
When did “&” stop being taught alongside the alphabet? - mceachen
https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/53546/when-did-stop-being-taught-alongside-the-alphabet
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ampersands
Uh, it never was? I didn't learn what the ampersand was until middle school.

I knew how to interpret the symbol ( _because relatives and teachers corrected
me when I mistakenly read it as a capital letter "A" when looking at
newspapers, as early as kindergarten, while trying to demonstrate my ability
to read_), but I was taught to avoid using it as part of handwriting. I knew
what to call it, and that it means "and" but was encouraged to use the plus
sign (+) if I needed to use punctuation for such purposes, although even that
was frowned upon, as improper and informal.

During middle school, we were taught to type using computers, and so learned
some of the more common symbols. While typing, shorthand was tolerated with
greater sympathy, since printed or typed writing was clearly legible, and not
subject to the harsher criticisms of penmanship, where abstract symbols might
look like childish scribbles.

I didn't develop my ability to write an ampersand by hand until high school,
when I was forced to take notes in class, and use of shorthand was acceptable,
as long as I could read my own note taking, and recite a reasonable summary of
classroom lectures if called upon. My notes never actually lived up to that
criteria but at least I could write an ampersand.

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c3534l
Did you read the question? Unless you're well over 100 years old your personal
experience is irrelevant.

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melan13
More importantly as not discussed, the '&' character also derives also from
the french word 'et' which refers to 'and' in English. Something we can call a
Norman influence.

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grzm
The ampersand goes back farther than that. It comes from the Latin _et_
(unsurprisingly also meaning _and_ ) and dates to the first century AD.

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NikkiA
Hence why you sometimes see 'et al' rendered as '& al' (although it doesn't
look right at all with the crappy ampersand in the font firefox is using here)

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aap_
&c. is my favourite :)

