Strange but true. Honest.

Do you know what Croatians call the "@" symbol?  In English, it is referred to as the 'at' sign.  So we'd give our e-mail address as:  myname AT something.com.  Well, around here, they don't call it the 'at' sign.  Nope.  If you ask someone for their e-mail address, here's what you'd get:

myname MONKEY SIGN something.com.

I didn't believe this at first because I thought people were just trying to pull my leg due to my obvious foreignality (I just made up that word).  But apparently it is true that they call the @ symbol, the MONKEY SIGN and I'm told it's because the symbol looks like a monkey.

Now I've been described as a pretty creative person, but I can't make out the monkey.  Maybe a whale eye, a sort of snail, a squished bagel or a strange donut.  But the monkey remains illusive for me.  I'm guessing it'll all become clear to me once I get a handle on some more grammar (?)

It is definitely more fun to speak e-mail addresses out loud using the monkey sign.  Try saying your e-mail address out loud right now using the monkey sign. 

Tell me that didn't make you grin from ear-to-ear :-)