The @ sign. The word was first heard nationally on January 2, 1994, during a broadcast of CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt. One week earlier, Mr Kuralt asked viewers to send in names for the sign, since no name existed. "Atpersand" was submitted by Professor John Giannotti of Rutgers University. Mr Kuralt read Professor Giannotti's letter during the broadcast.
An ampersand is the symbol &, which was designed by German typesetter Manfred Johann Amper in 1634 as an abbreviation for the German word "und", which means "and" in English; hence the symbol was first known as "Amper's 'and' ", which was eventually syncopated into "ampersand", the term by which we know it today.
On a standard US keyboard the ampersand is on the same key as the numeral 7.
Her malformed pretzels looked like ampersands.
In formal symbolic logic the truth-functional connective AND is often represented by an ampersand.
British slang for a scientist or technical expert, esp . when the speaker is not certain of the expert’s specific field of study. Not necessarily derogatory, but typically used by persons without a technical background. In the US, the equivalent would be “egghead”, “squint”, or “geek.”
Origin of the word is unknown. Started sometime in World War 2. Given the typical evolution of British slang, could easily have started because what these experts did was confusing or “baffling” to the common person.
According to the boffins downstairs, the murdererused a serrated blade.
When you have to pee in a movie but don’t want to miss anything, and must do the following mental equation: will the amount I have to pee cause enough discomfort to diminish my attention capacity for the remainder of the movie to an extent which is greater than the amount of the movie I would miss by making a mad dash to the restroom.
I saw Satantango last night, wonderful film but by the 5th hour I had to start doing pee calculus.