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Strange names for characters can help when they significantly shorten, such as "bang" versus "exclamation" (though in context I'd prefer "not" when it has that meaning).

However, "stache" doesn't shorten "brace"; both of them have one syllable, and the latter even has fewer letters if you have to type it. So, this seems unhelpful except as a joke.

On the other hand, we could use a good joke name for {}, to go along with "octothorpe" (#), "twiddle" (~), and "ampersand" (&). :)

"brace", "bracket", "paren": {} [] ()

Or, if you really feel like disambiguating, "curly brace", "square bracket", "parenthesis": {} [] ()




How is ampersand a joke name?



The etymology [1] does not suggest a joke origination.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand#Etymology


Through folk etymology, it has been claimed that André-Marie Ampère used the symbol in his widely read publications, and that people began calling the new shape "Ampere's and". [3]


To quote the Jargon File's entry on ASCII character names <http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/a/ASCII.html>:

"INTERCAL called this `ampersand'; what could be sillier?"




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