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> the Option key, also called Alt key, because of the switch symbol ⌥ that adorns it Oh, is that what the squiggly symbol represents? I've been looking at it f

> the Option key, also called Alt key, because of the switch symbol ⌥ that adorns it Oh, is that what the squiggly symbol represents? I've been looking at it for decades without seeing anything more than an abstract shape.

nnf 3y ago
Thanks for extracting that interesting tidbit. I was in the same boat, but now I can put a check mark next to "learn something new today."
spread_love 3y ago
Like a train switching tracks! I never noticed. So what does ⌘ represent?
- bombcar 3y ago
  Apparently it is "Command" but also the Swedish campground symbol? https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Swedish_Campground.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Swedish_Campgrou...
  - Findecanor 3y ago
    It is on Swedish road signs indicating a sight/attraction/monument, usually an ancient one. It is a stylised ribbon/snake pattern that resembles one that you could find on a rune stone. <https://xn--vgmrken-5wac.se/tag/sevardhet/ https://xn--vgmrken-5wac.se/tag/sevardhet/> A variation of the symbol is also the symbol for the National Heritage Board, which is in charge of protection of ancient monuments. The road sign for "Camp ground" has a stylised tent: <https://xn--vgmrken-5wac.se/tag/campingplats/ https://xn--vgmrken-5wac.se/tag/campingplats/>
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- meepmorp 3y ago
  “Place of interest sign,” according to the Unicode spec. Also, command key and OS key as secondary meanings. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2300.pdf https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2300.pdf
- galangalalgol 3y ago
  That you are using a mac? I ised to still call it the super or windows button, because my macbook ran linux. This whole article is mac centric, but it doesn't seem aware of that. Most keyboards don't have the switch symbol, most just say alt, and its where the mac has the command key.
  - itishappy 3y ago
    > This whole article is mac centric, but it doesn't seem aware of that. I found it pretty clear from the title, site affiliation disclaimer, background image, section headers, language, and overall theme of the article. What's misleading you?
- reaperducer 3y ago
  So what does ⌘ represent? The revisionist history is that it's a Swedish map symbol repurposed. People who were there will tell you that it's called "double infinity" and was used because the regular infinity symbol lacked visual weight and it was thought might be too similar to other keys.
  - mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago
    Interesting. Though I'm curious why infinity was even a consideration in the first place.
    - reaperducer 3y ago
      Interesting. Though I'm curious why infinity was even a consideration in the first place. That part I don't know. Maybe just because it's geeky, and the original Mac team was certainly that; even the ones involved in its physical design.
  - _shantaram 3y ago
    Macintosh Folklore disagrees. That's literally as close to "people who were there" as one can get. https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Swedish_Campground.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Swedish_Campgrou...
  - SeanLuke 3y ago
    Susan Kare selected the symbol herself. I wouldn't exactly call her explanation "revisionist".
- twic 3y ago
  A propeller. On the early prototypes of the Mac, that key was used to fire the torpedoes.
- thih9 3y ago
  A castle. > Susan Kare states that she has since been told that the symbol was picked for its Scandinavian usage due to its resembling the shape of a square castle with round corner towers as seen from above looking down, notably Borgholm Castle. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key#Origin_of_the_symbol https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key#Origin_of_the_sy...
nine_k 3y ago
It's a plain electric switch symbol. It's funny how such buttoned-up devices as macbooks carry a raw engineering symbol right on their faces.
- robin_reala 3y ago
  Makes up for the command symbol ⌘ next to it that was stolen rather randomly from the Swedish map symbol for a place of historical interest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key#Origin_of_the_symbol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key#Origin_of_the_symb...
- taneq 3y ago
  It's stylized to the point where it's not really recognizable without prior context, though. A bit like the I / O markings on power switches which are apparently literally meant to be a 1 (on) or 0 (off), which makes perfect sense except they're usually not rendered as numerals and there are too many possible interpretations for it (open vs. closed circuit? "in" / "out"? "inactive" / "on"?) to be easy to figure out just from the markings. This is even more irritating since we're printing things on the switch in the first place, so why not just write "on" / "off" and be done with it?
  - nine_k 3y ago
    IDK, to me it's how people draw it on schematics when they are not using a CAD :) http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/images/SPDT-switch-circuit.png http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/images/SPDT-switch-c...
mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago
Kind of a silly choice when you think about it. They're all switches.
- Findecanor 3y ago
  But is it a railway switch or an electric switch? Either way, it is a changeover switch for selecting between two options, not a momentary on/off switch like the key switches on a keyboard.
thought_alarm 3y ago
The switch symbol dates back to the very first international Lisa keyboards from 1983. They needed a language-independent symbol for the "Option" key in 1983, that's what someone chose, and it stuck. Some other keyboard trivia: - The 1983 Lisa used the Apple logo for its command key. The 1984 Mac used the cloverleaf symbol instead because Steve Jobs didn't like seeing so many Apple Logos in the main menus. - The command key has been around since 1983, but is was never labelled "Command" on the US-English keyboard, nor was that key referred to as "Command" in the documentation. It just lore that this strange cloverleaf key was called "Command", and passed down through oral tradition. Apple finally labelled the key in the late 2000s. - Apple has been very conservative about its keyboard layouts and symbols. The original Mac and Lisa had separate Enter and Return keys. The separate "Enter" key survived will into the 2000s iBook and Powerbook keyboards. It was finally removed with the MacBook in 2006. - Likewise, the Apple Logo was added to the command key in 1986, for compatibility with the Apple II. It wasn't removed until the late 2000s. - The Apple Extended Keyboard from 1987 was Apple's first keyboard to use a PC-style 104 key layout. This keyboard includes all of the PC-specific text such as Alt, Scroll Lock, Print Screen, etc. This is how the Option key came to be knows as "Alt" on non-US keyboards.
- SeanLuke 3y ago
  > The command key has been around since 1983, but is was never labelled "Command" on the US-English keyboard, nor was that key referred to as "Command" in the documentation. It just lore that this strange cloverleaf key was called "Command", and passed down through oral tradition. Apple finally labelled the key in the late 2000s. Nope. It was referred to as the "Command Key" many, many times in the original 1984 Mac manual. See the index: https://vintageapple.org/macmanuals/pdf/Macintosh_1984.pdf https://vintageapple.org/macmanuals/pdf/Macintosh_1984.pdf The NeXT workstation, circa 1987, actually replaced the cloverleaf symbol with the word "Command". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NeXT_Keyboard_Command_Key.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NeXT_Keyboard_Command_Key...

nnf 3y ago

Thanks for extracting that interesting tidbit. I was in the same boat, but now I can put a check mark next to "learn something new today."

spread_love 3y ago

Like a train switching tracks! I never noticed. So what does ⌘ represent?

bombcar 3y ago
Apparently it is "Command" but also the Swedish campground symbol? https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Swedish_Campground.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Swedish_Campgrou...
- Findecanor 3y ago
  It is on Swedish road signs indicating a sight/attraction/monument, usually an ancient one. It is a stylised ribbon/snake pattern that resembles one that you could find on a rune stone. <https://xn--vgmrken-5wac.se/tag/sevardhet/ https://xn--vgmrken-5wac.se/tag/sevardhet/> A variation of the symbol is also the symbol for the National Heritage Board, which is in charge of protection of ancient monuments. The road sign for "Camp ground" has a stylised tent: <https://xn--vgmrken-5wac.se/tag/campingplats/ https://xn--vgmrken-5wac.se/tag/campingplats/>
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
meepmorp 3y ago
“Place of interest sign,” according to the Unicode spec. Also, command key and OS key as secondary meanings. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2300.pdf https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2300.pdf
galangalalgol 3y ago
That you are using a mac? I ised to still call it the super or windows button, because my macbook ran linux. This whole article is mac centric, but it doesn't seem aware of that. Most keyboards don't have the switch symbol, most just say alt, and its where the mac has the command key.
- itishappy 3y ago
  > This whole article is mac centric, but it doesn't seem aware of that. I found it pretty clear from the title, site affiliation disclaimer, background image, section headers, language, and overall theme of the article. What's misleading you?
reaperducer 3y ago
So what does ⌘ represent? The revisionist history is that it's a Swedish map symbol repurposed. People who were there will tell you that it's called "double infinity" and was used because the regular infinity symbol lacked visual weight and it was thought might be too similar to other keys.
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago
  Interesting. Though I'm curious why infinity was even a consideration in the first place.
  - reaperducer 3y ago
    Interesting. Though I'm curious why infinity was even a consideration in the first place. That part I don't know. Maybe just because it's geeky, and the original Mac team was certainly that; even the ones involved in its physical design.
- _shantaram 3y ago
  Macintosh Folklore disagrees. That's literally as close to "people who were there" as one can get. https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Swedish_Campground.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Swedish_Campgrou...
- SeanLuke 3y ago
  Susan Kare selected the symbol herself. I wouldn't exactly call her explanation "revisionist".
twic 3y ago
A propeller. On the early prototypes of the Mac, that key was used to fire the torpedoes.
thih9 3y ago
A castle. > Susan Kare states that she has since been told that the symbol was picked for its Scandinavian usage due to its resembling the shape of a square castle with round corner towers as seen from above looking down, notably Borgholm Castle. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key#Origin_of_the_symbol https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key#Origin_of_the_sy...

nine_k 3y ago

It's a plain electric switch symbol. It's funny how such buttoned-up devices as macbooks carry a raw engineering symbol right on their faces.

robin_reala 3y ago
Makes up for the command symbol ⌘ next to it that was stolen rather randomly from the Swedish map symbol for a place of historical interest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key#Origin_of_the_symbol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key#Origin_of_the_symb...
taneq 3y ago
It's stylized to the point where it's not really recognizable without prior context, though. A bit like the I / O markings on power switches which are apparently literally meant to be a 1 (on) or 0 (off), which makes perfect sense except they're usually not rendered as numerals and there are too many possible interpretations for it (open vs. closed circuit? "in" / "out"? "inactive" / "on"?) to be easy to figure out just from the markings. This is even more irritating since we're printing things on the switch in the first place, so why not just write "on" / "off" and be done with it?
- nine_k 3y ago
  IDK, to me it's how people draw it on schematics when they are not using a CAD :) http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/images/SPDT-switch-circuit.png http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/images/SPDT-switch-c...

mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago

Kind of a silly choice when you think about it. They're all switches.

Findecanor 3y ago
But is it a railway switch or an electric switch? Either way, it is a changeover switch for selecting between two options, not a momentary on/off switch like the key switches on a keyboard.

thought_alarm 3y ago

The switch symbol dates back to the very first international Lisa keyboards from 1983. They needed a language-independent symbol for the "Option" key in 1983, that's what someone chose, and it stuck. Some other keyboard trivia: - The 1983 Lisa used the Apple logo for its command key. The 1984 Mac used the cloverleaf symbol instead because Steve Jobs didn't like seeing so many Apple Logos in the main menus. - The command key has been around since 1983, but is was never labelled "Command" on the US-English keyboard, nor was that key referred to as "Command" in the documentation. It just lore that this strange cloverleaf key was called "Command", and passed down through oral tradition. Apple finally labelled the key in the late 2000s. - Apple has been very conservative about its keyboard layouts and symbols. The original Mac and Lisa had separate Enter and Return keys. The separate "Enter" key survived will into the 2000s iBook and Powerbook keyboards. It was finally removed with the MacBook in 2006. - Likewise, the Apple Logo was added to the command key in 1986, for compatibility with the Apple II. It wasn't removed until the late 2000s. - The Apple Extended Keyboard from 1987 was Apple's first keyboard to use a PC-style 104 key layout. This keyboard includes all of the PC-specific text such as Alt, Scroll Lock, Print Screen, etc. This is how the Option key came to be knows as "Alt" on non-US keyboards.

SeanLuke 3y ago
> The command key has been around since 1983, but is was never labelled "Command" on the US-English keyboard, nor was that key referred to as "Command" in the documentation. It just lore that this strange cloverleaf key was called "Command", and passed down through oral tradition. Apple finally labelled the key in the late 2000s. Nope. It was referred to as the "Command Key" many, many times in the original 1984 Mac manual. See the index: https://vintageapple.org/macmanuals/pdf/Macintosh_1984.pdf https://vintageapple.org/macmanuals/pdf/Macintosh_1984.pdf The NeXT workstation, circa 1987, actually replaced the cloverleaf symbol with the word "Command". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NeXT_Keyboard_Command_Key.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NeXT_Keyboard_Command_Key...