quod erat demonstrandum the ampersand is over us
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This is a book about the ampersand. I’m calling it that. Some call it “and”-sign or “et”-sign and some the “et”-ligature and there is no determined word for it in swedish dictionaries. It has been present in swedish writing at least since we stopped using the gothic alphabet which is several hundreds of years ago but there is no word for it. This is one of the things I’ve been pondering while writing this book that is my bachelor work in design at HDK, Gothenburg. Another question that has come up is what I want to say with my work? I’ve gotten that question several times but the work is not founded on me wanting to say something special or making a statement . This work is founded on the fascination and exploration of the little detail. On how something as small and seemingly insignificant as a complementary glyph for the latin alphabet can have such a rich history that you can use it as an indicator on the history of the entire western european writing the last 2000 years. On how almost every professional with ties to text has some sort of relation to it. Whether it’s graphic designers, typographers, calligraphers, writers or linguists. This book is therefore dedicated more to the joy of curious investigation and historical research and to the exploration of a beautiful sign than to me saying anything. Keep that in mind. Edvin Thungren 2011
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BCDFGHNOPRa early cursive to carolingian minuscule
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&? The ampersand or the and-/et-sign as it’s often referred to is a ligature of the latin word for and; et. A ligature is a joining of letters with the purpose of quickening the writing. It’s not the length of the word but its frequency that compels forth the abbreviations and “and” is one of the most frequently used words in most languages. But the history of the and-sign didn’t start there. It started a long time ago in Rome, sometime in the century just prior to the birth of Christ. As the story goes a former slave now secretary to Cicero called Marcus Tullius Tiro invented a shorthand system for writing notes on wax plates, later known as Tironian notes. His writing would set standard for stenography and leave traces way in to modern times. Not least through his and-sign, nowadays referred to as a Tironian seven as its looks reminds of the modern number 7. [PIC] At the end of antiquity, around 300 A.D. the old Tironian writing system was being phased out to make place for the more modern cursive writing that was adapted for papyrus and parchment and in many ways is similar to the cursive writing of today. Ligatures was used diligently for all sorts of different letter combinations and abbreviations. As a result writing was getting more and more unreadable and because of that Charlemagne ordered in the ninth century A.D. that language and writing should be reformed into a standard. The result of which is known as the Carolingian minuscule. It’s based on a lot of different older components but is mainly a stylization of the young roman cursive. In favor of clarity and readability all ligatures was removed except one; the e+t-ligature [PIC] Initially the ligature was used generally on every situation where the e+t occurred and could even be seen overlapping word boundaries. [PIC] However its application was changed gradually and in the twelfth century the usage almost solely was as an and-sign. Change is also seen
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in the transformation from the e+t-ligature into something contorted. [PIC] Around the turn of the thirteenth century a total change in style is made in connection to the gothic style art movement taking over from romanesque style. The looks of the writing is changed and several characters from prior to the Carolingian minuscule was reinstated. One of these, the Tironian seven replaces the e+t-ligature entirely. [PIC] For the following two hundred years until around 1400 A.D. there was a total domination of gothic script or “blackletter” in the entire western Europe, something that would linger on in northern Europe for another couple of hundred years. In Germany as late as the 20th century. What started ousting the gothic script in the 15th century was the humanist script that arose in Italy. The writing, or the Humanist minuscule as it is also known, was based on old handwritten documents in the style of the Carolingian minuscule from the eleventh century. It included pretty clear ligatures of e+t unlike the twelfth century ones and in most cases they were only used for “and”. The printed styles that later was based on the Humanist scripture is called antiquas or humanist antiquas. [PIC] So when did the e+t-ligature become an “and”-symbol in other languages then Italian? In the roman languages it spread early on since their word for “and” already was “et”. It also came early to England where Humanist writing and antiquas is used as early as during the sixteenth century. The german and nordic speaking languages, with their blackletter and fraktur as a common script based on blackletter is called, held on to their old styles much longer and used Humanist writing for latin and the occasional french poetry only. During the seventeenth century gothic writing is entirely ousted in England and there are plenty of e+t-ligatures for “and”. Thanks to the Humanist writing master sheets and printing houses’ pattern books fondness for letting the e+t-sign end their alphabets it led to people perceiving as an integrated part of it. [PIC] This led to that the word ampersand was invented when the english children learned the alphabet. [REF.p.X] The sign has been extremely popular during the nineteenth and twentieth century and according to some people overused. This is probably
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because of the english hand writing masters who put a lot of effort in inserting “The Italic Hand” into the English school system. One of the most prominent and influential modern writing masters is Albert Fairbanks who had a substantial affect on scripture during the middle of the 20th century where he amongst other made a script with & as the normal form of “and.” Fairbanks’ contemporary colleague Reynolds Stone even went as far as creating a new typeface with both a capital and a lower case ampersand. [PIC] Also Eric Gill used the sign redundantly in his famous publication An essay on typography from 1931 where he uses the sign instead of “and” consistently through all body texts. [PIC] With the English language spreading not least through the computers the &-sign has had a significant upsurge in Sweden the last decennia. In the great abundance of typefaces today we can only note that its looks varies between pure symbol and the clear shapes for e+t that works just as well for the swedish “och”. Although its shapes never wanders far away from any of the three main variations I’ve been able to identify. [PIC symbol& ligature& cursive&] Whether todays usage is going towards an overuse or abuse of the sign remains to be seen. The common conception amongst text designers today seems to be that an overuse of the sign is a disadvantage to the word formations and its readability. But who knows, the words of today looks a lot different then the ones just a couple of hundred of years ago.
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7: tironic seven / &: et-ligature antiquity common writing 7 tiros’s stenographic system for vax plates, i.e. old roman italic 7 for ‘and’. &
late antiquity early middle 7 “tironic 7“ can appear in margins et.c. ages c. 300-750 common writing young roman italic & ligatures normal shortening method, & for et (‘and‘) one of many ligatures in use.
750–1200 carolingan mi- 7 the 7 very rare, appears momentarily in colloquial language. often use of 7 in colloquial nuscle in europe language. insulated writings to begin with & erases most ligatures except & which becomes standard. on the brittish & alternates with 7 in latin texts. islands. 12th century splitting between 7 the 7 reappears and is used both in latin and colloquial speaking carolingan and gothic writing & & falling from grace. weird shapes. few examples i.e. icelandic.
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7: tironic seven / &: et-ligature 1200–1400 gothic writings 7 the 7 reappears and is used both in latin and colloquial speaking &
& falling from grace. weird shapes. few examples i.e. icelandic.
from c. 1400 humanist writing 7 the 7 is removed from humanist writings as it’s *typically gothic* spreads from italy based on the carolingan minus- & the et-ligature is reinstated as typical for the cle, base for new “antique“ writing (in practice = the carolingan printing styles, the writing) “antiquas“
from c. 1500 humanist writings 7 the 7 is still used in gothic writing and fraktur style, even for colloquial language and. (also and the antiqua in irish writing and printing) are further spread in latin and roman languages; ger- & the et-ligature comes with humanist writing and the antiqua. often used for ‘and‘ in roman manic languages languages, seldom in the germanic languages still uses mostly gothic writing and fraktur styles the 7 still exists in gothic writing and fraktur 17th century humanist writing / 7 the et-ligature starts spreading even in engantiqua becomes popular in england & land
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7: tironic seven / &: et-ligature 18th & 19th century 7 the 7 disapears even from the fraktur; new triumph of the fraktur styles have &-ligature antiqua: only germany left on & the et-ligature is very common in english, the gothic ground word ampersand appears
20th century the antiqua 7 triumphs even in germany & the et-ligature spreads via english
21st century fraktur style is 7 only ireland has kept the 7 only “decorative” & & everywhere for ‘and,‘ specially in programming languages
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unicode U+0026 & ampersand (38decimal, HTML: & &)
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U+FE60 ﹠ small ampersand (HTML: ﹠) U+FF06 ＆ fullwidth ampersand (HTML: ＆ in block Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms) U+214B ⅋ inverted ampersand (HTML: ⅋)
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In the 20th century, following the development of formal logic, the ampersand became a commonly used logical notation for the binary operator or sentential connective AND. This usage was adopted in computing. There are two common uses for the “&” symbol as a binary operator in programming languages: as the logical AND operator, and as the string or array concatenation operator. There are also various idiosyncratic uses of & by various languages, for example as a short form of the verb PRINT in BASIC-PLUS on the DEC PDP-11. Many languages with syntax derived from C differentiate between: * & for bitwise AND, which also functions as the non-short-circuit logical AND since C represents false/true as zero/nonzero integers, but (4 & 2) is zero (false), whereas (4 && 2) is one (true); * && for short-circuit logical AND. In C, C++, and Go, “&” is also used as an unary prefix operator, denoting the address in memory of the argument, e.g. &x, &func, &a[3]. (This is called “referencing”.) In C++ and PHP, unary prefix & in a formal parameter of a function denotes pass-by-reference. Ampersand is the string concatenation operator in Ada, AppleScript, HyperTalk, FileMaker scripting language and many BASIC dialects. In Ada, it applies to all one-dimensional arrays, not just strings. In some BASIC dialects, unary suffix & denotes a variable is of type long, or 32 bits in length. The ampersand is occasionally used as a prefix to denote a hexadecimal number, such as &FF for decimal 255, for instance in BBC BASIC. Some other languages, such as the Monitor built into ROM on the Commodore 128, it indicated octal instead, a convention that spread throughout the Commodore community and is now used in the VICE emulator. Applesoft BASIC used the ampersand as an internal command, not intended to be used for general programming, that invoked a machine
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language program in the computer’s ROM. In MySQL the ‘&’ has dual roles. As well as a logical AND, it additionally serves as the bitwise operator of an intersection between elements. When found at the end of a Unix shell command, the ampersand indicates that the indicated command is to be processed in the background. Two ampersands means that the next command should only be evaluated if the current one exits with a zero status. In SGML, XML, and HTML, the ampersand is used to introduce an SGML entity. The HTML and XML encoding for the ampersand character is the entity ‘&’[12] (pronounced “amper-amp”). This creates what is known as the ampersand problem. For instance, when putting URLs or other material containing ampersands into XML format files such as RSS files the amp; has to be added to the & or they are considered not well formed and computers will be unable to read the files correctly. SGML derived the use from IBM Generalized Markup Language, which was one of many IBM-mainframe languages to use the ampersand to signal a text substitution, eventually going back to System/360 macro assembly language. In markup language TeX the ampersand is used to mark tabs. The ampersand itself can be applied in TeX with \&. In Microsoft Windows menus, labels and other captions, the ampersand is used to denote the keyboard shortcut for that option (Alt + that letter, which appears underlined). This convention is used in Windows Forms.[13] In Fortran, the ampersand forces the compiler to treat two lines as one. This is accomplished by placing an ampersand at the end of the first line and at the beginning of the second line. In Common Lisp, the ampersand is the prefix for lambda list keywords. [14] [edit] Usage in Perl
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qwerty/qwertz/azerty There are different ways of typing & on your computer depending on what keyboard settings you’ve got. Not included: alt Gr + C Hungar ian
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keyboard shortcut: shift + 6 Austrian, Bosnian, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Faroese, Finnish multilingual, German, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portuguese (Portugal), Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish (Spain and Latin America), Swedish, Swiss, Turkish. shift + 7 Albanian, Canadian french & multilingual, Czech, Irish, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, United Kingdom, United States. & (1) French, Belgian
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anatomi 1. ben 2. serif 3. arm 4. fot 5. mage 6. รถgla
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anatomi 1. huvud 2. klump 3. serif 4. mage
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participants robert slimbach christer hellmark gรถran sรถderstrรถm fredrik andersson garth walker bulent erkmen
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robert slimbach adobes legendary typedesigner father of many famous fonts including poetica, a font with 58 ampersands included. > What is your view on the ampersand sign? I see it both as a functional and decorative form. It is also one of the few glyphs that can be personalized within most formal fonts without too many design restrictions. > How do you use & vs. and? In normal typographic settings I tend to limit its use to phrases and titles that may benefit from an added decorative embellishment. I tend not to use it in running text as a substitute for “and� except when it is part of an established title or phrase. With chancery italic fonts, and other calligraphic styles, I feel there is a bit more latitude to use the ampersand more often in conjunction with swash letters and alternate forms. > Do you see any difference between your use of the ampersand sign compared with others, both nationaly and internationaly? I sense that the conventions for its use are fairly well defined and consistently applied throughout the world. However, there may be exceptions that I’m not aware of. > Are you using the ampersand sign different now compared to the beginning of your careeer? No, not really.
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> Why do you think the ampersand is so common on book covers? Probably because the ampersand is commonly incorporated into book titles. It is a wonderful decorative device that can add personality to display titles. > Do you have any favorite designs of the ampersand; custom or part of a typeface? I’ve always liked Hernann Zapf’s ampersands in Palatino. I also like the style of ampersand used by Nicolaus Jenson and Cluade Garamond. > Do you have any advice for someone designing an ampersand? Because the ampersand is an “et” ligature, designers should remember to retain some trace of these two letters is the design. Also, I think it is wise to stick to a variation of a historical style in most cases. > What is your view on the future use of the ampersand considering text messages and computer writing? As long as text is entered manually on small input devices, shorthand symbols like the ampersand will most likely persist. > Would there be any point in making a new lower case ampersand adapted for longer texts? Even though I don’t see a great need for one, in the right hands a lowercase ampersand might be effectively applied to longer texts. A small cap version of the larger standard form might work well in this case, or perhaps a lowercase et-style adapted to upright fonts.
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christer hellmark swedish design guru stroke patient since 2005 interview via ingegaard warenpa
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>Varför tror du att ordet ampersand varken står med i Svenska Akademiens Ordlista eller Nationalencyklopedien? De vet inte vad det är för någonting. Det är ju inget ord, bara ett tecken. Missuppfattad latin, och missuppfattningar uppskattas kanske inte. >Vad är din inställning till ampersandtecknet? Att det inte ska användas i löpande text i stället för “och”. Eric Gill ansåg dock att man (i engelsk text) borde använda det. Men han hade fel. >Ser du någon skillnad på användandet av ampersandtecknet i Sverige och Internationellt? Vet ej. >Hur använder du dig av & vs. och? Jag använder & bara i kortare texter eller som estetiskt element. >Använder du dig av ampersandtecknet annorlunda idag jämfört med början av din karriär? Nej, jag har aldrig slösat med det. >Varför tror du att ampersandtecknet är så vanligt på bokomslag? Jag tror det har med formatet att göra, stora grader, smalt utrymme = svårt att få med många ord på bredden. Kan vara snyggt ibland också. >Har du något favoritutförande av ampersanden, specialdesignat eller del av ett typsnitt? Adobe Garamond kursiv, Galliard kursiv, Baskerville kursiv. För ampersand-freaks finns ju typsnittet Poetica, som liksom Adobe Garamond är tecknat av Robert Slimbach. Det innehåller bland annat en font med enbart (!) ampersander, 54 stycken om jag minns rätt. >Har du några tips till den som vill formge ett ampersand? Det bör framgå att det är en sammansättning (ligatur) av e och t. -Hälsar Christer (vi hade väldigt roligt med denna undersökning och tackar dig för att du bjöd in till den. All intellektuell utmaning sätter guldkant på Christers
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göran söderström swedish typographer > Vad är din inställning till ampersandtecknet? Det är ett dekorativt tecken man sällan får använda, men jag gillar att teckna det när jag gör typsnitt. > Vad är det du gillar med att teckna ampersandtecknet? Det ska liksom siffrorna fungera med både versaler och gemener så det blir genast en liten annan typ av utmaning. Det finns också en del detaljer i ampersanden som gör att den lätt ser lite obalanserad ut. > Varför tror du att ordet ampersand varken står med i Svenska Akademiens Ordlista eller Nationalencyklopedien? För att det inte heter ampersand på svenska. > Ser du någon skillnad på ditt bruk av ampersandtecknet jämfört med andras nationellt och internationellt? Känns som det oftare används i USA. > Hur använder du dig av & vs. och? “&” i ordbilder, namn, rubriker kanske ibland.... “Och” används i övrigt för allt annat. > Använder du dig av ampersandtecknet annorlunda idag jämfört med början av din karriär? Nej.
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> Varför tror du att ampersandtecknet är så vanligt på bokomslag? För att det är ett billigt sätt att dekorera. > Har du något favoritutförande av ampersanden, specialdesignat eller del av ett typsnitt? Jag gillar nog det vanliga standardiserade & som vi ser mest, dvs den grundformen som finns i t.ex. Helvetica. Det känns lite overkill med det som mer ser ut som Et. > Har du några tips till den som vill formge ett ampersand? Ja, håll gärna tillbaka ambitionerna lite. Det blir lätt att man över-designar “ampersanden”. I sin grundform är det tillräckligt dekorativt. > Skulle det finnas nåt värde i att försöka formge ett gement ampersand för löptext? Det är redan gement. Och versalt. > Tror du att ampersandtecknet kommer användas mer i framtiden med tanke på SMS och datorskrift? Nej. Kidsen skriver ju “o” när man vill uttrycka “och”?
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fredrik andersson swedish graphic designer
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garth walker south african graphic designer
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>What is your view on the ampersand sign? I like it because there are so many variations (unlike other letters in the alphabet) >Is it commonly used in South Africa?. Same as everywhere else >Is there some sort of equivalent in the African languages that you know of? Not that I know of - so probably not >Do you see any difference between your use of the ampersand sign compared with others, both nationaly and internationaly? Depends on the font being used. >Are you using the ampersand sign different now compared to the beginning of your careeer? If I design my own lettering, then yes, its different, if not then I generally use the & in the font im using. Rarely do I substitute the & from another font. >Do you think there will be an increase in the use of the ampersand with computer and cell phone written text taking over? Guess so, but also see increased use of the + sign >Why do you think the ampersand is so common on book covers? Its not common anywhere >Do you have any favorite designs of the ampersand; custom or part of a typeface? Pobabaly Caslon as its so decorative. A really ‘fuckoff’ ampersand >Do you have any advice for someone designing an ampersand? Make sure it looks like one!
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bulent erkmen turkish graphic designer
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fredrik lindström Hej Edvin! Fredrik får flera förfrågningar liknande din varje vecka och måste tyvärr alltid tacka nej på grund av tidsbrist. Lycka till med uppsatsen! Hälsningar Vera milton glaser Dear Edvin, Regretfully, Milton cannot participate at this time. But thank you for thinking of him. Best, Scarlett Rigby
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stefan sagmeister Dear Edvin, Thank you very much for inviting me to be part of your project. I do think that this is a great idea. Unfortunately, I cannot participate. Right now I’m trying to put all the energy left over (besides the work for all our regular paying clients and my rather crazy traveling schedule) into our little documentary film. I am sure you’ll do a great job without us and will look forward to seeing it.
100 greetings from wonderful Indonesia, Stefan
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Ampersand ID Chart By Douglas Wilson
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octopus ampersand - toby triumph
and, the typeface - dara diliegro
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# Why use and when you can use &. # This is a campaign to encourage the use of the ampersand over the three character word ‘and’. The campaign is titled ‘why use and when you can use &.’ This was applied to a variety of products that were handed out as promotion for the form of the ampersand & its many forms within typography.
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font aid IV: coming together On Tuesday, January 12, 2010, a catastrophic earthquake occurred approximately 16 miles (25km) west of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. The earthquake caused major damage to Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area. The International Red Cross estimates that three million people were affected by the quake, with as many as one million Haitians left homeless. In order to raise funds to expedite relief efforts The Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA) announced the launch of Font Aid IV, a project uniting the typographic and design communities. Type designers, graphic designers and other artists from around the world were invited to contribute artwork to be included in a typeface created exclusively for the Font Aid IV effort. The theme was “Coming Together” which was represented though a font consisting entirely of ampersands. Coming Together was made available for sale, with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders.
Font Aid: a Brief History Swedish type designer Claes Källarsson conceived of the initial Font Aid project in 1999. More than 25 type designers participated in designing a collaborative font, with proceeds going to UNICEF to help war and disaster refugees. In 2001, SOTA became involved when Stuart Sandler was inspired by Källarsson’s efforts and initiated Font Aid II. This second collaborative charitable typeface was created to benefit the victims of the September 11 tragedies in the US. The font was made up of almost 100 question mark glyphs contributed by designers from over 20 countries. In 2005, SOTA and Building Letters joined forces in Font Aid III to unite the typographic and design communities in raising funds to expedite relief efforts in countries affected by the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis. More than 220 designers worldwide submitted over 400 glyphs for the collaborative typeface. With your support, Font Aid can continue its efforts to assist others in dire need of aid.
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published in agreement with author craig conley.
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Ordets historia Det finns flera skrönor om var ordet ampersand kommer ifrån. Vissa menar att det döptes efter uppfinnaren Ampére som skulle ha skrivit sina och-tecken på det viset och att det därför kallades för ‘Ampére’s and’. Andra menar på att det härstammar från ‘Anvers and’. Anvers var dåtidens namn på Antwerpen och därifrån kom många av de engelska böckerna och tryckpressarna. Det egentliga ursprunget såg med största anledning ut som följande: Ordet ampersand kommer från engelskan där det dök upp i slutet av 17-talet. Vid den tiden var tecknet så utbrett att man antagit det som den 27:e och sista bokstaven i alfabetet och där stannade det till början på 1900-talet. Detta fick som följd att när skolgossarna rabblade sina alfabet avslutades dom alltid med ‘ex wy zed and per se and’. Per se var en benämning man satte på bokstäver som kunde vara ord i sig själva så som exempelvis ‘I’. Per se and betyder alltså och för sig självt. När man rabblade det snabbt lät det som ampersand och började följaktligen kallas för det inom kort.
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abc-and -Francis Green, West Wales Historical Records, 1926 This variation of Welch origin, establishes the ampersand as coming at the end of the alphabet, an “and“ after the “abc’s.“ amberesand -Manchester City News, Dec. 31, 1881 This spelling is derived from the French name for Antwerp, Anvers, a presumed origin of the symbol. ambersand -Jack Grapes, Onthebus, 1989. “When the ambersand (&) is looped in a high degree, there will be a protective, loyal nature present.” -Richard Dimsdale Stocker, The language of handwriting: A Textbook of graphology, 1904 amersand —Elizabeth Evans, Ring Lardner, 1979 “He uses the amersand, then the word and.“—Elizabeth Evans, Ring Lardner, 1979 amp —Clive Maxfield, The Design Warrior’s Guide to FPGAs, 2004 This is a term from digital circuit theory(combinational logic). “The “&” (ampersand) character is commonly referred to as an “amp”“ —Clive Maxfield, The Design Warrior’s Guide to FPGAs, 2004 ampassy —James Hooper, The Gentlemen’s Magazine, July 1892 This word is of Cornish origin. “The whole lot from A to Ampassy.“ —Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch, Shining Ferry, 1904 ampassy-and —Charles Earle Funk, Thereby Hangs a Tale, 1950 This word has been traced back to the English town of Corringham, Essex.
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am-passy-and —John Stephen Farmer, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, 1903 This is a word from colloquial English slang. ampasty —Alfred Langdon Elwyn, Glossary of Supposed Americanisms, 1859 ampazad —John Stephen Farmer, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, 1903 The “zad“ at the end of this word recalls the “zed“ or Z of the alphabet, traditionally followed by the ampersand (here shortened to “ampa”). This is a word from colloquial English slang. amper —The New Hacker’s Dictionary, 1991 This word is a shorthand in the hacking community. ampers —Douglas Macmillan, Word-lore, 1928 “Ampers is a corruption of “and per se.““—Douglas Macmillan, Word-lore, 1928 ampersamand —George Gibson Neill Wright, The Writing of Arabic Numerals, 1952 “Other generations may yet speak of an “ampersand and,“ and then of an “ampersamand.””—George Gibson Neill Wright, The Writing of Arabic Numerals, 1952 ampers and —Douglas Macmillan, Word-lore, 1928 “All the way through the alphabet to Z and Ampers And.“ —Donald Davidson, The Big Ballad Jamboree, 1996
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amper’s and —Harry Alfred Long, Personal and Family Names, 1883 “Lumping together X,Y,Z and Amper’s and.“ —Jessie Bedford, English Children in the Olden Time, 1907 ampersand This spelling of the word dates back to the mid-19th century. “Ampersand is an “honorary“ letter. It used to be the 27-th letter in the alphabet“ —John Burkhardt, “Wordplay,“ 2002 “It is one of the worst things about our detestable time that this ancient ... thing “ampersand“ is forgotten“ —Hilaire Belloc, On, 1923 “Is this end or ampersand?” —Norman MacCaig, Collected Poems, 1985 “I envy the hyphen, the ampersand, whatever bargain they’ve made for beauty.” —Brenda Hillman, Fortress: Poems, 1989 ampersand-and —George Gibson Neill Wright, The Writing of Arabic Numerals, 1952 “Other generations may yet speak of an “ampersand and,“ and then of an “ampersamand.””—George Gibson Neill Wright, The Writing of Arabic Numerals, 1952 ampersandwich —Bill D. Rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com, 2008 This is a crossword puzzles term, referring to an answer that contains a conjunction between two initials. amperstand —Anne Hemingway, The Colour of Love, 2004 “It was a beautiful gold ring with their initials, Y & L, in the center; instead of an amperstand, there was a small diamond.” —Anne Hemingway, The Colour of Love, 2004
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ampersant Prof. Joynes, qtd. in Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, Vol.2, 1893 In this corruption of the word, the ending “ant“ seems to ignore its origin as “and.“ Prof. Joynes recalls saying “ampersant” “without the slightest idea... that it contained any trace of the word and” (qtd. in Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, Vol.2, 1893) amperse-and —Gilbert Milligan Tucker, American English, 1921 This spelling of ampersand appears in several Mother Goose rhymes. For example, “Z and amperse-and go to school at command“ (Mother Goose’s Melodies for Children, 1869). amperzand —James Hooper, The Gentlemen’s Magazine, July 1892 “My nice little amperzand / Never must into a word expand.“ — Punch, April 17, 1869 —Edward Johnston, Writing and Illuminating and Lettering, 1906 “Webster, moreover, advertises us that & is no letter—the goal of every breathless, whip-fearing, abcdarian’s various strife, the highsounding Amperzand, no letter! Mehercule!“ —Sylvester Judd, Margaret, 1845 amperze-and —John Russel Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms, 1848 This variation has been traced to the English county of Hampshire (—John Russel Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms, 1848) amperzed —Gilbert Milligan Tucker, American English, 1921 The “zed“ at the end of this word recalls the letter Z, traditionally followed by the ampersand (here shortened to “amper”). This is a word from colloquial American slang. ampezant —Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, Vol.2, 1893 The “zant“ at the end of this word recalls the letter Z, traditionally followed by the ampersand (here shortened to “ampe“).
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ampleasant —James Mitchell, Significant Etymology; or, Roots, Stems, and Branches of the English Language, 1908 In this pleasant-sounding variation, the ending “ant“ seems to ignore its origin as “and.“ ample-se-and —Wilfred Whitte, Is It Good English?, 1925 This is likely a Victorian-era contraction of “and by itself and,“ similar to ableselfa (“a by itself a”) (Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, Vol.2, 1893) ampsam —Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, Vol.2, 1893 This is a variation from Framingham, Massachusetts (Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, Vol.2, 1893) ampus —James Hooper, The Gentlemen’s Magazine, July 1892 This is a contraction of ampusand. ampusand —James Hooper, The Gentlemen’s Magazine, July 1892 “He thought it [the letter z] had only been put there to finish of th’ alphabet like, though ampusand would ha’ done as well.“ — George Eliot, Adam Bede, 1859 ampus-and —The Cambridge Review, 1882 The satirical periodical Punch invented a character called Mr. Ampus-Annd: “All Mr. Ampus-Annd will say when asked for his view is: “You tell me““ (1936). ampus-end —John Stephen Farmer, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, 1903 This is an example of colloquial English slang.
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ampussy —James Hooper, The Gentlemen’s Magazine, July 1892 The “pussy“ has been likened to “a pussy-cat sitting up and raising its fore-paw!“ (Edward Walford, The Antiquary, Vol. XXXII, 1896). am pussy am —David Gibbs, Pentagram: The Compendium, 1993 ampussy and —John Stephen Farmer, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, 1903 “I also found “ampussy and“ — I hardly know how to write it — remembered beyond the ocean.“ —Edward Augustus Freeman, Some Impressions of the United States, 1883 ampussy-and —Charles Earle Funk, Thereby Hangs a Tale, 1950 ampuzzand —M.A. Lower, Notes and Queries, Sept. 7, 1850 amsiam —Charles Earle Funk, Thereby Hangs a Tale, 1950 The word is of Kentish dialect. “Amsiam: always thus called by children, and named after the letter Z when saying the alphabet.“ —Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, 1970 and-by-itself-and —Alfred Ainger, Notes and Queries, Dec. 2, 1871 “Ride behind the sulky of And-by-itself-and.” —Charles Lamb, Mr. H., 1807 and-parcy —A glossary of North Country Words, 1829 This is an expression from Northern English dialect. It is a variation of parcy-and. andpassy —John Stephen Farmer, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Pres-
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ent, 1903 ““Andpassy” is the name that, as a boy, I used to hear given to this symbol.” —Vincent Stuckey Lean, Lean’s Collectanea, 1904 andpersand Bim Sherman, The Century, 1878 This spelling was suggested alongside ampersand in Gilbert Milligan Tucker’s American English, 1921. and-pussey-and —Miscallaneous Notes and Queries, Vol. XII, 1894 and-pussy-and —Abram Smythe Palmer, The Folk and their Word-Lore, 1904 ““And-pussy-and“ because its shape (&) suggests a pussy-cat sitting up and raising its fore-paw!“ —Edward Walford, The Antiquary, Vol. XXXII, 1896. ann passy ann —John Stephen Farmer, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, 1903 This is a colloquial English expression. ann-pussy-ann —Edward Shippen, “Educational Antiques,” Pennsylvania School Journal, Sept. 1874 The ampersand “was allowed by some teachers to pass under the name “Ann-pussy-Ann,“ as I am advised by an ancient lady who never knew any other name for the character.” —Edward Shippen, “Educational Antiques,” Pennsylvania School Journal, Sept. 1874 anparse —Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, 1961 This is a contraction of “and per se,“ from Enlish slang. anparsil —Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, 1961 This variation has been traced back to the dialect of Leeds, in northern England (C. Clough Robinson, The Dialect of Leeds and
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Its Neigbourhood, 1862). anparsy —Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, 1961 This variation is an example of Yorkshire dialect (Marmaduke Charles Frederick Morris, Yorkshire Folk-Talk, 1892). anpassal —Samuel Dyer, Dialect of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1891 This is a contraction of “and parcel,“ from Yorkshire dialect. “Anpassal is the finish of the alphabet, and means, I suppose, and parcel“ (Samuel Dyer, Dialect of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1891). anpasty —Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, 1961 In the dialect of East Anglia, this word means “and past Y“ (even though the ampersand technically coems after the letter Z) (Robert Forby, The vocabulary of East Anglia, 1830.) an-pasty —James Mitchell’s Significant Etymology; or, Roots, Stems, and Branches of the English Language, 1908 This is a variation of the East Anglican word meaning “and past Y.“ anpusan —Edward Shippen, “Educational Antiques,” Pennsylvania School Journal, Sept. 1874 This is a “careless and hurried“ pronunciation of ampersand (Edward Shippen, “Educational Antiques,” Pennsylvania School Journal, Sept. 1874). anversand —Manchester City News, Dec. 31, 1881 This spelling presumes the ampersand’s origin in the printing presses of Antwerp (Anvers in French).
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aperse-and —John Stephen Farmer, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, 1903 This is a contradiction of “and per se and.“ apersey —James Hooper, The Gentlemen’s Magazine, July 1892 This Scottish variant of ampersand also refers to a person of incomparable merit. apersie —James Hooper, The Gentlemen’s Magazine, July 1892 This is a variant spelling of the Scottish apersey, referring to a person of incomparable merit as well as to an ampersand. appersi-and —John Ogilvie, The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language, 1883 apples-and —M.A. Lower, Notes and Queries, Sept. 7, 1850 This corruption of the word ampersand suggests that comparing variations of the word is like comparing apples and oranges. It is likely a Victorian-era contraction of “and by itself and,“ similar to ableselfa (“a by itself a“) (Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, Vol. 2, 1893). dingus —Time, Jan. 18, 1932 This word is used when the speaker can’t recall the word ampersand. “I have lived half-century without ever knowing that dingus—”&”— was called the ampersand!“ —R.H. John, Time, Jan. 18, 1932 do-jiggy —Karlen Evins, I Didn’t Know That, 2007 Language expert Karlen Evins calls the ampersand a “do-jiggy“ (I Didn’t Know That, 2007). This epithet is perhaps kinder than “thingumabob“ and certainly more precise than “whatchamacallit.“
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doohickey —M.Loy, humor.darkfriends.net, Dec. 21, 2001 This word is a blending of doodad and hickey and is used when the speaker can’t remember the word ampersand. “I do so love the name of this doohickey. “Ampersand“ gives me a symbolistic lexiconical boner, it does“ —M.Loy, humor.darkfriends. net, Dec. 21, 2001 Emperor’s hand —William Shephard Walsh, Handy-book of Literary Curiosities, 1892 “The sign & is said to be properly called Emperor’s hand, from having been first invented by some imperial personage, but by whom deponent saith not.“ —William Shephard Walsh, Handy-book of Literary Curiosities, 1892 empersi-and —John Stephen Farmer, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, 1903 “A shrivelled, cadaverous, neglected piece of deformity, i’ the shape of an ezard or an empersi-and, or in short anything. “ — Charles Macklin, The Man of the World, qtd. in A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant by Albert Barrère, 1889 emperzan Pett Ridge, In the Wars, qtd. in The Romance of Words by Ernest Weekley, 1911 “Tommy knew all about the work. Knew every letter in it from A to Emperzan.“ Pett Ridge, In the Wars, qtd. in The Romance of Words by Ernest Weekley, 1911 empus-and —Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, 1961 This colloquial English expression recalls the Emperor’s hand variation.
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empuzad M.A. Lower, Notes and Queries, Sept. 7, 1850 This corruption of ampersand is also noted in Wilfred Whitten’s Is it Good English?, 1925 epershand —John Williams Clark, Early English, 1967 This Scottish equivalent of ampersand (The Encyklopedia Brittannica, 1911). eppershand —Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, Vol. 2, 1893 This is a variant spelling of the Scottish epershand. epse-and —Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, 1961 This variation is from colloquial English. et-per-se —Douglas Macmillan, Word-lore, 1928 This expression recalls the Latin roots of the ampersand. et-per-se-and —The Journal of American Folk-Lore, 1894 Literally meaning “et by itself, and,“ this expression recalls the Latin roots of the ampersand. hampersand —Harry Alfred Long, Personal and Family Names, 1883 This is an “English rustic“ variation of ampersand; it also means “empire’s end” (Harry Alfred Long, Personal and Family Names, 1883). man per se —William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, 1602 Like apersey, this expression refers to a person of incomparable merit.
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parcy-and —Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, 1961 This is an expression from Northern English dialect. It is a variation of and-parcy (A Glossary of North Country Words, 1829). parseyand —Edward Peacock, A Glossary of Words in the Wapentakes of Manley and Corringham, 1877 From Northern English dialect, this is a variation of and-parcy (A Glossary of North Country Words, 1829). passy —Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, 1961 This is a reduction of passy-and passy-and —Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, 1961 This is a variation of andpassy percy-and —T.Baron Russel, Current Americanisms, 1897 This expression is from American dialect. perse —John Stephen Farmer, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, 1903 Meaning “Standing by itself,” this is a reduction of “and per se.“ round and —Alexander A.Stewart, The Printer’s Dictionary of Technical Terms, 1912 In typesetting, the ampersand is “sometimes called the round and“ (Alexander A.Stewart, The Printer’s Dictionary of Technical Terms, 1912). semper and —William Halloway, A General Dictionary of Provincialisms, 1840 This colloquialism has been traced back to East Sussex, England.
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short and —Vincent Stuckey Lean, Lean’s Collectanea, 1904 This variation, used by typesetters, acknowledges the ampersand symbol as being a short form of “and“ (George Burnham Ives, Text, Type and Style, 1921). thingy —Robert J. Sawyer, Rollback, 2007 “Hey, ther’s that “and“ thingy again.“ —Robert J. Sawyer, Rollback, 2007 typewriter and —Lawrence Weiner, Bomb Magazine, Winter 1996 “You really think there’s a significance to the use of the ampersand which for years I called the “typewriter and.“ It’s like the choice of saying “They are not,“ or “They ain’t.“ They’re both correct, but they both connate a different placement within society.“ —Lawrence Weiner, Interviewed by Marjorie Welish, Bomb Magazine, Winter 1996 zempy zed —James Mitchell, Significant Etymology; or, Roots, Stems, and Branches of the English Language, 1908 This variation celebrates the ampersand’s alphabetical proximity to the letter Z. zumpy-zed —Abram Smythe Palmer, Folk-Etymology, 1882 This colloquialism draws attention to the ampersand’s alphabetical proximity to the letter Z. zumzy-zan —John Stephen Farmer, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, 1903 This is a colloquial English expression.
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Conley, Craig. Ampersand, Lexington, KY, 2011 Hedlund, Monica. Konsten att säga och, installationsföreläsning för professur, 2002 Heine, Arne. Arnes alfabet E, Populär Kommunikation 6/08
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