English speakers call it "the at sign", which is fine for its place in an email address. In Danish it is "the elephant's trunk". In Chinese it is "the little mouse". In Russian it is "the little dog" and in Swedish it is "the cat's foot". The Dutch call it "the monkey's tail". French, Italian, Hebrew and Korean use "snail". Take your pick!
(M3Essentialand The Essentials. LIVE!,
Tue 25 Oct 2005, 20:09,
archived)
Dear Pedant: I would like to know the origin of the words: core, cals, swetener, sugar people,
flaking, flake, beefed up, a la george, c moon, absobloodylutely, IMHO.
(M3Essentialand The Essentials. LIVE!,
Tue 25 Oct 2005, 20:13,
archived)
you seem to have mistaken my
punctuation pedantry as indication of etymological expertise. This putative expertise is non-existant, though the interest is there. I have a book on etymology. I could consult it, but I reckon that the interweb would prove more fruitful.