The @ symbol

THE HISTORY OF THE @ SIGN

The @ symbol, used by grocers and accountants throughout the English-speaking world to indicate a rate, or cost per unit, as in “10 gal @ $3.95/gal” (ten gallons at three dollars and ninety-five cents per gallon), has become the delimiter in e-mail addresses, separating the user’s name from the domain name.

Although the change from at meaning “for a given amount per” to at meaning “in a specified (electronic) location” comes fairly naturally to English speakers, it does not for native speakers of other languages, for whom neither at nor @ meant anything until e-mail came around.

Indeed, a fair number of Internet users live in countries that don’t use the same alphabet English does (Japan, China, former republics of the Soviet Union including Russia, and Arabic-speaking countries, to name some major ones), and where the keyboards did not include the @ character until after its widespread use on the Internet made it a necessity.

As a result, while in some languages @ is simply called "at", in others, a wide variety of interesting nicknames have been developed for this little symbol. Most are based on the shape of the character, others are more abstract.

Metaphors range from
animals (snail, worm, little dog, horse, duckling)
to body parts (elephant’s trunk, monkey’s tail, cat’s foot, pig’s ear)
to food (strudel, cinnamon roll, pretzel).

Here you are another well-known examples:

In Basque, it is called "a bildua" (wrapped “a”).

In Catalan, it is called 'arrova' (which means a unit of measure), or 'ensaïmada' (because of the similar shape of this food speciality)

In Spanish and In Portuguese it is called 'arroba'. It denotes a pre-metric unit of weight and both the weight and the symbol are called arroba.

In French, it is arrobase or arrobe or “a” commercial . Same origin as Spanish, which could be derived from Arabic, ar-roub.

How do animals sound like?

Animal sounds

baa
verb to make the sound that a sheep makes
bark
verb to make the short loud sound that a dog makes
bay
verb if a dog bays, it makes a long loud sound, especially when it is hunting
bellow
verb to make the deep sound that a bull and some other large animals make
bleat
verb to make the sound that a sheep or goat makes
bray
verb to make the loud rough sound that a donkey makes
croak
verb when a frog croaks, it makes a low loud rough sound in its throat
grunt
verb if an animal such as a pig grunts, it makes a low sound
hiss
verb to make a long ‘s’ sound like the sound that a snake makes
howl
verb if a dog or similar animal howls, it makes a long loud sound
low
verb when cows low, they make their typical deep long sound
meow
the American spelling of miaow
mew
if a cat or kitten mews, it makes a short, very high sound
miaow
verb if a cat miaows, it makes a short high sound
moo
verb to make the long deep sound that a cow makes
neigh
verb to make the high loud sound that a horse makes
purr
verb if a cat purrs, it makes a continuous quiet low sound because it is happy
roar
verb if a lion roars, it makes a loud deep sound
snarl
verb if an animal such as a dog or a lion snarls, it makes an angry sound in its throat and shows its teeth
snicker
verb if a horse snickers, it makes a low quiet sound in its throat
trumpet
verb if an elephant trumpets, it makes a loud high sound
whine
verb if a dog whines, it makes a high noise, usually because it wants something
whinny
verb if a horse whinnies, it makes a high sound through its nose and mouth
yap
verb if a dog yaps, it makes short high sounds

That's curious!

Granny Smith is a variety of green apples. The name was taken from the Australian gardener Maria Ann Smith, also known as Granny Smith. She was the one who first grew the apple in Sydney in the 1860s.

Beefeater

This term originated in 1610, meaning a well-fed servant. Around the year 1700 it began to be used to refer to the traditional guards at the Tower of London. The meaning is quite clear as it's a reference to a servant spoiled by his master, in contrast to a "loaf eater" (a servant that eats only bread).

Bug

The word bug is used nowadays to refer to an error or defect that prevents a computer from working correctly. It is believed that Thomas Edison was the first to use it with this meaning, but there is also a more recent story. In 1945, Grace Hopper, a computer pioneer at the Naval Warfare Centre in Dahlgreen, Virginia, found an insect inside a malfunctioning machine. She didn't invent the term, but she used it in the logbooks, stating that a bug had been found.

Hot dog

The use of this word to mean sausage comes from the XIX century. Hot referred to the temperature of the sausage, of course. And dog may have been a reference to the alleged contents of the sausage. In 1845 there were many accusations against sausage makers of using dog meat to make the sausage (which was not true). The term became popular and was often used in newspapers, making it as common as it is today.

Offensive words for people according to nationality or ethnicity

 You should be very careful about using these offensive words .

black
noun   a black person. This word is sometimes considered offensive.

colored
the American spelling of coloured

coloured
noun   a black person

coolie
noun   an insulting word used in the past for a worker with no special skills in China, India, and other parts of Asia

dago
noun   an extremely offensive word for a person from Italy, Spain, Portugal, or South America

Eskimo
noun   a member of the Inuit people. This word is now sometimes considered offensive.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish, and unkind.
But then, ...