How did the @ symbol - a dog. Versions of the emergence of the symbol "Dog". Its modern application

10.09.2019

This symbol is known to any Internet user, since it is directly associated with e-mail. In Russia, he was nicknamed "The Dog" (and also - krakozyabra, a-with-tail, cheesecake, masyamba), in other countries this symbol is associated with different animals or objects. Here is a far from complete list:

Bulgaria - klomba or maimunsko a ("monkey A"),
Netherlands - apenstaartje ("monkey's tail"),
Israel - "Strudel"
Spain - like the measure of weight "arroba",
France - the same measure of weight "arrobase",
Germany, Poland - monkey tail, monkey ear, paper clip, monkey,
Italy - "chiocciola" - snail,
Denmark, Norway, Sweden - "snabel-a" - "snout a" or elephant trunk,
Czech Republic, Slovakia - rollmops (marinated herring),
America, Finland - cat,
China, Taiwan - mouse,
Turkey - rose,
Serbia - "crazy A"
Vietnam - "twisted A",
Ukraine - “ravlik” (snail), “doggie” or, again, “dog”.
In the international language of Esperanto around the world, regardless of the countries behind the @ symbol, the name "heliko", which in Esperanto means "snail", has been established.

The fact of its worldwide recognition was the introduction in February 2004 by the International Telecommunication Union in Morse code of the code for the symbol @ ( - - - ), for the convenience of transferring e-mail addresses. The code combines the Latin letters A and C and reflects their joint graphic writing.

Where the symbol came from is not known for certain. It has existed since at least the 15th century, and possibly even earlier. According to Professor Giorgio Stabile's hypothesis, a 16th-century document written by a Florentine merchant mentioned "the price of one A of wine" (possibly amphoras). At the same time, the letter A, according to the then tradition, was decorated with a curl and looked like @. From this we can assume that the symbol came from the word "amphora".

According to the American scientist Berthold Ullman, the @ sign was invented by medieval monks to shorten the Latin word "ad", which was often used as a universal word meaning "on", "in", "in relation to", etc.

In Spanish, Portuguese, French, the name of the symbol comes from the word "arroba" - an old Spanish measure of weight, approx. 15 kg., which was abbreviated on the letter with the @ sign.

The modern official name for the symbol "commercial at" comes from commercial calculations, for example, 7 widgets @ $2 each = $14, which translates to 7 widgets. 2$ = 14$. Since this symbol was used in trade, it was placed on the keyboards of the first typewriters and from there migrated to the computer keyboard.

The dog came to the Internet thanks to the creator of e-mail, Tomlinson. He chose it as a character on the keyboard that could not be found in any name and cause confusion, as a separator for the username and email server. The first network address was [email protected] in the Arpanet network.

Why is this symbol called “dog” in Russia? There are several versions of the origin of this funny name.

According to one, the icon really looks like a curled up dog. On the other hand, the abrupt sound of the English “at” is a bit like a dog barking. Still others manage to consider almost all the letters included in the word “dog” in the inscriptions of the symbol, well, perhaps, with the exception of “k”.

The most common version sees the origin of this name in one of the very first computer games "Adventure" ("Adventure"). Back then, the displays were purely text-based, and the story of the game had to travel through a text labyrinth. One of the characters in this game was a dog, which was denoted by the @ symbol. Whether the name came from this game, or whether the symbol was chosen because of its name, is now very difficult to find out. Maybe you know for sure?

Hello website readers! Many people know the catchphrase “ What kind of dog is this?” from the movie “Ivan Vasilyevich is changing his profession”.

Today we will talk about another "dog" - a computer symbol " @ ”, with which all Internet users are familiar with addresses.

And indeed, it’s terribly interesting - where did such an unusual icon come from, why is it needed, why is it so interesting and even funny named?

Often the origin of things that are generally applicable is obscured due to long periods of time and the lack of surviving evidence and documents.

With regard to the computer dog, everything is quite well known and reliably proven.

The capital letter “a” outlined by an incomplete circle has been used for a long time and is still used in the field of international commerce.
The @ sign is an abbreviation for the English phrase “ at the rate of” in payment documents with the value “ price per piece”.
In a general accounting sense, the English “ at” can be translated as “ in an account like this”.

For some reason, the creators of the Internet decided to use accounting terminology when registering users in various services. This, in general, is quite logical, registration is the entry in the Book of Accounts.

So it is also logical that in the fall of 1971, one of the inventors of e-mail, Ray Samuel Tomlinson, came up with the idea of using the “@” sign to indicate the mail domain in an e-mail address.

Useful for travelers and backpackers. In European countries, a road sign with the “@” symbol indicates public Internet access points.

Why is the @ symbol called a dog?

There are several legends why @ was called a dog. The following three versions look the most reliable.

The figure above shows the logo of one of the progenitors of the modern world wide web - Fidonet. As you can see, the nose of a sketchy pet is just indicated by the at symbol in a circle.
Another version looks even more plausible. At a time when the graphical interface had not yet been invented, a computer game called Adventure was popular. One of the characters was a scout dog, indicated in the playing field with the @ sign.
The third version looks far-fetched, but still has a distribution. On one of the first Soviet personal computers DVK, this symbol served as a splash screen when turned on. Allegedly, users saw a dog curled up in this squiggle. However, for such an interpretation it is necessary to have a fairly developed imagination.

How to pronounce dog icon in English and other languages

In Russian, there is a practice to call the symbol “@” “dog” or “dog”. The email address will be voiced by the following phrase.

“Username Dog Mail (Gmail, Yandex) Tochka Ru (or Kom)”.
In economics and commerce, accounting, the ligature @ is pronounced and described traditionally as “commercial Et” or “commercial at”.

It is noteworthy that American engineers, who proved themselves to be real masters in inventing various creative nicknames to denote technical terms, this time behaved surprisingly passive and indifferent.

In Anglo-Saxon computer terminology, “dog” is called “commercial ET”, without any reference to funny pets.

Pronounced @ in English, too, without any frills.

[email protected]
“Username E-mail dot ru”

It remains to be concluded that this time American national pragmatism worked. Our overseas partners decided that commercial at quite adequately reflects the meaning of the symbol.

“Account such and such, From the mail domain such and such.”

In some countries of the world, @ also has cool nicknames, like ours.

"Dog" - in the countries of the former USSR.
"Monkey" - in Bulgarian, German, Polish.
"Snail" - in Ukrainian, Italian.

In countries where the ligature @ was known long before the advent of computers, the former pronunciation of “at” or “commercial at” remained. This includes France, Spain and the UK.

How to type the @ symbol on the keyboard

There is no one-size-fits-all answer here. The problem is that there are many types of keyboards and varieties of character layouts.

The picture above shows a classic keyboard with “large keys” and a traditional layout. qwerty in Latin or YZUKEN in Cyrillic.

To enter @ on such a keyboard, you must switch to the Latin font mode and simultaneously press the key Shift and number " 2 ”.

What should I do if there is no “dog” symbol on the keyboard?

In this case, there may be options.

Switch to symbolic keyboard. Switching can be done with the Alt keys, an asterisk “*”, or a special switch Smbl.
On mobile devices, smartphones and tablets, there is just a huge number of different keyboards. Some are specially designed for messengers and on such keyboards the dog symbol is implemented, for convenience and speed of typing addresses, as a separate key on the main layout.
On most touch keyboards for mobile devices, the “@” sign is inserted in the same way as on external keyboards for desktop computers and laptops.

What should I do if the @ symbol can't be found on my existing keyboard?

It happens. Then you should refer to the "Symbol Table", access to which is in the list of "Standard Programs" of OS Windows.

Illogically, the “dog” can be inserted through the “Insert” menu - “Symbols” in a text editor.

Email Icon Mile

The symbol "dog" is included in the officially registered trademark and brand logo.

I must say, a very successful and profitable acquisition from the point of view of marketing.

First, the @ sign is quite organically associated with the email service.
Secondly, the symbol is known to everyone, is popular, so its use as a designation for various products and services of the Mail.ru holding always attracts attention and increases the number of customers. This means that business profits are also growing.

All Mail.ru products are marked with a doggie icon.

Email service.
Messenger Mail.ru Agent.
Amigo browser with Mail.ru search (capital “a” without a circle).

It is simply amazing how many interesting and even unusual things are hidden behind the usual “computer dog”.

Most Internet users probably have an e-mail address. Thanks to e-mail, we can correspond with each other, register accounts on social networks, create accounts in online games, and much more. Writing any e-mail is not complete without the dog symbol - @ , which is a required attribute of any email address. At the same time, beginners do not always know how to type it on the keyboard, and pressing the “2” key, which shows the dog sign, does not always lead to its appearance on the screen. In this article, I will help such users and tell you how to type a dog on the keyboard, and what methods you can use to do this.

If you do not know, then you need to go to the relevant article.

Before I detail how to write a dog symbol on the keyboard, I should mention what a dog is on the keyboard, why this symbol is called “dog”, and what are the sources of its occurrence.

So why "dog"? This symbol is called a "dog" because it vaguely resembles a dog curled up with its tail.

The appearance of this symbol dates back to the period of the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance (approximately 14-15 centuries). So, in the 15th century, this symbol denoted a measure of weight "amphora" (about 12 kg), later it took root in accounting, denoting the preposition "at" (translated into Russian "to, by, in"). Given its prevalence in trade, the “dog” sign was placed on the key of one of the first typewriters, and from there it migrated to the PC keyboards of those years. And since the early 1970s, the “dog” sign has been used as a username separator from a domain name (in particular, in an email address).

The official name of this symbol is “commercial at” and now, in addition to email, “dog on the keyboard” is used in various programming languages (indicators, suffixes, and so on).

How to put a dog on the keyboard

So how do you type dog on the keyboard? There are several simple methods for this:

All these methods will help you type a dog on a laptop, as they are universally used on laptops.

@ character input illustration

Above, I listed several ways to type a dog on the keyboard. The most simple and convenient is the first of the listed methods, while others require additional clicks, therefore they are rarely used when working with a computer. If you need to quickly type "dog", then simply press Shift + 2 on the English keyboard layout, and the desired character will immediately appear on your PC screen.

With the advent of the Internet, the @ symbol, the so-called "dog", became known to everyone. It is on every computer and smartphone. The most common use of this sign appears when writing email.

Few people know how the sign "doggy" appeared, and that it was used several centuries before the Internet appeared. And certainly almost no one knows how this symbol is actually correctly called.

It is correct to call this dog in Russian the commercial “et”. The term appeared from the English name - commercial at. But pronouncing this long, correct sign name is difficult. Therefore, almost all languages have colloquial notation for @. And all the names are somehow connected with food or animals.

Belarusians call our dog the word "slimak", which means "snail". And indeed, the similarity of @ with a snail is present. Ukrainians also call it "snail" - "ravlik". And also the Italians - "chiocciola".

The Jews came up with a tasty name for the symbol. In Hebrew, it is denoted by the word "strudel", that is, a roll.

Some people think the @ sign looks like a monkey. For example, in Bulgarian they say "monkey A", in German "klammeraffe", and in Polish "małpa". All this translates as "monkey".

The Turks call the dog “et”, which is translated from their language as “meat”. The Greeks call it "papaki" - a duck. And the Kazakhs are very surprised by the fantasy with the name “aykulak”, which translates as “ear of the moon”.

The closest to the historical meaning of the @ symbol are Spanish and French - arroba and arobase, respectively. These words denote a measure of weight.

How did the sign "doggy"

There are many hypotheses about the appearance and original meaning of the @ symbol. The most common is the appearance of the word "aroba", which meant a measure of weight in some languages of Europe in the Middle Ages. And in trade documents, aroba was written with a sign similar to our modern @.

Aroba was equal to 11.5 kg (12.5 kg in some regions). In Europe, this word came from the Arabic language - "ar-rub", which means "a quarter", that is, one fourth of a hundred pounds.

There is another hypothesis about how the dog sign appeared. In the same Middle Ages, a similar symbol was used in Italy, which showed the volume. The @ sign denoted a volume equal to one amphora.

A similar symbol was also found in Russia. In the documents, the first letter of the alphabet "az" was beautifully painted, so that it became similar to @.

The modern name of the commercial "at" appeared in economic English documents. For example, 3 widgets @ $7 each = $21 means 3 items worth $7 each, for a total of $21.

And since the symbol was used in business, this inevitably led to the fact that it appeared on typewriters, and then on computer keys.

The very word "dog" for the @ symbol most likely came from the game Adventure, which had a dog character, denoted by the @ sign. And if you look closely, the sign really looks like a dog curled up.

The word "monkey" came about, most likely from owners of eight-bit zx-spectrum computers, some of which had a button that allowed programs to be written to disk. Usually this process corrupted the program, so it was called simian. Well, the button that started the process was denoted by the @ symbol.

As we know, in today's world, "doggy" is most often found in email writing. For example [email protected] can be understood as username on example.com. The character separates the username and domain name.

Many people ask how to put on the keyboard and why the symbol "dog" was called that.

The name of the symbol "dog" has a history associated with the first computer game in which the player's assistant was the @ icon, a faithful assistant in the fight against monsters and monsters that settled in the labyrinths of the text jungle.

In Russia, the @ symbol is also called a cheesecake, "a" with a tail. Some "saw" in it the letters of the word "dog". Someone sees him as a curled up dog. In Bulgaria it is called klomba, monkey; in Israel - strudel; in Italy - snail; in Turkey - a rose; in Ukraine - "dog"; in America and Finland - a cat; in Germany - paperclip, monkey ear. But in Spain it is still called “arroba”, like a measure of weight. Only the Japanese call it without any poetic comparisons - "attomark".

Everyone knows that the @ sign is an email character and is used to separate a username from a hostname. Ray Tomlinson, lead engineer at BBN Technologies, was the first to use this badge in 1971. On the keyboard, this key denoted the English preposition "at".

To be honest, I have never seen the use of this sign anywhere other than an email address, however, on the first model of a mechanical typewriter, the @ symbol was already present.

So, for different peoples of the world, the @ symbol is typed on the computer in the same way, but it is written in words and pronounced differently. In addition, its slang name is also different, but characteristically, most users see the "dog" as an animal.

The British, Americans, French, Italians call @ "snail". Africans, Dutch, Poles, Germans prefer to call it "monkey's tail". The Danes may say "elephant's trunk", the Norwegians "pig's tail", the Chinese - "mouse", and the Hungarians - "worm". For some reason, Russians call this sign a dog, and Finns who are not far from us call it a cat.

But not everyone sees only animals. Also among the slang names are viewed ... delicacies.
For example, the Swedes call the @ symbol "cinnamon bun", the Israelis - "strudel", and the Czechs - "herring rollmops".
Here are some interesting names people have come up with for this symbol, which each of us uses on a daily basis.

Well, as for the Japanese... They use the English "attomark" and the @ sign does not evoke any associations with animals in them.

The symbol's official name sounds like "commercial at" and originates from the accounts in which it was used in the following context: [email protected]$2each = $14. This can be translated as 7 pieces of 2 dollars = 14 dollars

Since the symbol "dog" was used in business, it was placed on the keyboards of all typewriters. He was present even on the first typewriter in the history of mankind "Underwood", which was released back in 1885. And only after a long 80 years, the symbol "dog" was inherited by the first computer keyboards.

Internet

She claims that the Internet symbol "dog" in e-mail addresses originated with an American engineer and computer scientist named Ray Tomlinson, who in 1971 was able to send the first ever electronic message over the network. In this case, the address had to be composed of two parts - the name of the computer through which the registration was made, and the username. Tomilson chose the symbol "dog" on the keyboard as the separator between the indicated parts, since it was not part of either computer names or user names.

Versions of the origin of the famous name "dog"

There are several possible versions of the origin of such a funny name in the world at once. First of all, the icon really does look a lot like a dog curled up.

In addition, the abrupt sound of the word at (the symbol for a dog in English is read that way) resembles a bit of a dog barking. It should also be noted that with a good imagination, you can consider in the symbol almost all the letters that make up the word "dog", except perhaps, excluding "k".

However, the most romantic can be called the following legend. Once upon a time, in that good time, when all computers were very large, and the screens were exclusively text, there was one popular game in the virtual kingdom, which was named, reflecting its content - "Adventure" (Adventure).

Its meaning was to travel through a labyrinth created by a computer in search of various treasures. There were, of course, also battles with underground harmful creatures. The labyrinth on the display was drawn using the symbols "-", "+", "!", and the player, hostile monsters and treasures were indicated by various icons and letters.

Moreover, according to the plot, the player was friends with a faithful assistant - a dog, which could always be sent for reconnaissance in the catacombs. It was designated just by the @ sign. Was this the root cause of the now generally accepted name, or, conversely, was the icon chosen by the developers of the game, because it was already called that? The legend does not provide answers to these questions.

What is the name of the virtual "dog" in other countries?

It is worth noting that in our country the symbol "dog" is also called a ram, an ear, a bun, a frog, a dog, even a kryakozyabra. In Bulgaria, it is "maymunsko a" or "klomba" (monkey A). In the Netherlands, monkey tail (apenstaartje). In Israel, the sign is associated with a whirlpool ("strudel").

The Spaniards, French and Portuguese call the designation similar to the measure of weight (respectively: arroba, arrobase and arrobase). If you ask about what the dog symbol means among the inhabitants of Poland and Germany, they will answer you that it is a monkey, a paper clip, a monkey ear or a monkey tail. It is considered a snail in Italy, calling it chiocciola.

The least poetic names were given to the symbol in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, calling it “snout a” (snabel-a) or elephant tail (tailed a). The most appetizing name can be considered a variant of the Czechs and Slovaks, who consider the sign a herring under a fur coat (rollmops). Greeks also carry out associations with cuisine, calling the designation “little pasta”.

For many, this is still a monkey, namely for Slovenia, Romania, Holland, Croatia, Serbia (majmun; alternative: “crazy A”), Ukraine (alternatives: snail, dog, dog). The terms Lithuania (eta - “this”, borrowing with the addition of a Lithuanian morpheme at the end) and Latvia (et - “et”) were borrowed from English. The variant of the Hungarians, where this cute sign has become a tick, can lead to discouragement.

Cat and mouse is played by Finland (cat's tail), America (cat), Taiwan and China (mouse). The inhabitants of Turkey turned out to be romantics (rose). And in Vietnam, this badge is called "crooked A".

Alternative hypotheses

It is believed that the name of the designation "dog" in Russian speech appeared thanks to the famous DVK computers. In them, the "dog" appeared during the boot of the computer. Indeed, the designation resembled a small dog. All DVK users, without saying a word, came up with a name for the symbol.

It is curious that the original spelling of the Latin letter "A" suggested decorating it with curls, thus it was very similar to the current spelling of the "dog" sign. The translation of the word "dog" into the Tatar language sounds like "at".

Where else can you find a "dog"?

There are a number of services that use this symbol (except for email): what is the name of the symbol dogHTTP, FTP, Jabber, Active Directory. In IRC, the character is placed before the name of the channel operator, for example, @oper.

The sign has also been widely used in the main programming languages. In Java, it is used to declare an annotation. In C#, needed to escape characters in a string. The operation of taking an address is appropriately denoted in Pascal. For Perl, this is an array identifier, and in Python, respectively, a decorator declaration. The field identifier for a class instance is a Ruby sign.

As for PHP, here the "dog" is used to suppress the output of an error, or to warn about a task that has already occurred at the time of execution. The symbol became the prefix of indirect addressing in MCS-51 assembler. In XPath, this is shorthand for the attribute axis, which selects a set of attributes for the current element.

Finally, Transact-SQL expects a local variable name to start with @ and a global variable name to start with two @. In DOS Batch Files, thanks to the symbol, the echo for the executed command is suppressed. The action designation as echo off mode is usually applied before the mode is entered to prevent a specific command from being displayed on the screen (for clarity: @echo off).

Most people think that the @ sign was invented by programmers. But this is far from true. A similar symbol was used long before the very concept of electronic communications. It is believed that similar signs in writing were used by monks in the Middle Ages.

The dog character on the keyboard was created by Tomlinson, who is better known as the creator of email. A character was required that would not occur in any name and would not confuse when writing email addresses. Today, this sign has become so popular that it was even introduced into Morse code.

This sign called "dog" is more known in post-Soviet countries. In the west, completely different names correspond to it. For example, in Italy it is “snail”, in Norway it is “elephant”, in America it is “cat”, in Germany it is “monkey”, in the Czech Republic it is “marinated herring”, in Serbia it is “crooked A”. The inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun approached this issue in the most original way. They called @ "whirlpool".

Interesting! According to one version, the name "dog" was assigned to the character on the keyboard due to the fact that @, resembles this animal curled up in a ball. Although there are more interesting options.

How to write the @ sign?

This symbol is visible at a glance. But beginners often wonder: how to write a dog on a computer keyboard, since nothing happens when you press it. The trick is that this character is only available with the English keyboard layout.

In order to understand how to make a dog on the keyboard, you first need to change the input language. To do this, on the "Taskbar", in the lower right corner, we find a sign that the Russian layout is enabled. It will be the character "RU".

Click on this letter. A mini-list will appear, where you must select "EN".

Click on these letters.

After that, to press the dog on the keyboard, you will need to use the key combination Shift and 2. The first is located at the bottom left, the second at the top.

All manipulations are very simple. The disadvantage is that if the user types in Russian, they will constantly have to change the input language, which is not very convenient.

With regard to the computer dog, everything is quite well known and reliably proven.

The capital letter “a” outlined by an incomplete circle has been used for a long time and is still used in the field of international commerce.

The @ sign is an abbreviation of the English phrase “at the rate of” in payment documents with the meaning “at the price per piece”.
In the general accounting sense, the English “at” can be translated as “in the account of such and such”.

So it is also logical that in the fall of 1971, one of the inventors of e-mail, Ray Samuel Tomlinson, came up with the idea of using the “@” sign to indicate the mail domain in an e-mail address.

User account in such and such a domain
user_name@domain_name

In addition to e-mail, the “dog” symbol can be found in other areas of computer science and Internet technologies.

In HTTP, FTP, Jabber, LDAP accounts, in a similar meaning - the login and domain separator.
As a lexical unit in most computer languages.
In the social network Twitter, as a symbol denoting a response to a tweet or quoting a user.

Useful for travelers and backpackers. In European countries, a road sign with the “@” symbol indicates public Internet access points.

Why is the @ symbol called a dog?

There are several legends why @ was called a dog. The following three versions look the most reliable.

The figure above shows the logo of one of the progenitors of the modern world wide web - Fidonet. As you can see, the nose of a sketchy pet is just indicated by the at symbol in a circle.

Another version looks even more plausible. At a time when the graphical interface had not yet been invented, a computer game called Adventure was popular. One of the characters was a scout dog, indicated in the playing field with the @ sign.

The third version looks far-fetched, but still has a distribution. On one of the first Soviet personal computers DVK, this symbol served as a splash screen when turned on. Allegedly, users saw a dog curled up in this squiggle. However, for such an interpretation it is necessary to have a fairly developed imagination.

How to pronounce dog icon in English and other languages

In Russian, there is a practice to call the symbol “@” “dog” or “dog”. The email address will be voiced by the following phrase.

“Username Dog Mail (Gmail, Yandex) Tochka Ru (or Kom)”.
In economics and commerce, accounting, the ligature @ is pronounced and described traditionally as “commercial Et” or “commercial at”.

In Anglo-Saxon computer terminology, “dog” is called “commercial ET”, without any reference to funny pets.

Pronounced @ in English, too, without any frills.

[email protected]
“Username E-mail dot ru”

It remains to be concluded that this time American national pragmatism worked. Our overseas partners decided that commercial at quite adequately reflects the meaning of the symbol.

“Account such and such, From the mail domain such and such.”

In some countries of the world, @ also has cool nicknames, like ours.

"Dog" - in the countries of the former USSR.
"Monkey" - in Bulgarian, German, Polish.
"Snail" - in Ukrainian, Italian.

In countries where the ligature @ was known long before the advent of computers, the former pronunciation of “at” or “commercial at” remained. This includes France, Spain and the UK.

How to type the @ symbol on the keyboard

There is no one-size-fits-all answer here. The problem is that there are many types of keyboards and varieties of character layouts.

Classic keyboard with “big keys” and traditional QWERTY layout in Latin or JTSUKEN in Cyrillic.

To enter @ on such a keyboard, switch to Latin mode and press the Shift key and the number “2” at the same time.

What should I do if there is no “dog” symbol on the keyboard?

In this case, there may be options.

Switch to symbolic keyboard. Switching can be done with the Alt keys, an asterisk “*”, or a special switch Smbl.

On mobile devices, smartphones and tablets, there is just a huge number of different keyboards. Some are specially designed for messengers and on such keyboards the dog symbol is implemented, for convenience and speed of typing addresses, as a separate key on the main layout.

On most touch keyboards for mobile devices, the “@” sign is inserted in the same way as on external keyboards for desktop computers and laptops.

What should I do if the @ symbol can't be found on my existing keyboard?

It happens. Then you should refer to the "Symbol Table", access to which is in the list of "Standard Programs" of OS Windows.

Illogically, the “dog” can be inserted through the “Insert” menu - “Symbols” in a text editor.

The “dog” symbol is included in the officially registered trademark and logo of the Mail.ru Group brand.

I must say, a very successful and profitable acquisition from the point of view of marketing.

First, the @ sign is quite organically associated with the email service.
Secondly, the symbol is known to everyone, is popular, so its use as a designation for various products and services of the Mail.ru holding always attracts attention and increases the number of customers. This means that business profits are also growing.

All Mail.ru products are marked with a doggie icon.

Email service.
Messenger Mail.ru Agent.
Amigo browser with Mail.ru search (capital “a” without a circle).

In the 1990s, when the @ sign was first tried to be translated into Russian, there were many equal options - “krakozyabra”, “squiggle”, “frog”, “ear” and others. True, at present they have practically disappeared, and the “dog” has spread throughout the Runet and has remained, because any language strives to have only one universal word for anything. The remaining titles remain marginal, although there may be a great many of them. For example, in English, the @ symbol is called not only the words commercial at, but also mercantile symbol, commercial symbol, scroll, arobase, each, about, etc. Where did the association between the main computer icon and a person's friend come from? For many, the @ symbol really does look like a curled up dog.

There is an exotic version that the abrupt pronunciation of English at can resemble dog barking. However, a much more likely hypothesis links our symbol to the very old Adventure computer game. It had to travel through the maze, fighting with various unpleasant underground creatures. Since the game was textual, the player himself, the walls of the labyrinth, monsters and treasures were designated by various symbols (say, the walls were built from "!", "+" and "-"). The player in Adventure was accompanied by a dog that could be sent out on reconnaissance missions. It was denoted by the @ symbol. Perhaps it is thanks to this now forgotten computer game that the name "dog" has taken root in Russia.

The @ sign is everywhere in today's world, especially since it has become an integral part of an email address. But this symbol was part of the layout of the standard American typewriter long before the computer era, and became computer only because it was relatively little used. The @ sign is used in commercial calculations - in the meaning of "at the price" (at the rate). Let's say 10 gallons of oil at $3.95 per gallon would be shorthand: 10 gal of oil @ $3.95/gal. In English-speaking countries, the symbol is also used in science in the meaning of "at": for example, a density of 1.050 g/cm at 15 °C would be written: 1.050 g/cm @ 15 °C. In addition, the @ sign is loved and often used by anarchists due to its similarity to their symbol - "A in a circle."

However, its original origin is shrouded in mystery. From the point of view of the linguist Ullmann, the @ symbol was invented by medieval monks to shorten the Latin ad ("on", "in", "in relation to" and so on), which is very similar to its current use. Another explanation is given by the Italian scientist Giorgio Stabile - he discovered this symbol in the records of the Florentine merchant Francesco Lapi for 1536 in the meaning of "amphora": for example, the price of one @ wine.

Interestingly, the Spaniards and the Portuguese call the character in emails exactly “amphora” (arroba) - a word that the French, distorting, turned into arobase. However, in different countries there are a variety of names for the @ symbol, most often zoological.

The Poles call it "monkey", the Taiwanese - "mouse", the Greeks - "duck", the Italians and Koreans - "snail", the Hungarians - "worm", the Swedes and Danes - "elephant trunk", the Finns - "cat's tail" or " meow sign, and the Armenians, like us, - "doggie". There are gastronomic names - "strudel" in Israel and "rollmops" (marinated herring) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In addition, often this symbol is simply called "crooked A", or "A with a curl", or, as the Serbs, "crazy A".

However, the most surprising of the modern stories associated with the @ symbol occurred in China, where the sign is tritely called "A in a circle." A few years ago, a Chinese couple gave this name to a newborn. Perhaps the sign began to be perceived as a hieroglyph symbolizing technological progress, and they decided that it would bring happiness and success to the young inhabitant of the Middle Kingdom.

We owe the distribution of this symbol on the Internet to the forefather of e-mail, Tomlinson. He was the one who chose the @ symbol. When asked much later why he chose this particular icon, he replied simply:

I searched the keyboard for a character that could not be found in any name and cause confusion.

Such a symbol was needed by Tomlinson at the time when he was working on the creation of a messaging system in the Arpanet network (the progenitor of the Internet). In fact, he had to come up with a new addressing scheme that would identify not only the recipients, but also the computers on which their mailboxes were located. To do this, Tomlinson needed a separator, and his, in general, random choice fell on the @ sign. The first network address was [email protected]

In Russia, users most often refer to the @ symbol as “dog”, which is why e-mail addresses formed from personal names and surnames sometimes take on unexpected coloring. It is curious that the symbol of the dog is used in their work by both folk talents (for example, the joke: “The dog is gone, @ do not offer”), and official hokhmachi - KVN people (for example, “ [email protected]»).

According to one version, the icon really looks like a curled up dog

But still: why "dog"? There are several versions of the origin of this funny name.

First, the badge really looks like a curled up dog.
Secondly, the abrupt sound of the English "at" is a bit like a dog barking.

Thirdly, with a fair amount of imagination, you can consider almost all the letters included in the word “dog” in the outlines of the symbol, well, perhaps, with the exception of “k”.

But the most romantic is the following legend:

Once upon a time, when computers were big and displays were exclusively text, there was a popular game with the simple name "Adventure" ("Adventure"). Its meaning was to travel through a computer-generated labyrinth in search of treasures and battles with harmful underground creatures.

At the same time, the labyrinth on the screen was drawn with the symbols "!", "+" and "-", and the player, treasures and hostile monsters were indicated by various letters and icons. Moreover, according to the plot, the player had a faithful assistant - a dog who could be sent to the catacombs for reconnaissance. And it was designated, of course, by the @ sign.

Whether this was the root cause of the now generally accepted name, or, conversely, the icon was chosen because it was already called that, the legend is silent about this.

In fairness, it should be noted that in Russia a “dog” is also called a dog, a frog, a bun, an ear, a ram, and even a kryakozyabra.

In other countries, this symbol is associated with different objects. The following is a far from complete list of how the "@" symbol is called in other countries.

Bulgaria - klomba or maimunsko, a ("monkey A");
Netherlands - apenstaartje ("monkey's tail");
Israel - "strudel";
Spain - as well as a measure of weight "arroba";
France - the same measure of weight "arrobase";
Germany, Poland - monkey tail, monkey ear, paperclip, monkey;
Italy - "chiocciola" - snail;

Denmark, Norway, Sweden - "snabel-a" - "snout a" or elephant trunk;
Czech Republic, Slovakia - rollmops (marinated herring);
America, Finland - cat;
China, Taiwan - a mouse;
Turkey - rose;
Serbia - "crazy A";
Vietnam - "twisted A";
Ukraine - “ravlik” (snail), “doggie” or, again, “dog”;

Yes, calling the @ sign a dog is quite acceptable (in any case, this jargon is not shy on television and in the press, although they can hardly serve as examples of correct behavior and expression of one's thoughts). However, it would be better to understand what is at stake, and if your counterpart does not understand you, then quickly correct yourself and issue a different (officially correct, not jargon) sound designation of the @ symbol.

Actually, it is pronounced like "et" (from the English at). In encoding standards, this character is written as "commercial at". Why commercial? Well, because the English word at itself is a preposition, which, depending on the context, has several translation variations in Russian (meanings - the Russian language is great and mighty). For example, it can be the preposition "on", "by" or "in" (sometimes "near"), but in general it usually indicates a location.

By the way, that is why its symbolic designation (the @ sign) was chosen to display Email addresses. See how everything falls into place. My mail [email protected] is laid out on the shelves in "admin on (at) ktonanovenkogo.ru", i.e. admin user on the host (server, site) ktonanovenkogo.ru. But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit. We had a question - why "@" is called the commercial at. Here again, everything is quite logical.

For abbreviations in English accounts (accounting documentation), several hundred years ago, it became customary to write a single @ sign instead of the word at. For example, like this: 7 articles @ 5 thousand rubles = 35 thousand rubles. If you decipher it, it will turn out: writing seven articles "for" 5 thousand rubles apiece will cost 35 thousand rubles. Thus, the question of why @ is called the commercial at can be considered finished. Move on.

Because accounts (accounting) is a serious matter, then with the advent of the first serial typewriters they began to add, in addition to ordinary letters and numbers, the sign "dogs" (in their language). Well, since personal computers largely inherited their layout from typewriters, then the @ symbol successfully migrated to the keyboards of PC users. Thus, we traced the path of the @ sign from the Middle Ages to the second half of the last century quite clearly.

But why exactly "dog" (at) was chosen as a separator in Email addresses? Well, here it is worth mentioning that @ is used as a separator not only in email addresses, but also in the standard record of the URL address (http or ftp). Using it, they separate the login with a password from, in fact, the address of the page that is being accessed (for details, see the link). But this URL format is rare, and for the vast majority of Internet users, the stumbling block is in the Email address.

As I already (hurriedly) mentioned a little higher, the addition of the “et” sign as a separator was quite logical (based on the meaning of the word at and the use of its analogue in the form of the @ symbol in bourgeois accounting). Those. any e-mail address can be easily pronounced as: petrov on gmai.com (and this will be eminently correct and true).

Everything is clear and there are no questions with dogs. If you once again plunge into history, then a certain Tomlinson (a programmer, of course) was the first to introduce this type of recording into use already in shaggy 1971. With the help of this entry, the user name (nickname) and the host (computer, server) on which this user had to be searched were separated.

With a Russian-language keyboard layout, in order to insert the @ sign into the text, you will first need to switch to English using hot keys (depending on the OS settings, this can be done by pressing Shift + Alt or Shift + Control), or by clicking by the language selection icon in the tray (lower right area of the screen). @ lives above the number 2, i.e. to insert it, you will need to hold down Shift and press the deuce (for beginners in using a PC, I chew it).

So why is the @ symbol called a dog in RuNet?

Naturally, at that time, in the vastness of the Runet (which did not yet exist), no one knew about this. The initial computerization of the majority of the Russian-speaking mass of users began only in the 80s, and it was then that the jargon “dog” (dog) appeared to denote the sign separating the spelling of the Email address. Email In general, mail was one of the first aspects of the World Wide Web (WWW) that a novice PC and Internet user (when it appeared) got acquainted with.

There is no exact information about who or what triggered the viral spread of this meme (Internet jargon). There are several assumptions, and all of them are rightly based on the fact that in the 80s there were no graphics familiar to us - neither in games, nor in operating systems. Everything was test, or rather symbolic.

For example, in games, with the help of various icons, they displayed characters, created entourage and locations. I still remember the flying-shooter, on which I spent money in the Internet club during my childhood - everything was drawn there with arrows, sticks and stars. But what a buzz I experienced then from the game! It is no longer possible to understand, repeat or explain this now (one can only remember with longing).

So, there are several versions explaining the assignment of the name “dog” or “doggy” to the @ icon (probably this option is more often used by ladies). According to one of them, it was the rpg game that was popular at that time that served as the starting point for the viral distribution of the meme (I personally did not play it, or I completely forgot). In it, along with the hero, a dog traveled, which either in whole or in part (her nose) was displayed using the @ symbol. In this case, the association is quite understandable and explainable.

According to another version, the special spelling of the @ sign on some computers that were popular at that time in runet was to blame for everything. This sign was drawn with a shortened tail and looked very much like a dog.

The @ symbol looked like a dog on older computers

In addition, it was always displayed when loading, and once a name mentioned by someone could find support and begin to spread virally enough to break through the generation line, completely losing its original meaning.

In general, the @ symbol is called a dog for a long time we no longer understand why. It's just a rudiment - everyone is talking and I'm talking. Is it worth it to continue this bacchanalia? Why not. This makes Russian-speaking netizens even more mysterious in the eyes of foreigners.

Although they themselves do not lag behind and often instead of the English “at” they pronounce something like “snail” (indeed, the @ sign looks like a snail - certainly more than a dog), “monkey”, “but with a tail” (trunk , curl), “duck”, “roll”, etc. (I would also add the statement “some kind of crap” by Voronin Sr. from the series, because it also fits). The imagination of people is limitless.

P.S. By the way, I want to correct myself. “Dog” (aka “et”), after all, found a residence permit not only in email addresses. With the growing popularity of the Twitter microblogging service, we can say that it has successfully established itself there as well. After all, the @ sign is always placed before the user's name, for example, when replying to his message.

There are several versions of the origin of such an interesting name.

The first of these, of course, says that the symbol really does resemble a dog curled up.

Another version is connected with the abrupt sound of at (as this icon is read in English), which is extremely reminiscent of a dog barking. And also, if you have a good enough imagination, you can consider in the symbol all the letters that make up the word "dog" (except "k", of course).

Dog draws a doggy symbol

There is another legend. Once upon a time, back in the era of the first computers, there was such a game called "Adventure". In this toy, you had to walk through the labyrinths created by the computer and collect all kinds of treasures, while fighting terrible underground monsters along the way.

For the graphic creation of the labyrinth, the symbols "!", "+", "-" were used, and the game character, treasures and monsters were indicated using different letters and signs. According to the plot, the player was helped by his faithful dog, whom he sent to scout the catacombs. It was this four-legged assistant that was designated by the “@” sign.

But was this the reason for the appearance of the generally accepted name, or did the creators of the game choose the sign, since the symbol was already called that? The legend cannot answer these questions.

How is a "dog" called in other states?

In Russia:

Kryakozyabray, frog, bun, ear, ram and, of course, a dog.

In Bulgaria:

Klomba, Maimunsko.

In Israel:

Strudel (whirlpool).

In the Netherlands:

Apenstaarje (monkey tail).

In Portugal, France, Spain:

Arrobase, arroba.

In Germany and Poland:

Monkey, tail, ear, paperclip.

In Serbia, Croatia, Holland, Romania, Slovenia:

Also a monkey.

In Italy:

Chiocciola (snail).

In Denmark, Norway, Scotland:

Elephant tail, snout.

In Slovenia and the Czech Republic:

Rollmops (herring under a fur coat).

In Greece:

"little pasta"

In Latvia:

This (a borrowed English word "eta" with a Lithuanian morpheme added to it at the end).

In Hungary:

In Vietnam:

Crooked "A".

In Turkey:

Rose.

In China and Taiwan:

Little mouse.

In America:

In Finland:

Cat tail.

Where else is "dog" found?

In addition to the “electronic”, this symbol is used by a number of services: Active Directory, Jabber, FTP, HTTP. On IRC, it is placed before the channel operator's name.

This sign is very widely used in the main programming languages:

In Ruby, this is a field indicator for an instance of a class.
In Python, the declaration of a detector.
For Perl, an array indicator.
In Pascal, it means taking an address.
When working in C#, it is used to escape characters present in a string.
Java experts use it when creating annotation declarations.

In PHP, the "dog" suppresses the output of an error or warns about it if it occurred during the implementation of the task.
In assembler, MCS-51 is an indirect addressing prefix.
In XPath, used to shorten an axis attribute.
Transact-SQL instructs a local variable name to start with @, and a global variable name to start with a pair of these characters.

The “@” symbol in the domestic segment of the Internet is called that way, since its appearance very much resembles a four-legged friend curled up in a ball. It is difficult to say exactly who and when first applied such a description.

But in other countries there are other names. For example, in Turkey, the “@” sign is called “rose”, and in Israel - “strudel” (such a delicious cake that resembles a roll).

Application area

On a laptop, you need to type the “dog” sign in the following situations:

When you enter an email address. It consists of three parts - first comes the unique username, then the "@" symbol, and then the mail domain. Example: [email protected];

In the process of working with text editors, when you are editing a document and you need to insert the specified character in a specific place;

In some programming languages, "doggy" is an integral part of the syntax, so it is actively used when writing code.

What buttons to press to type "dog"?

Let's start by looking at the most common and easiest way. I am sure you have already noticed that the element we need is located on the number key 2.

Where is the "dog" on the keyboard

Switch to the English keyboard layout so that "EN" is displayed in the lower right corner of the task area. Various keyboard shortcuts can be used for this (left Alt + Shift or Shift + Ctrl). Or we hover the mouse cursor over "RU" and click the left button, after which we select the desired option from the list. You can learn more about how to enable English.

How to type "dog" on the keyboard - three ways for PC and laptop

Now we open the window of the application you need, where we would like to type the “dog” symbol on the keyboard. It can be Word editor, Excel spreadsheet, Gmail email client or any other program.

Move the cursor to the place where you plan to insert a special character, click the left mouse button. A blinking vertical bar should appear in the input line.

On the keyboard, press and hold Shift (it doesn't matter which side), and then press the number 2 with your finger, which also has an @ symbol next to it. That is, the desired combination looks like this - Shift + 2.

Shift+2
Please note that on the British layout (English-UK) the combination will be different - Shift + E.

The described method can be used in any application running the Windows operating system. But there are several disadvantages: there is a need to change the language layout, and if one of the required buttons does not work, then nothing will work for us. But don't worry, we'll look at other ways later.

Paste from clipboard

Also a universal solution, which consists in copying the desired character from a previously prepared template into the target document. The only drawback is that you first need to “stock up on a dog” by copying it from any source on the Internet. But if you are not online, then the task is much more difficult.
By the way, you can learn more about the clipboard and its clearing in one of my publications.

As mentioned above, first we need to find an important icon in the "global web". If you are reading this text, then the problem is solved.

Select one or more objects and the previous line with the mouse, then immediately right-click, select the "Copy" command from the menu that appears (or use the combination Ctrl + C:

Copy "dog" from the Internet

Thus, we have placed the element in the RAM area. At the next stage, you need to go to the utility window, where you would like to make a “dog” on your computer. Paste in the required place really with the combination Ctrl + V .

Undoubtedly, the path is longer than in the first solution. But you can easily attach a standard “Sticky Notes” note to your desktop, put the required symbol in it once, so that you don’t waste time searching for it on the net later.

Dogs in Sticky Notes

As an option, it’s really possible to launch the “Symbol Table” (it is also a built-in functionality of a Windows computer, we find it through the search bar), double-click on the required object, then “Copy”:

"Doggy" in the symbol table

It is convenient to use the described paths when you want to type "dog" if the button does not work (meaning Shift or 2).

Not many people know that each character on the keyboard corresponds to the numeric value of the unified ASCII code. To apply this tool in our case, you need to follow the elementary steps:

We put the cursor at the place of the desired insertion;
Hold down the Alt button;
Without releasing, on the digital block on the right we type 0, 6 and 4. That is, the code for the sign "@" is "064";
We release Alt, after which the symbol “dog” immediately appears in the document.

Also on the keyboard you can find several symbols on the key, for unknown reasons they do not all and do not always work.
Let's see how to solve this problem, and in order for all characters to be entered, you need to know their input rules.

1. Some of the characters are entered with the Shift key pressed. Suppose if we need to enter a question mark, we must press the Shift key and, while holding it, press the key 7. If at the same time we type the sign &, then this means only one thing, that at the moment we have English enabled.

2. As you most likely noticed, on some keys, for example, the numbers 2, 3 or 4 have two characters. On the number 2, the symbol # and #. Those characters that are on the left key are typed with the English language turned on with the Shift key pressed, and those that are on the right with the Russian language turned on and the Shift key pressed accordingly. It turns out that to type the symbol # we turn on the English language, press Shift and press the 3 key, and in order to type the number, turn on the Russian language, press Shift and press 3. That's it!

3. Those keys that are on the additional keyboard on the left work differently. It all depends on whether the Num Lock key is enabled. If it is enabled and the indicator is on, then you can print numbers, and they will be printed, if it is disabled, then no numbers will be printed, and those keys that are under and above the numbers will be used for other purposes. For example, where the key says ". Del", then with the Num Lock key disabled, it will no longer be used as a point in the calculator, it will already serve as a key for deleting the selected file, folder, etc.

How to print characters

In order to enter characters such as ?!№, etc., you need to hold down the Shift key and, while holding it, press the desired key.

If you want to put the sign "dog", and quotes are put instead, then this indicates that you have the Russian keyboard layout enabled. In order to type the sign "dog" you need to switch the keyboard to English. If you do not know how to do this, then our article on how to switch the font on the keyboard will help you. All upper characters located on the buttons with numbers are entered when the English language is on with the Shift key pressed, and other characters are entered when the Russian language is on.

There are keys on the right side of the keyboard that work a little differently. This block with keys may be missing if you have a netbook. So, if the Num Lock key is enabled, then the characters are printed, if not, then you need to press this key and these characters are unlocked.

If you have tried all the methods, and the dog sign does not appear, then just copy it and paste it where you need it.

To print all the characters that are on the keys, you need to know how they are entered.

1. Some characters are entered with the Shift key pressed. If you want to enter a colon character, you need to press Shift and hold down the button and press the 6 key.

If you type the degree sign - ^ instead of a colon, then you have English enabled.

2. Some characters - for example, characters printed on the buttons with numbers, are entered when the Russian or English input language is on. The upper first characters on the buttons with numbers are entered when the English language is on with the Shift key pressed, the other upper characters are entered when the Russian language is on and the Shift key is pressed.

3. The buttons on the right side of the keyboard work differently depending on whether the Num Lock key is pressed and the indicator is on. If the lock key is pressed, then you can print numbers, if the numbers are not printed there, then we decide it is disabled and most likely the corresponding indicator on the keyboard is off.

So, in order to put an e-mail sign, you need to switch to English and press shift and 2.

It will turn out like this - @, and if you get quotes, then you have the Russian layout turned on. When is this sign needed?

The symbol "dogs" on the keyboard must be typed, as a rule, in three cases:

1. When dialing an electronic box. Be sure to enter the name of the box itself, as well as the mail service, which are separated by a "dog".
2. When typing a text document.
3. In the process of editing specialized program codes. For example, when typing the text of a batch file with the extension "*.bat", the symbol is used to highlight comments.

main way

The easiest way to type the sign "dog" on the keyboard is to use the English layout. This symbol is provided in its extended set. You need to do the following:

1. Switch to English input language. To do this, you can press a special keyboard shortcut or use the language bar.
2. Go to the application where you need to enter the "@" symbol. Before that, it must be launched, and before searching for the “dog”, it must be minimized.
3. Hold down the "Alt" key immediately, and then, without releasing it, hold down "Tab" until the pointer in the window that opens moves to the required application.

4. Move the mouse pointer over the input field and perform a single left-click.
5. When a flashing pointer appears in the input field, you need to hold down the "Shift" key and, while holding it, press "2". This button is located at the top of the keyboard.

When you press a keyboard shortcut to change the language, use the "Alt" + "Shift" or "Ctrl" + "Shift" buttons. The language bar is located at the bottom of the screen, in the right corner. To select English, just move the mouse pointer to the specified area, and click the left button. As a result, a list will open in which you should select "En".

When all the above actions are performed correctly, this symbol will appear in the workspace of the open application. It is worth noting that the presented method is universal, it works on all computers running the Windows operating system. Truth. It has one disadvantage, which is the need to switch to English. However, this must be done, otherwise when you click on the "2" button, quotes will be entered that are assigned to it in the Russian keyboard.

Using the clipboard

There is another way, the solution is to enter "dog" on the keyboard. It provides for the use of the clipboard. This method is also able to work on all computers running the Windows operating system. The main drawback is the need for the original symbol to be present. It is easy to get it on a device that is connected to the Internet. On a separate computer, this is quite problematic.

The sequence of actions in this case is as follows:

1. The original "@" sign is found. This is easy to do in the browser.

2. Any Internet viewer installed on the computer is launched, and after that, the “dog sign” is entered in the search box and “Enter” is pressed.

3. In the list of answers, this symbol is selected and highlighted when using the left mouse button.
4. The selected character is placed on the clipboard by pressing the key combination "Ctrl" and "C" or using the context menu. It is invoked with the right mouse button.

5. A list will open on the screen, where the “Copy” item is selected.

6. Goes to the application in which you want to insert the "@" symbol. If a browser is needed, go to its tab. If you are using another application, you must switch using the taskbar.

7. Previously, the application should be launched, and before searching for the “dog” sign, collapse.
8. Next, click the left mouse button in the input field.

9. When the input cursor appears, you must press the "Ctrl" and "C" buttons. You can also use the context menu, but in this case, the "Insert" item is used.

If we compare this method with the previous one, we can understand that it requires more actions to be performed. The main disadvantage of this method is the requirement to have the original symbol, which is not available on every device.

Using the code

There is another way to enter "dog" on the keyboard. It is based on the use of ASCII codes.

The sequence of actions is as follows:

1. Make the input field of the application active by clicking the left mouse button.
2. When the blinking cursor appears, hold down the right Alt key and, while holding it, the combination “064” is typed on the numeric keypad in a certain sequence.
3. "Alt" is released, after which the "@" symbol appears.

The presented method is able to work with any keyboard layout. Its main drawback is the need to remember a special code, which is not always possible.

When is it needed?

The sign "dogs" on the keyboard is typed mainly in three cases:

When dialing an e-mail box. In it, the name of the box itself and the mail service are necessarily separated by the symbol "dog".

When typing a text document, in which, again, the same symbol is found - “@”.
When editing specialized program codes For example, when typing a command file (it has the *.bat extension), the "dog" is used to highlight comments.

Basic way

The easiest way to type "dog" on the keyboard is to use the English layout. This character is included in her expanded set. In this case, the dialing algorithm is as follows:

Switch to English input language. This operation can be performed using a special keyboard shortcut or using the language bar. In the first case, the combinations “Alt” + “Shift” or “Ctrl” + “Shift” are most often used. But the language bar is located on the taskbar in the lower right corner of the screen - to switch, you need to move the pointer of the manipulator, left-click and select the English language in the list with the same button - the abbreviation "En" corresponds to it.

Next, switch to the application in which you need to enter the "@" symbol. It must first be launched, and then collapsed before searching for the "dog". We immediately hold down the “Alt” key and, without releasing it, press “Tab” until the pointer in the window that appears moves to the application we need (for example, to the browser window). Then we move the mouse pointer over the input field and make a single left-click on it.

After the blinking pointer appears in the input field, hold down the "Shift" key (both left and right can be used) and, without releasing it, press "2" at the top of the symbolic keyboard. It also has an "@" symbol on it. After that, the required symbol should appear in the workspace of the open application.

This method is universal and works on all computers running the Windows OS. Its only drawback is the need to switch to English. If this is not done, then quotation marks will be entered, which are assigned to this key in the Russian keyboard. Therefore, you need to enter only the symbol "dog" in English.

Using the clipboard

Another way to solve such a problem as typing "dog" on the keyboard is to use the clipboard. Again, it should be noted that this method works on all PCs with the Windows operating system. Its main disadvantage is the need for the original symbol. Just get it on a personal computer connected to the global web. But on a separate computer it will be very difficult to do. The procedure for solving this problem in this case is as follows:

Find the original "@" character. The easiest way to do this is in a browser. We launch any installed Internet browser and in the search box we enter "doggy sign" and press "Enter". In the list of answers we find this symbol and select it using the left button of the manipulator.

At the next stage, the selected character must be placed on the clipboard. To do this, just press the key combination "Ctrl" and "C". You can also use the context menu called by the right mouse button for these purposes. In the list that opens, select Copy.

Then we go to the application in which we need to insert the "@" symbol. If this is a browser, then go to its corresponding tab. If this is another application, then we switch to it using the taskbar (it must first be launched, and then minimized before searching for the “dog”).

Then you need to click the left button of the manipulator in the input field. After the input cursor appears, press the "Ctrl" and "C" keys. You can also use the context menu, but now you need to use the "Insert" item.

In comparison with the previous method, in this case, you need to perform more actions. And another key disadvantage of this method is the need for the source symbol, which can not be obtained on every PC.

With code

Another way to put "dog" on the keyboard is based on the use of ASCII codes. In this case, the dialing order is:

We make the input field of the application active with a single click of the left button of the manipulator.
After the blinking cursor appears, hold down the right “Alt” key and, without releasing it, sequentially type the combination “064” on the numeric keypad.

Then we release "Alt" - after that "@" should appear.

This method works with any keyboard layout. Its main disadvantage is the need to remember a special code, which is not always possible.

If you are in the Russian layout and instead of EN you have RU, then switch the language by simultaneously pressing the Shift + Alt or Shift + Ctrl keys. The working combination on each computer is different, but by clicking on both, you will definitely change the language.

Now that we're in the right language, it's time to press the dog on the keyboard. To do this, first place the mouse cursor where the dog should be printed and click there with the mouse. A black vertical bar will flash there - the cursor.
Now, while holding Shift, press 2 to write dog on the keyboard.

Save the picture so you don't lose it! Right-click and then "Save Image As..."
What if the dog is not typed and other characters appear, like "

This may mean that the language has not switched, and you are still in the Russian layout. And if not, then the operating system is set to the wrong keyboard layout. It's okay, we'll fix it manually now. You no longer have to copy the @ symbol every time you type an email address.

1. Click on the language on the desktop with the right mouse button, and click on the "Options" menu.

2. You will be taken to a menu that looks like the picture below. There you should have 2 keyboard languages available: Russian (Russia) and English (USA). If this is not the case, then click "Add" and in the menu that appears, select the "English (USA)" layout. Then delete unnecessary layouts in which you did not type a dog.

Here is a dog, still dares not to type! Although the above method solves 99.9% of dog recruitment problems, it does happen. But only in the most advanced cases.

There is another way to type dog on the keyboard - turn on the numeric keypad on the right with the Num Lock key (the indicator light will light up), and while holding the Alt key, type 64 on the numeric keypad. After that, release Alt, and a dog will appear on the screen.
How to type dog on the keyboard? What to do if not recruited

The last way to type a dog on the keyboard is to call up the Windows special character table and copy the character from there. You can also from our article, here it is: @.

How to call the windows special characters table

To do this, go to the Start menu - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Character Table. Or just type in the search on the Start menu: “character table”.

The character table (in the figure below) contains the entire set of characters that can and cannot be typed from the keyboard. Including the dog, which is in the forefront.

In addition to this character, there are others on the keyboard, such as quotation marks, colons, etc. - *?:%; № "!~.

Also on the keyboard you can find several symbols on the key, for unknown reasons they do not all and do not always work. Let's see how to solve this problem, and in order for all characters to be entered, you need to know their input rules.

Some of the characters are entered with the Shift key pressed. Suppose if we need to enter a question mark, we must press the Shift key and, while holding it, press the key 7. If at the same time we type the sign &, then this means only one thing, that at the moment we have English enabled.

As you most likely noticed, on some keys, for example, the numbers 2, 3 or 4 have two characters. On the number 2, the symbol # and #. Those characters that are on the left key are typed with the English language turned on with the Shift key pressed, and those that are on the right with the Russian language turned on and the Shift key pressed accordingly. It turns out that to type the symbol # we turn on the English language, press Shift and press the key 3, and in order to type the number, we turn on the Russian language, press Shift and press 3.

Those keys that are on the additional keyboard on the left work differently. It all depends on whether the Num Lock key is enabled. If it is enabled and the indicator is on, then you can print numbers, and they will be printed, if it is disabled, then no numbers will be printed, and those keys that are under and above the numbers will be used for other purposes. For example, where the key says ". Del", then with the Num Lock key disabled, it will no longer be used as a point in the calculator, it will already serve as a key for deleting the selected file, folder, etc.

And here's another way to write with different characters "Character Table" (a standard application of the Windows operating system), we find it along the path Start => Programs => Accessories => System Tools => Symbol Table.

It's very simple - you just need to do this:
1 - switch the keyboard layout to English - ENG;
2 - press the button Control - Ctrl;
3 - press the key 2.