[net.nlang] "Re: What do you call characters?"

Nessus@nsc.UUCP (07/06/83)

	Char		What I call it

	(		parenthisey
	)		un-parenthisey
	[		bracket
	]		un-bracket
	{		brace
	}		un-brace
	'		apostrophe
	`		un-apostrophe
	^		chevron
	|		"that"(what is its REAL name??)

No flames about spelling, please.

				Nessus

za16ao@sdccsu3.UUCP (07/09/83)

I call a   

		|        a pipe, since I'm a Unix-person...

		^        a carat (not a carrot, and a chevron is
			 different...)

leichter@yale-com.UUCP (Jerry Leichter) (07/11/83)

Back in 1973, two friends at Princeton, Don Woods (now at SRI?) and Jim Lyons,
designed, documented, and actually implemented a language called Intercal (which
stood for "Compiler Language With No Pronouncable Acronym").  It was a marvelous
spoof, too complex to go into in detail here; but it came complete with an
Appendix defining the Official Intercal Character Set.  Note:  This was on an
IBM 360/91, fed by good ol' 80-column punch cards - remember those?  A couple
of the characters are overstruck - you simply punched two characters into the
same column on the card.  The Intercal compiler would print such characters
correctly, if I remember right.  Of course, not every overstrike made sense;
combining some pairs of punches results in a combination of holes on the card
that aren't read as meaningful data - so some of the overstruck combinations
needed "for symmetry" aren't in the character set.

Character	Name
.		spot
:		two-spot
,		tail
;		hybrid [Ed:  of tail and two-spot]
#		mesh
=		half-mesh
'		spark
`		backspark
!		wow
?		what
"		rabbit-ears
" over .	rabbit  (not a valid punch card code!)
|		spike
%		double-oh-seven
-		worm
<		angle
>		right angle
		(Note:  These make more sense in:  <-  angle worm)
(		wax
)		wane
[		U turn
]		U turn back
{		embrace
}		bracelet
*		splat
&		ampersand [Ed:  They ask for a better idea.  I've always been
		partial to "andpersand", a coinage of the Department of Redun-
		dancy Department.]
V		book
V over -	bookworm (or universal quantifier)
$		big-money
[cent-sign]	change
~		sqiggle [sic]
_		flat worm
		overline
+		intersection
/		slat
\		backslat
@		whirlpool
<logical NOT>	hook (character looks line an upper-right-hand corner)
^		shark (or simply sharkfin)
multiple over-	blotch
struck chars

							-- Jerry
				decvax!yale-comix!leichter leichter@yale

dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (07/11/83)

Sorry, sdccsu3!za16ao (I sure can't pronounce THAT), but '^'
ain't a carat, which is a measure for diamond weight, or a
carrot, but a "caret".

As Ogden Nash said:
	A one-l Lama, that's a priest
	A two-l Llama, that's a beast
	But I would bet my silk pajama
	There isn't any three-l Lllama.

Dave Sherman
Toronto

bill@utastro.UUCP (07/15/83)

I assume that

	>>

should be known as a "cat-astrophe".

		Bill Jefferys  
		Astronomy Dept
		University of Texas
		Austin TX 78712

		(...ucbvax!nbires!ut-ngp!utastro!bill)
		(...decvax!eagle!ut-ngp!utastro!bill)
		(   utastro!bill@utexas-11)