# What was @ used for before e-mail?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-used-for-before-e-mail/314955>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 31, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-used-for-before-e-mail/314955 "2005-07-31T01:37:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-used-for-before-e-mail/314955/21 "2005-08-01T20:07:30Z")

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> [@Chairman Pow](#):
>
> It’s actually the first word of “et cetera.” The reason it looks different in different typefaces is a matter of style and convention.

\<&\> doesn’t mean “et cetera”, it just means “et”, Latin for ‘and’. It comes from a highly stylized combination of the letters \<Et\>, and the Trebuchet font makes its heritage a little clearer than most other typefaces do.

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**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:** [August 1, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-used-for-before-e-mail/314955/22 "2005-08-01T20:20:36Z")

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Here’s an interesting [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign) on the subject. Can’t attest to all of it, but it’s an interesting read.

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