Language is a wonderful thing. Thanks to the written and spoken word, we can communicate everything from the most abstract academic theories to the dankest memes that social media has to offer. One of the most interesting parts of any language, though, is seeing how people interpret it and make it evolve in different ways.
Take, for example, the humble @ symbol. This character is used all the time in email addresses and Twitter handles because it's a concise and easy way to put across the idea that a message is directed to a person. However, this doesn't mean people are as straightforward when referring to the symbol.
In English, this character is simply referred to as the 'at sign'. However, different countries all over the world have come up with some creative alternatives and colloquialisms. The team at Viking (opens in new tab) have teamed up with illustrator Andres Lozano (opens in new tab) to bring some of these quirky names to life. Scroll through the gallery below to explore what people are calling the @ character.
Related articles:
- 20 amazing free Google web fonts (opens in new tab)
- The 5 basic types of logo and how to use them (opens in new tab)
- 6 printing trends every designer should know about
