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[01/12/2009] @ 'AT'
@ Or 'at', the typographic character called as the ‘at symbol’ or ‘at sign’. Other names for this symbol are ‘monkey tail’, ‘asperand’ and ‘amphora’ that have been occasionally used and suggested. In today's era, it is ubiquitous because its use in denoting the e-mail addresses. In English, it is pronounced as at. 'Commercial at' is the official and typographic name of this character. There are many theories about its origin. Two of them are following:1) It was developed as commerce shorthand - the symbol which resembles to small 'a' inside a small 'e'. For example, the cost of "10 pens @ $1" would be 10.
2) Originally it was an abbreviation of Greek preposition which means per or at the rate of.
Now @ has been a commercial symbol which means at the rate of. In internet and computing it is being used in e-mail addresses.
