xkcd ftw!

[xela]

Every time I hear you say 'backslash' as part of a web address on the air, I die a little.

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And then there are the announcers who say "forward-slash." Which on the one hand has the virtue of not being actually wrong — but on the other, sounds even stupider.

Comments

[nakor.livejournal.com]

I've been asked "which slash" when I don't specify.

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

It's all Bill Gates' fault.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I'm left-handed. So 'backslash' means nothing intuitive to me. I just type URLs the way that looks right and if that doesn't work, try them the other way.

[coraline]

i've never thought of it as having anything to do with handedness... i always viewed it against the direction of writing. forward slashes lean forward, back slashes lean back.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

That's a useful way of remembering it, now you point it out. Thanks! I suppose the fact that forward-leaning slashes are the more comfortable kind to draw, with the right hand, is related to the reason why English is
written from left to right. Like a lot of left-handed people, as a young child learning to write, I started in mirror script.