What “@” Means to Me

When I was younger, Mom used to leave notes on the kitchen table telling us where she was. Usually, it said something like “Gone to store. Be home @ 3:00.”

I grew up thinking “@” means “around” or “about.” That’s because Mom was never on time. She never came home when she said she would. I thought “@ 3:00” meant “around 3:00” because she usually came home at least 30 minutes (even an hour) past the time she wrote on her note. I mean, look at the @ symbol: it makes sense that it could be “around” because it’s an A with a circle drawn around it. Right?

So in my head, the @ symbol has always meant something besides “at.” It was all fine and dandy in Elizabeth World, until the Internet made “@” a useful and recurring symbol. But in my shorthand, “@” can mean three different things. I still use it as “about” or “around” in my notes. In fact, I just used it tonight at church when taking notes on the sermon.

Does anyone else have a shorthand symbol for “about” or “around,” so I can put “@” in its rightful place in my mind?

And now, between this “@” post and this last post, you can finally see the depth of crazy that lives inside my head. I’ll work harder to conceal it from now on!