/-/S'pht-Translator-Active/-/


Re: Splat?
Posted By: McNutcaseDate: 12/3/06 12:29 p.m.

In Response To: Splat? (MrHen)

: A "splat" is generally an asterisk, depending on what academic
: circle you run in. One of my professors who came from Carnegie-Mellon
: would could a '*' a "splat". Most of my other professors called
: it a "star".

: I started hearing about the "Apple-key" after the iMacs came out.
: The new Mac people could not find the "Command-key" because it
: is not printed anywhere on the keyboard and it is not intuitive to
: associate that key with the word "Command".

: Turing "Option" into "Slope" is a new one for me. I would
: love to hear any story behind that. I have heard it referred to as
: "Alt" and "Meta".

"Slope" for Option came about as a result of the small graphic printed on that key, years ago. I know the graphic was still on there in the days of beige and PowerPCs (my old ADB keyboard had the graphic), and I seem to recall it being on older iMac keyboards, but it seems to have quietly disappeared. It was apparently supposed to represent a microswitch, but it made me think of a ramp, and so "Slope". Often encountered as me explaining to friends that the lab's Macs needed "Slope-3" to produce # - the UK-layout Mac keyboard was... idiosyncratic. Which is a polite way of saying daft. "Alt" is a Windows-ism, and "Meta" is a Unix-ism. Very few consumer keyboards nowadays actually have a Meta, let alone any of the even weirder buckies (Shove "Space Cadet keyboard" into your search engine of choice and marvel at a 101-key monster capable of producing in excess of 8000 different keypresses...)

As for "Splat", I've completely forgotten. I transferred it to the Windows key on such machines, though - that can be used as a modifier, for such things as minimising all open windows...

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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02treellama 12/2/06 5:28 p.m.
     Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02dog_eared 12/2/06 7:18 p.m.
           I have a problemukimalefu 12/2/06 9:19 p.m.
                 Re: I have a problemtreellama 12/3/06 3:18 a.m.
                 Re: I have a problemthermoplyae 12/3/06 11:12 a.m.
                       Re: I have a problemtreellama 12/3/06 11:21 a.m.
                             Re: I have a problemukimalefu 12/3/06 11:43 a.m.
                                   Re: I have a problemMcNutcase 12/3/06 11:59 a.m.
                                         Re: I have a problemukimalefu 12/3/06 12:03 p.m.
                                               ...I call it the apple key =) *NM*blake37 12/3/06 12:06 p.m.
                                               Even worse.McNutcase 12/3/06 12:07 p.m.
                                                     Splat?MrHen 12/3/06 12:19 p.m.
                                                           Re: Splat?McNutcase 12/3/06 12:29 p.m.
           Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02treellama 12/3/06 3:17 a.m.
                 lhowon.org updated *NM*treellama 12/3/06 3:38 a.m.
                       Thanks *NM*dog_eared 12/3/06 11:34 a.m.
     Aleph One 0.17 / Rubicon X ProblemKeith Palmer 12/3/06 4:51 p.m.
           Re: Aleph One 0.17 / Rubicon X Problemtreellama 12/4/06 2:51 a.m.
     Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02McNutcase 12/4/06 4:31 a.m.
           Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02treellama 12/4/06 6:23 a.m.
                 Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02McNutcase 12/4/06 6:38 a.m.
                       Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02treellama 12/4/06 6:55 a.m.
                             Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02McNutcase 12/4/06 7:13 a.m.
                                   Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02treellama 12/4/06 8:41 a.m.
                                         Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02McNutcase 12/4/06 8:57 a.m.
                                               Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02treellama 12/4/06 9:21 a.m.
                                                     Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02McNutcase 12/4/06 9:43 a.m.
                                                           Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02treellama 12/4/06 10:08 a.m.
                                                                 Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02McNutcase 12/4/06 10:11 a.m.
                                                           Re: High-Resolution Weapons/ItemsLegacyTyphoon 12/4/06 10:40 a.m.
                                                                 I shall keep a weather eye open.McNutcase 12/4/06 10:54 a.m.
                                         Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02McNutcase 12/4/06 10:30 p.m.
                                               Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02treellama 12/5/06 4:34 a.m.
                                               Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02treellama 12/5/06 4:36 a.m.
                                                     Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02McNutcase 12/5/06 4:54 a.m.
                                                           Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02treellama 12/5/06 6:08 a.m.
                                                                 Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02McNutcase 12/5/06 7:34 a.m.
                                                                 Re: Aleph One 0.17 / 2006-12-02McNutcase 12/5/06 7:53 a.m.
     Snarfing! *NM*Bob-B-Q 12/4/06 10:31 a.m.

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Pre-2004 Posts

 

 

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