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Do you correct people when they say “back slash” when reading out a url? When it’s actually a forward slash? Is there a name for this phenomenon? Everyone know
by hackerbabz 6y ago
Do you correct people when they say “back slash” when reading out a url? When it’s actually a forward slash?
Is there a name for this phenomenon? Everyone knows it’s a slash except when its used for something computery. Then it somehow becomes a backslash.
- veltas 6y agoI don't have an answer but it's exactly the same phenomenon as when people refer to '#' as a hash-tag.
- timoth3y 6y agoExactly. Everyone knows it's an octothorp.
- paulmooreparks 6y agoJust don't call it "pound" when standing in Britain. :)
- veltas 6y agoI live in Britain and don't have an issue with it, '#' is originally a symbol for pounds, a shorthand for 'lb', and we are used to the idea that pounds can mean weight, as well as our currency, so why not this symbol as well? It's believed the 'pound' in pound sterling came from a pound of silver or silver coins in weight originally as well.
- chasd00 6y agoi've just started calling it "shift 3". that seems to be the least confusing way to communicate the character haha
- pwinnski 6y agoThat will usually work in the US, but Shift-3 returns £ on keyboards configured for the UK!
- kbelder 6y agoIs that related in any way to the fact that both symbols can be referred to as a 'pound' symbol, or is it a complete coincidence?
- veltas 6y agoI believe it is related to them both being called 'pound', and it is very annoying. The two are not the same symbol, I don't know why they equivocated them. Technically in a distant root they are related, but they are distinct in usage and meaning.
- dylan604 6y agoIs it shift-3 on all keyboards? Maybe it is, but I've seen other keyboard layoutss where symbols are in different locations.
- marcosdumay 6y agoI'm content because that character finally has a name that people will recognize. But confusing the name of the two slashes (how come?) has the exact opposite effect, so I don't like it.
- mbg721 6y agoOr you can raise musicians' blood pressure by calling it a sharp-sign.
- siltpotato 6y agoOnly recently did I find out those aren't the same character. Then again, I'm very tolerant to character substitutions; "Bb" doesn't bother me either. My pen when I'm marking sheet music doesn't know the difference.
- vcanales 6y agoeveryone knows it's called 'tictactoe'
- dylan604 6y agoI remember it being the number sign when first learning to type in school. I then heard it refered to as pound sign. And once I started into the dev world, it became the ubiqutous comment. Then my favorite became the shebang when paired with the friendly bang/exclamation/pling.
- lovegoblin 6y agoWhat you mean the octothorpe?! There are many valid names and usages for this symbol: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_sign#Names_of_the_character https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_sign#Names_of_the_chara...
- hackerbabz 6y agoThat's not the same at all. Hash-tag is just a name for that symbol. It's not the original name, but it is a name. "/" is slash! "\" is a backslash! People who do not type windows paths have probably never actually encountered a backslash in their entire lives, but when they see a url they think that the symbol they see all the time in other contexts (/) suddenly has a different name!
- veltas 6y agoA 'hash-tag' is a feature of internet apps like Twitter where you put a '#' in front of some topic name to relate your content with similar content. It's named after the character which is known as a 'hash' among other things. Or are you saying 'hash-tag' is the name because although it's a mistake it's used so much now it's considered language? Language isn't one big blob, even though among many people it could now be considered an alternative pronunciation, and eventually it could be adopted even in places where people would otherwise know better, right now among people in tech and certainly on this site 'hash-tag' to mean the character is incorrect and confusing.
- hackerbabz 6y agoBut there isn’t another character that anyone calls “hashtag”. It’s like if everyone nontech called “:” a “semicolon” only when it’s preceeded by “http”. There is something else called semicolon and its not the thing in the url.
- bregma 6y agoI have to suppress the urge to correct people both when they refer to it as a backslash and when they use the term "forward slash". I've already lost all my friends by being that guy; I don't need to also earn the enmity of random strangers on the internet. But technically it's a solidus not a slash.
- jimmaswell 6y agoNothing is wrong with "forward slash.
- bregma 6y ago"forward slash" vs. "forward backslash" would be more consistent.
- chaorace 6y agoContextually, yes. Sometimes it matters, sometimes it doesn't. Same thing goes for the dash/underscore distinction. I imagine there must be similar grappling in the editor world between usages of dash vs. hyphen