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Monster©
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 4054
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, July 15, 2006 - 3:06 pm: | 
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http://blog.rickbreslin.com/blog/backslash_or_forward_slash.asp
Quote:
Backslash vs. Forward Slash
There Is a Right Way To Refer To This
Ok, I've heard this term used incorrectly way too often. It's starting to make me (a self-confessed web geek since 1996) cringe every time I hear a "professional" reference to it in advertisements, meetings, and general conversation.
There is no such thing as a FORWARD SLASH!
Furthermore, when spelling out a web address, the character is correctly referred to as a slash, not a backslash. Here's a diagram to help:
/ = this little guy leans forward
\ = this little guy leans back
So www.rickbreslin.com/music reads "double u double u double u dot rick breslin dot com slash music."
I know, I know, why not call it a "forwardslash" if it leans forward? Well, why not call it "forwardpeddling" or "forwardspace?" Answer: you just don't.
I know this seems like a bitchy, know-it-all type of post, but it's honestly meant to hopefully get indexed by Google. The next time a copywriter (not a copyrighter) looks up the proper usage of the "slash," they can write their client's ad with the correct annunciation for the voiceover guy.
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Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 15042
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, July 15, 2006 - 3:17 pm: |
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It's because the writers of DOS decided to mimic CP/M. CP/M had a command line, and options to the commmands started with a slash. Then when DOS added the ability to have hard disks and directories, it couldn't mimic unix, which uses slashes to separate names of directories. So it chose the backslash.
And backslash became the more common character than slash. Or at least more familiar.
And backslash became a normal word. When training my boss with DOS in 1985 and she wanted a slash, she'd call it "the other backslash." Yeah, OK.
Sometimes I hear people spell URLs as "h t t p colon backslash backslash w w w dot ibm dot com". Uch.
I really don't mind the term forward slash. It's redundant, but it's not wrong, either. Sometimes I say regular slash.
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John
Citizen
Username: Jdm
Post Number: 83
Registered: 3-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, July 15, 2006 - 10:17 pm: |
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Acoustic guitar |
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