Typewriters were so complex and expensive that some early models didn’t even have ones and zeros – you just typed the letters “O” and “I” instead.
Some later models too! At least one of the (electric, but not electronic) typewriters in my dad’s office in the ’70s and ’80s didn’t have 1 and 0.
As the internet burst out of the US and dominated human culture over the next half century, the @ rode with it. But as the symbol spread across the globe, a curious thing happened. It started getting new names.
Today, Italians call the @ sign “chiocciola”, or “snail”. You can see the resemblance. In Hebrew it’s sometimes “strudel”. In Czech it’s “zavináč”, meaning “rollmops”, the name for pickled herring wrapped in a cylinder, usually around a savoury filling.
Is it me, or “rollmops” doesn’t sound particularly appetizing?