Moon's ear, strudel, elephant's trunk... Check out what different countries call the @ character.
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 have teamed up with illustrator Andres Lozano to bring some of these quirky names to life. Scroll through the gallery below to explore what people are calling the @ character.
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Kazakhstan found some inspiration from the man in the moon
People in Israel spotted a similarity between @ and strudel swirls
The Swedish also refer to the @ sign by a tasty treat
The Japanese borrow a term for whirlpools found in a channel between the city of Naruto and Awaji Island
A similarity with a twisty elephant's trunk was noticed by the people of Denmark
Greeks call the sign a 'duckling' as it's similar to comic designs for ducks
'Lacy a' is a wonderful variation that takes into account the flick at the end of the symbol
Bulgaria's nickname is less than complimentary of the humble @ symbol
Another animal allusion as the people of the Netherlands were inspired by a monkey's tail
Dom Carter is a freelance writer who specialises in art and design. Formerly a staff writer for Creative Bloq, his work has also appeared on Creative Boom and in the pages of ImagineFX, Computer Arts, 3D World, and .net. He has been a D&AD New Blood judge, and has a particular interest in picture books.
