How Do You Pronounce?

How does one pronounce the ‘@’ symbol?

To the best of my knowledge, one may either pronounce it as ‘at’ and/or ‘at the rate of’. The former is commonly used by Westerners. Indians tend to use the latter version. Few also refer to it as ‘the at symbol’.

What is the@ symbol called?

What is an at sign? – On the Internet, @ (pronounced “at” or “at sign” or “address sign”) is the symbol in an E-mail address that separates the name of the user from the user’s Internet address, as in this hypothetical e-mail address example:, In business, @ is a symbol meaning “at” or “each.” For example, it means “each” in “4 apples @ $.35 = $1.40.” Perhaps because it was one of the standard characters designed into typewriters (usually with the upper shift key pressed), the @ was chosen for inclusion as one of the special characters in the ASCII set of characters that became standard for computer keyboards, programs, and online message transmission.

How do you read ‘#’ in English?

Names – Number sign ‘Number sign’ is the name chosen by the Unicode consortium, Most common in Canada and the northeastern United States. American telephone equipment companies which serve Canadian callers often have an option in their programming to denote Canadian English, which in turn instructs the system to say number sign to callers instead of pound,

Pound sign or pound ‘Pound sign’ or ‘pound’ are the most common names used in the United States, where the ‘#’ key on a phone is commonly referred to as the pound key or simply pound, Dialing instructions to an extension such as #77, for example, can be read as “pound seven seven”. This name is rarely used outside the United States, where the term pound sign is understood to mean the currency symbol £,

Hash, hash mark, hashmark In the United Kingdom, Australia, and some other countries, it is generally called a ‘hash’ (probably from ‘hatch’, referring to cross- hatching ). Programmers also use this term; for instance #! is “hash, bang” or “shebang”,

1. Hashtag Derived from the previous, the word ‘hashtag’ is often used when reading social media messages aloud, indicating the start of a hashtag.
2. For instance, the text “#foo” is often read out loud as “hashtag foo” (as opposed to “hash foo”).
3. This leads to the common belief that the symbol itself is called hashtag,

Twitter documentation refers to it as “the hashtag symbol”. Hex ‘Hex’ is commonly used in Singapore and Malaysia, as spoken by many recorded telephone directory-assistance menus: “Please enter your phone number followed by the ‘hex’ key”. The term ‘hex’ is discouraged in Singapore in favour of ‘hash’.

In Singapore, a hash is also called ‘hex’ in apartment addresses, where it precedes the floor number. Octothorp, octothorpe, octathorp, octatherp Most scholars believe the word was invented by workers at the Bell Telephone Laboratories by 1968, who needed a word for the symbol on the telephone keypad,

Don MacPherson is said to have created the word by combining octo and the last name of Jim Thorpe, an Olympic medalist. Howard Eby and Lauren Asplund claim to have invented the word as a joke in 1964, combining octo with the syllable therp which, because of the “th” digraph, was hard to pronounce in different languages.

The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories, 1991, has a long article that is consistent with Doug Kerr’s essay, which says “octotherp” was the original spelling, and that the word arose in the 1960s among telephone engineers as a joke. Other hypotheses for the origin of the word include the last name of James Oglethorpe or using the Old English word for village, thorp, because the symbol looks like a village surrounded by eight fields.

The word was popularized within and outside Bell Labs. The first appearance of “octothorp” in a US patent is in a 1973 filing. This patent also refers to the six-pointed asterisk (✻) used on telephone buttons as a ” sextile “. Sharp Use of the name ‘sharp’ is due to the symbol’s resemblance to U+266F ♯ MUSIC SHARP SIGN,

• The same derivation is seen in the name of the Microsoft programming languages C#, J# and F#,
• Microsoft says, “It’s not the ‘hash’ (or pound) symbol as most people believe.
• It’s actually supposed to be the musical sharp symbol.
• However, because the sharp symbol is not present on the standard keyboard, it’s easier to type the hash symbol (#).

The name of the language is, of course, pronounced ‘see sharp’.” According to the ECMA-334 C# Language Specification, section 6, Acronyms and abbreviations, the name of the language is written “C#” (“LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C (U+0043) followed by the NUMBER SIGN # (U+0023)”) and pronounced “C Sharp”. Detail of a telephone keypad displaying the Viewdata square On telephones, the International Telecommunication Union specification ITU-T E.161 3.2.2 states: “The symbol may be referred to as the square or the most commonly used equivalent term in other languages.” Formally, this is not a number sign but rather another character, U+2317 ⌗ VIEWDATA SQUARE,

Do the British say hello or hi?

Top ways Brits greet each other – from ‘hi’ to ‘hiya’ and ‘hello’ now outdated Physical greetings are changing too, as nearly half shake hands less than they used to – instead opting for a hug or a fist bump Westfield London has welcomed flamboyant TikTok star Troy Hawke as its first ever ‘professional greeter’

• Brits are more likely to greet each other with a breezy “Hi” or “Hiya” – than the more formal “Hello”, a study has found.
• A poll of 2,000 Brits found almost half (47%) feel that saying “Hello” when you meet someone has become boring and outdated – having been popularised by Thomas Edison back in 1877.
• The most popular greetings used in daily life today are instead a casual “Hi”, by 52% of adults, or a cheery “Hiya”, favoured by 39%.
• But the word “Hi” actually predates “Hello”, originating from the Middle English “Hy” – similar to “hey” in today’s language, which is also a common greeting for nearly three in ten (28%).

Other less stilted greetings Brits like to welcome each other with include the rhetorical “Alright?” (33%) or “You ok?” (24%) – while nearly one in ten (8%) use the trendy “Yo!”. Nearly half of Brits say they now shake hands less than they used to – opting for a hug or fist bump instead ( Cover Images)

2. The study was commissioned by to launch its campaign with flamboyant TikTok star and Greeters Guild founder, Troy Hawke, who has become the shopping mall’s first “professional greeter”.
3. And the research also revealed that not only are greetings becoming more casual in day to day life, but they are also becoming more acceptable in corporate settings than ever before.
4. More than a third (39%) of those polled insist that “Hi” and “Hiya” are appropriate acknowledgements at work, even in emails.
5. And it seems that physical greetings are changing, too – with nearly half of Brits (48%) admitting they’re shaking hands far less than they used to a few years ago.
6. Instead, 36% say that a simple nod can do the job, while nearly a third (31%) opt for a hug when greeting friends, and 28% go in for a fist bump.
7. More than one in ten (13%) keep things European with a kiss on the cheek, while 12% like to high five, and 12% use an elbow bump.
8. However, over a fifth of Brits (22%) have been left red-faced when it comes to physical greetings like this, feeling unsure how to respond properly, and even leaving the other person hanging.
9. Meanwhile, 18% have their own secret handshake which they do exclusively with close family and friends.
10. Katie Wyle, General Manager at Westfield London, said: “A personalised greeting can change how we feel about a person, place, and ourselves.
11. “Following our research, we are delighted to welcome Troy Hawke as our first ever professional greeter to complement our dedicated Guest Services team, and enhance the warm, traditional welcome we like to provide to all visitors to our centre.”
12. The research suggests that the English language and physical ways to greet each other are constantly evolving, with 46% believing that how we interact with each other is forever changing.

When it comes to the modern shopping experience, 37% admit that, despite using casual ways to interact with one another in other situations, they would be left feeling uncomfortable if the shop assistant at the till used an informal greeting with them, like a fist bump or a casual “What’s up?”.

• In fact, 45% would deem it completely unprofessional, while more than a third (34%) would be left feeling awkward and confused.
• And while a quarter like to be greeted by a shop assistant when they go into a store, 59% feel disgruntled if they try to make small talk with them – with one in seven (14%) confessing to finding it incredibly frustrating.
• THE GREETINGS BEING USED TODAY IN PLACE OF “HELLO”, ACCORDING TO BRITS:

1. Hi – 52%
2. Hiya – 39%
3. Alright? – 33%
4. Hey – 28%
5. You ok? – 24%
6. What’s up? – 12%
7. Long time no see – 12%
8. Good day – 9%
9. Ok? – 9%
10. Yo! – 8%

You can find this story in Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. : Top ways Brits greet each other – from ‘hi’ to ‘hiya’ and ‘hello’ now outdated

Is it GIF or jif?

Incidents – The White House ‘s account on Tumblr posted a humorous infographic indicating that GIF was to be pronounced with a hard g, In May 2013, Wilhite was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the annual Webby Awards honoring excellence on the Internet.

• Upon accepting the award at the ceremony, Wilhite displayed a five-word slide that simply read, in all caps : “It’s pronounced ‘jif’ not ‘gif ‘ “.
• Here, jif refers to the soft g pronunciation.
• Following the speech, Wilhite told The New York Times : “The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations.

They are wrong. It is a soft g, End of story.” The audience attending the ceremony reacted positively to the short speech, but it generated controversy online, with some commentators pushing back against Wilhite’s pronunciation. Van der Meulen remarked that this “seems to be the first ever coiner of a word (or acronym, to be more specific) who gave usage advice about his own creation”.

More than 17,000 tweets were made in the aftermath of the speech, making “GIF” a trending topic, and more than 50 news articles were written on the incident. The Columbia Journalism Review remarked three years later that the debate seemed to peak with this incident. The peanut butter company Jif responded to a tweet asking how they were feeling following the speech, commenting, “We’re nuts about him today.” Seven years later, Jif performed a publicity stunt with GIF-hosting platform Giphy,

The two companies released a joint statement, arguing that the correct pronunciation employs a hard g and releasing limited-time jars of peanut butter labeled “GIF” instead of “JIF”. In October 2013, The New York Times faced some light criticism on social media for an article that began with the words, “A GIF, pronounced jif, is a compressed image file format invented in 1987.” The article included a link to an earlier article from the newspaper, covering Wilhite’s speech and the quote he gave them.

In December 2013, Alex Trebek, the host of game show Jeopardy!, attracted media attention when the final clue of the episode referenced Wilhite’s presentation and opinion on the pronunciation. Trebek read out the responses of contestants using a soft g when the word “GIF” appeared in the correct responses of all three contestants.

In the past, Trebek had pronounced each letter individually, to remain neutral. In June 2014, Barack Obama, then President of the United States, opined that the acronym should be pronounced with a hard g when prompted in a conversation with David Karp, the founder of Tumblr,

Is GIF or jif correct?

May 2013: – Wilhite receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Webby Awards and used his platform to make his declaration. “It’s pronounced JIF, not GIF.” Just like the peanut butter. “The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations,” Wilhite told The New York Times, “They are wrong. It is a soft ‘G,’ pronounced ‘jif.’ End of story.” But it’s not so simple.