That @ symbol

[James Smith]

--- dcoles <dcoles at HOME.COM> wrote:
> I learned as a kid to read "3 packages @ $1 = $3,"
> which was spoken as follows:
> "three packages at one dollar each equals three
> dollars."
> So the @ symbol included both "at" and "each" in its
> meaning - otherwise, it would have been spoken,
> "three packages at one dollar equals three dollars."
>
> My question is, is there such a thing as a 'phrasal'
> symbol? I've always just called @ the at/each thing.
> Also, to Jennifer Lyons - I'm with you on the
> "approximately" or "about" peeve!
> Cheers,
> Devon Coles
>
Recollection of seemingly inconsequencial events in my
remote past are rarely clear, but I believe I learned
the use of @ to mean "approximately" before I learned
it also could be used for "at".  As a youth, I deduced
from its usage that @ was an "a" inside a "c", an
abbreviation for "circa", which I understood to mean
"about" or "approximately".



=====
James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
SLC, UT                        |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.

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