Pet Peeves - Constant Updates!
This page is meant to be a constantly updated list of pet peeves of mine. Usually they’re just a little blip and not enough to write an entire post about. Last updated: 2007-07-13 09:02:40
“Backslash” - People have no idea what a backslash is, so they call anything a backslash. It results in regular slashes being called “backslashes” all the time, confusing the hell out of everyone.
Ready? This is a backslash: \ It was originally used a lot in DOS and is still used today to designate folder and server breakdowns. How do I map to the Q drive? Well, it’s backslash-backslash quagmire backslash users underscore suck backslash stupid (\\quagmire\users_suck\stupid)
This is a slash (or forwardslash): / It is used by the rest of the world as a slash, to break up things (A Mark Goodson /Bill Todman Production), to divide (12/6 = 2), and to designate folders on a web server and Internet addresses, done apparently to cause confusion in people.
To add more confusion, when writing the symbols, the backslash is written in a forward motion while a forwardslash is written in a backwards motion (assuming one starts from the top and “slashes” down.)
Somewhere along the way, people picked up on tech people using “backslash” in the context of computers and started calling any slash a backslash. Helpful hint: if you use it and you’re not a sysadmin, it’s a slash.