Three Fun Facts About Email

Hey, it’s Friday! The Friday before Labor Day, no less.

So, in the spirit of the holiday weekend, here are some fun facts about email:

  1. The @ sign goes by many names

In English, “@” is commonly referred to as the “at” sign/symbol.  But other languages have far more creative ways of describing it:

– Italian: chiocciolina (little snail).

– Dutch: apestaart (monkey’s tail)

– Swedish: snabel-a — (an “A” with an elephant’s trunk).

– Other languages describe it as a “little worm,” “dog,” “mouse’s tail,” “little duck,” or “sleeping cat”.

2. National Email Week.

The second week of June is National Email Week. Who knew?

3. Khaaaaan!

(That’s a reference for the more geeky folks in our audience.)

The first botnet (networks of computers responsible for sending out massive amounts of spam) was created by Khan C. Smith. Earthlink, the 3rd largest ISP at the time, exposed him in August, 2001 when they filed a lawsuit against him. It turned out that Khan was responsible for a whopping 25% of the spam that was being sent in those days, and Earthlink won $25 million from the lawsuit. The 2003 CAN-SPAM Act was signed into law soon afterwards.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend, everyone!