The Jargon File, Version 2.9.10, 01 Jul 1992. Various

by first member. For each character, common names are given in rough order of popularity, followed by names that are reported but rarely seen; official ANSI/CCITT names are surrounded by brokets: <>. Square brackets mark the particularly silly names introduced by {INTERCAL}. Ordinary parentheticals provide some usage information.

      !

       Common: {bang}; pling; excl; shriek; <exclamation mark>.

       Rare: factorial; exclam; smash; cuss; boing; yell; wow; hey;

       wham; eureka; [spark-spot]; soldier.

      "

       Common: double quote; quote. Rare: literal mark;

       double-glitch; <quotation marks>; <dieresis>; dirk;

       [rabbit-ears]; double prime.

      #

       Common: <number sign>; pound; pound sign; hash; sharp;

       {crunch}; hex; [mesh]; octothorpe. Rare: flash; crosshatch;

       grid; pig-pen; tictactoe; scratchmark; thud; thump; {splat}.

      $

       Common: dollar; <dollar sign>. Rare: currency symbol; buck;

       cash; string (from BASIC); escape (when used as the echo of

       ASCII ESC); ding; cache; [big money].

      %

       Common: percent; <percent sign>; mod; grapes. Rare:

       [double-oh-seven].

      &

       Common: <ampersand>; amper; and. Rare: address (from C);

       reference (from C++); andpersand; bitand; background (from

       `sh(1)'); pretzel; amp. [INTERCAL called this `ampersand';

       what could be sillier?]

      '

       Common: single quote; quote; <apostrophe>. Rare: prime;

       glitch; tick; irk; pop; [spark]; <closing single quotation

       mark>; <acute accent>.

      ()

       Common: left/right paren; left/right parenthesis; left/right;

       paren/thesis; open/close paren; open/close; open/close

       parenthesis; left/right banana. Rare: so/al-ready;

       lparen/rparen; <opening/closing parenthesis>; open/close round

       bracket, parenthisey/unparenthisey; [wax/wane]; left/right

       ear.

      *

       Common: star; [{splat}]; <asterisk>. Rare: wildcard; gear;

       dingle; mult; spider; aster; times; twinkle; glob (see

       {glob}); {Nathan Hale}.

      +

       Common: <plus>; add. Rare: cross; [intersection].

      ,

       Common: <comma>. Rare: <cedilla>; [tail].

      -

       Common: dash; <hyphen>; <minus>. Rare: [worm]; option; dak;

       bithorpe.

      .

       Common: dot; point; <period>; <decimal point>. Rare: radix

       point; full stop; [spot].

      /

       Common: slash; stroke; <slant>; forward slash. Rare:

       diagonal; solidus; over; slak; virgule; [slat].

      :

       Common: <colon>. Rare: dots; [two-spot].

      ;

       Common: <semicolon>; semi. Rare: weenie; [hybrid],

       pit-thwong.

      <>

       Common: <less/greater than>; left/right angle bracket;

       bra/ket; left/right broket. Rare: from/{into, towards}; read

       from/write to; suck/blow; comes-from/gozinta; in/out;

       crunch/zap (all from UNIX); [angle/right angle].

      =

       Common: <equals>; gets; takes. Rare: quadrathorpe;

       [half-mesh].

      ?

       Common: query; <question mark>; {ques}. Rare: whatmark;

       [what]; wildchar; huh; hook; buttonhook; hunchback.

      @

       Common: at sign; at; strudel. Rare: each; vortex; whorl;

       [whirlpool]; cyclone; snail; ape; cat; rose; cabbage;

       <commercial at>.

      V

       Rare: [book].

      []

       Common: left/right square bracket; <opening/closing bracket>;

       bracket/unbracket; left/right bracket. Rare: square/unsquare;

       [U turn/U turn back].

      \

       Common: backslash; escape (from C/UNIX); reverse slash; slosh;

       backslant; backwhack. Rare: bash; <reverse slant>; reversed

       virgule; [backslat].

      ^

       Common: hat; control; uparrow; caret; <circumflex>. Rare:

       chevron; [shark (or shark-fin)]; to the (`to the power of');

       fang; pointer (in Pascal).

      _

       Common: <underline>; underscore; underbar; under. Rare:

       score; backarrow; skid; [flatworm].

      `

       Common: backquote; left quote; left single quote; open quote;

       <grave accent>; grave. Rare: backprime; [backspark];

       unapostrophe; birk; blugle; back tick; back glitch; push;

       <opening single quotation mark>; quasiquote.

      {}

       Common: open/close brace; left/right brace; left/right

       squiggly; left/right squiggly bracket/brace; left/right curly

       bracket/brace; <opening/closing brace>. Rare: brace/unbrace;

       curly/uncurly; leftit/rytit; left/right squirrelly;

       [embrace/bracelet].

      |

       Common: bar; or; or-bar; v-bar; pipe; vertical bar. Rare:

       <vertical line>; gozinta; thru; pipesinta (last three from

       UNIX); [spike].

      ~

       Common: <tilde>; squiggle; {twiddle}; not. Rare: approx;

       wiggle; swung dash; enyay; [sqiggle (sic)].

      The pronunciation of `#' as `pound' is common in the U.S.

       but a bad idea; {{Commonwealth Hackish}} has its own, rather more

       apposite use of `pound sign' (confusingly, on British keyboards

       the pound graphic

       happens to replace `#'; thus Britishers sometimes

       call `#' on a U.S.-ASCII keyboard `pound', compounding the

       American error). The U.S. usage derives from an old-fashioned

       commercial practice of using a `#' suffix to tag pound weights

       on bills of lading. The character is usually pronounced `hash'