MoMA acquires the at symbol, I swear

Yesterday evening I heard on NPR that the Museum of Modern Art acquired the @ symbol for its collection. According to the story, the museum plans to include a history of @ and its “rediscovery” by Ray Tomlinson, who first used the symbol to compose e-mail in 1971.

This got me thinking about all of the other unacclaimed symbols on the keyboard. Writers, if you could acquire only one of your keyboard’s symbols for a museum collection, which would you choose, and why?

Imagining all of these symbols also made me wonder how a trail of symbols came to stand in for profanity. I’m not sure about the origin of the practice, but I did find a name for those symbols: According to Grammar Girl’s “Swear Words in Text” podcast, a string of characters such as $#@%*&+! is called a grawlix. Mort Walker, cartoonist and creator of Beetle Bailey, coined the term in 1964. (Incidentally, if you’d like to learn how to adapt strong language for sensitive readers, listen to Grammar Girl’s podcast or read the transcript.) And for more on how symbols are used in writing, check out Language Log’s “Call Me … Unpronounceable.”

Comments

Linton Robinson wrote re: MoMA acquires the at symbol, I swear on Sat, Apr 3 2010 11:34 AM I thought that was pretty cool.  I'm waiting for future such acquisitions.   One that suggests itself strongly is the semi-colon by the American Association of Colostopy Surgeons. And perhaps the suggestive asterisk by proctologists. The carat is a natural for DeBeers or Zales.

Sarah C. Lange wrote re: MoMA acquires the at symbol, I swear on Mon, Apr 5 2010 10:10 AM Thanks for your comments, Linton. I like your suggestion that De Beers or Zales acquires the caret!

CEE ESS wrote re: MoMA acquires the at symbol, I swear on Thu, Apr 15 2010 10:46 AM # would work for a Correctional Association