MetaChat - backslash????

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23 August 2006

backslash???? Is it just me or do the talking heads of the marketing world constantly direct people to enter a backslash when trying to reach a website?→[More:]

example:
"Did you know you can pay your bill online? Just go to www.cingular.com BACKSLASH myaccount..."

If I have it right, a backslash is \

And if I have it right, those do jack shit on the web. Just used in Windows.

Why do marketing copywriters somehow get attached to this whole backslash thing? Is a "slash" to hard to remember? Is a "backslash" somehow easier?

I'm not getting something.

/obssessing about stupid bullshit

post by: scarabic at: 20:20 | 16 comments

Shit... clearly I still don't understand the MeCha posting form. Please forgive me.

posted by scarabic 23 August | 20:21

It's a backslash backlash!

posted by Miko 23 August | 20:25

You're right, the proper term is antibackslash.

posted by knave 23 August | 20:35

I hate this too - the character used in URLs always used to be called a slash and the backslash was only ever used in file paths. For some reason, lots of people call / backslash. I wonder what they would say if you asked them what \ is called?

When I'm rich and famous, I'll spend whatever it takes to get a web site called backslashbackslash.com/backslash universally known just so I can laugh as people contort themselves trying to say it. It wil be worth every cent.

posted by dg 23 August | 20:43

Rob Malda had the same idea in 1997 when he created slashdot. Say it out loud: http://slashdot.org

And FWIW, I think IE silently converts backslash to slash for you, I guess because MS likes to coddle idiots, so these incorrect URLs probably work for these tards that try them in IE. I don't think any other browser does that though.

posted by Rhomboid 23 August | 21:24

what \ is called?

Bang. Whack. Whack-whack.

Rob Malda had the same idea in 1997 when he created slashdot. Say it out loud: http://slashdot.org

Err, the verbal contortions are a side effect, if intentional. It's just that you can't register /. (root of the file tree in unix/linux) as a domain.

The WikiPedia article on slashdot disagrees with me, but the article is v. stupid. Hell, the /. glyph is their favicon.

posted by loquacious 23 August | 21:44

We had a discussion about this on Metachat! I say / is backslash, and everyone is like, boo, you're wrong. I say, if everyone else in the world thinks I'm right, I'm right :-D

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 23 August | 22:03

We don't and you're not ;-)

posted by dg 23 August | 22:32

On BBC radio they advertise their own website a lot, and all the announcers seem to have been told to use 'forward slash' for that symbol - so I thought everyone used it...

one recalcitrant presenter refuses, though, and says 'stroke', which probably confuses everyone.

posted by altolinguistic 24 August | 01:14

except us. We at metachat and mefi know what "stroke" really means, and what that presenter is really doing.

posted by taz 24 August | 01:19

I always thought it was a backslash because that is the way you write it: You start at the top and you slash back against the direction you are writing. Now, would I rather be lonely then wrong? Hmmmm.

posted by pointilist 24 August | 01:28

Marketers were also enamored of telling people to "log in" to sites when they actually just wanted them to visit.

Marketers tend to use whatever word sounds trendy and cool, rather than whatever word might actually mean what they want it to mean.

\marketing bitterness

posted by occhiblu 24 August | 01:33

the character used in URLs always used to be called a slash and the backslash was only ever used ~~in file paths~~ to escape metacharacters.

posted by Wolfdog 24 August | 05:48

A couple of years ago I was at this engineering firm and they had some "bigwigs" from corporate come in to "educate" us on the new website. The guy actually said:

"And you will be able to check your email on the World Wide Web." (emphasis on the W's, and inflected as if he were a snake oil salesman.)

posted by chewatadistance 24 August | 06:35

Backslash, slash... these are for the uneducated masses. Everyone knows what the technical term is.
It's metachat-dot-org-tube-index-dot-php-tube-2006-tube-08-tube-23-tubep14638

posted by qvantamon 24 August | 07:04

Right-handed propaganda. When I make an actual slash (something my fencing instructor discouraged on day one of class), it starts high on the left and decends to the right. It looks like this: \

Now if I were to reverse that motion, such as to mimic a backhanded slap (known to some as a bitchslap) but with a foil in hand, moving my hand so that the back of it leads the motion causes the slash to drop to the left, like so: /. Hence, backslash.

posted by Eideteker 24 August | 11:16

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