Given the barrage of emails we send and receive every day, itâs a wonder there is no official name for â@â â what we refer to as the âat symbolâ or “at sign.”
In other languages, it takes on an animalistic nature. In Polish, it is maÅpa, or âmonkey.â
In German, itâs klammeraffe or âclinging monkey,â while in Dutch itâs more entertaining: apenstaartje, or âmonkeyâs tail.â
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The Finns and Swedes see it as a cat curled up in its own tail. In Swedish, thatâs kattsvans and in Finnish, there are at least three names for this: kissanhäntä (âcat tailâ), miaumerkki (âmeow signâ) and miukumauku (something like âmeow meow,â roughly translated).
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
In French, Korean, Indonesian, Hebrew and Italian, itâs a snail. In Turkish and Arabic, itâs an ear. In Czech, pickled herring; in Greek, a duckling and in Turkish, a rose. In Hungarian, youâre typing the symbol for a worm or maggot and in Russian, a little dog.
Illustrations by David Doran.
