# Why can't I cut and paste the "not equal" sign into this forum? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 22, 2005, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877 "2005-09-22T13:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877/1 "2005-09-22T13:49:43Z")
Whenever people want to say that something is not equal to another thing, they uses the mathematical symbol of an equals sign with a forward slash over it. This is often written out as /=, since people know that some symbols don’t work everywhere. However, it would be nice if I could actually cut and paste the actual symbol, just as I do with foreign characters , such as スコットランド (Scotland) So, why the difference? Why foreign words, and symbols, but no “Does not equal” sign? [؟؟٦܍ܞܻ܏♰, (Hi, Loopydude!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=336190) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877/2 "2005-09-22T13:53:28Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#): > > Whenever people want to say that something is not equal to another thing, they uses the mathematical symbol of an equals sign with a forward slash over it. I use this: \<\> Another option: != Another option: not equal Here’s your del tag with an equal sign: [del]=[/del] ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877/3 "2005-09-22T13:59:44Z")
[symbol]¹[/symbol] For any kind of technical notation, it’s a lot easier to use the symbol font than unicode. Plus, you get the bonus of most people actually seeing what you mean. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877/4 "2005-09-22T14:02:25Z")
Some mathematical symbols via Unicode: ≠ Not Equal ≈ Squiggly Equal ≡ Identical ≤≥ LToET, GToET ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877/5 "2005-09-22T14:07:22Z")
Fun with Wingdings: ü Check Mark û “X” Mark I Hi!! ABC Peace! OK! Thumbs up! ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877/6 "2005-09-22T14:09:12Z")
I could’ve sworn that used to work. ABC ABC ABC Nope, guess not. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877/7 "2005-09-22T14:11:02Z")
D’oh! :smack: Forgot. It’s a Firefox thing. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877/8 "2005-09-22T14:18:37Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > [symbol]¹[/symbol] > > For any kind of technical notation, it’s a lot easier to use the symbol font than unicode. Plus, you get the bonus of most people actually seeing what you mean. I see. However, I used symbol, and it still didn’t transfer. However, I cut and pasted **Ponder** ’s ≠ and it DID work. Odd. Ah well, thank you guys. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877/9 "2005-09-22T14:21:56Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#): > > … just as I do with foreign characters , such as スコットランド FYI, that comes up for me as “???” (row of question marks), so it may not be as universal as you think. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877/10 "2005-09-22T14:28:06Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > FYI, that comes up for me as “???” (row of question marks), so it may not be as universal as you think. Odd. To me, your row of question marks come up “[Q33NY](http://www.snopes.com/rumors/wingding.htm)” 🙂 But really, I think it depends on what fonts are installed on your machine. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877/11 "2005-09-22T14:39:42Z")
It’s annoying to me that I can’t simply type the ? symbol. That’s the classic not-equals symbol you referred to, created by holding down the Option key and typing the equals sign. ???. \<-- Ten of them. Looks fine in the Quick Reply box but when I post it’s going to strip them out or replace them with question marks or something :mad: ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877/12 "2005-09-22T14:41:20Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#): > > I see. However, I used symbol, and it still didn’t transfer. However, I cut and pasted **Ponder** ’s ≠ and it DID work. Odd. Are you on Windows 95/98/ME? Could have something to do with that. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-cut-and-paste-the-not-equal-sign-into-this-forum/322877/13 "2005-09-22T14:45:38Z")
No, I don’t have an option key, nor am I using Windows 98. I am posting from a dumb terminal running XP.