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HOLLAND -at- IPFWCVAX -dot- BITNET:
The British call a slash a stroke (Does that make the \ character a
backstroke.
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I'm British and I was taught that:
/ = "oblique" formally and "slash" in the vernacular
| = "vertical" formally and "bar" in the vernacular
"Stroke" I never heard of and I don't think that "\" existed in our
pre-computer symbology.
"Slash" and "Backslash" now seem to be accepted. I like "pipe" since
"vertical" is non-descriptive and "bar"can be confused with the overbar
used in equations to denote a mean value and usually referred to in text
as "(symbol name) bar", e.g mean density is "rho bar".
What about the symbol which in writing I always refer to as "the
insertion point"? I don't really like that name because the
"insertion point" is not really *what* it is be *where* it is.
In my speech (usually) and thoughts (always) it continues to be
the "I-beam" but that name seems to lack the seal of propriety.
