol. It was originally used to denote the price of things in invoices, etc., e.g., “7 items @ 35 cents = $2.45”.
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964/3 "2008-01-25T15:56:36Z")
If I recall correctly, in German it’s called a “Monkey’s ass.” Only in German.
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### Author:  [@wisernow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wisernow)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964/4 "2008-01-25T16:01:02Z")
The symbol @ means “at the rate of”.
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### Author:  [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964/5 "2008-01-25T16:01:27Z")
[QUOTE=Giles]
As far as I know, it’s always been the at symbol. It was originally used to denote the price of things in invoices, etc., e.g., “7 items @ 35 cents = $2.45”.
[/QUOTE]
Or more precisely, it used to stand for “at the rate of” in the context that Giles mentioned. Easily converted to email usage, of course.
[Linky](http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,24139,00.html)
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964/6 "2008-01-25T16:14:59Z")
I find it odd that as recently as 1990, Merriam-Webster had no definition for “at” referring to the sign, and I’m pretty sure that’s what I heard it called in my typing class in the late 1970s.
However it does include lesser known symbol names, such as the virgule and the obelus. But no “at.”
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964/7 "2008-01-25T16:16:24Z")
The funny thing is that the Indians I know still insist on pronouncing it as “at the rate of” – “My E-mail _I.D._ is _prem V at-the-rate-of gogo dot com_.” It’s kind of weird.
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964/8 "2008-01-25T16:23:43Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius]
If I recall correctly, in German it’s called a “Monkey’s ass.” Only in German.
[/QUOTE]
@ctually, it’s [Klammeraffe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%40#.22Commercial_at.22_in_other_languages) (meaning “spider monkey”)
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### Author:  [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964/9 "2008-01-25T17:55:15Z")
[We’ve been here before.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=320243&highlight=masterspace)
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### Author:  [@ignis\_glaciesque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignis_glaciesque)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964/10 "2008-01-25T18:30:20Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin]
@ctually, it’s [Klammeraffe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%40#.22Commercial_at.22_in_other_languages) (meaning “spider monkey”)
[/QUOTE]
Now that you brought it up, I think I’ll call it an _Affenarsch_ from now on, just to see the looks on my friends’ faces.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964/11 "2008-01-25T18:30:37Z")
In **the Demolished Man** , Alfred Bester imagines a future in which such symbols are used to spell out parts of names. The name “Atkinson” was written as “@kinson” in that novel, so obviously people knew and used the symbol as “at”. It came out in about 1954, IIRC.
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### Author:  [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964/12 "2008-01-25T20:37:04Z")
[QUOTE=Bewildebeest]
[We’ve been here before.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=320243&highlight=masterspace)
[/QUOTE]
_I have always been here before._
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-originally-called/434964/13 "2008-01-28T15:59:50Z")
One more thought: The Merriam-Webster dictionary that I bought last year has a separate entry for “at sign” (my 1990 version did not) and shows 1982 as the year first attested. Obviously, the term was in use before then, but that’s apparently the first time it showed up in print.