Re: VMs: d's (8s) and ampersands (&) was; Nick's Strokes etc

[Rene Zandbergen <r_zandbergen@xxxxxxxxx>]

Barbara wrote:

> My son, reading over my shoulder remarked the
> ampersand is a ligature of
> "et"?" (what *did* they teach in school in his day?)
> and was quite surprised
> to learn that "?" and "!" came from ligatures of
> "quo" and "lo" respectively. 

New to me too! How and when did this happen?

> No one has ever explained to me where
> the Hash (#) or the asterisk (*) come from
> 'though? Anyone know?  

Off-topic stuff alert: I noted that there are 
three types of asterisks, one with five legs and
two with six. I have three computer keyboards near
me right here, and all three are types are 
there :-)

The hash and asterisk appear on telephone sets,
which prompts the other trivia: why on earth are
the number keys not in the same order on
telephones and on calculators?????

And a quizz question: (no cheating please):

do remote controls of TV'setc. follow the telephone
convention or the calculator convention?

There is wonder and mystery everywhere. 
Who needs a VMs (quo)

Cheers (lo) Rene

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