Friday, August 17, 2007

Chinese couple wants to name their baby "@"

A couple in China has decided to get creative and name their baby "@", the symbol used in email address. From Shanghai Daily:
Translated into Chinese @ means "love him," the couple said, according to Li Yuming, deputy director of the State Language Commission.

Li did not say whether @ has been given the green light.

However, if it is approved the child will have terrible trouble when it comes time to receive email - @@ just won't compute.

The Chinese language has no alphabet, instead using thousands of multi-stroke characters to represent words.

The "@" symbol is familiar to Chinese email users and they often use the English word "at" to sound it out. With a drawn-out "t," @ sounds something like ai ta, or "love him," to Mandarin speakers.

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