[COFF] On having a slash

[Warner Losh]

On Mon, Apr 13, 2020 at 6:53 AM Paul Guertin <paul at guertin.net> wrote:

> Tangentially related, I remember when I started learning
> about computers that almost everyone used a hyphen between
> a modifier and the character: you'd write "Control-C" or
> "Shift-6". Then something changed and how it seems more
> common to use a '+' character and write it "Control+C".
> Wikipedia's article for "Control-C" uses the hyphen in the
> title but the plus sign in the article itself. Any idea
> why it changed?
>

Because it was always wrong by a strict interpretation of the hyphenation
rules of English. In English, one can say "I have anal-retentive
tendencies" (with a hyphen) but also "I am anal retentive" (without). Both
of these phrases are correct because when two or more words are used to
modify a noun that follows, they are hyphenated, otherwise they are not. So
phrases like "the control-c character" or "the control-v sequence" are
correct, but it should be "hit control c to abort" (without a hyphen) by
this rule. However, that's not the full story. When you are telling a user
to hit "control c" in a technical manual, when you hyphenate it carries a
connotation to many readers (mostly non-technical ones) to press the
control key, release it and then do the same with 'c', which as we all know
won't work. "Conrol+c" however connotes to many doing both at the same
time, so that convention was adopted to avoid the confusion about what '-'
means and dodge the rather tricky hyphenation rules (which I've stated only
in brief, btw). So this convention shifted as computers became more
mainstream.

Warner

P.S. Yes, I know that firetruck used to be fire-truck and it was always
hyphenated for a time, even when not used in a phrase like 'fire-truck
company'. That's one of the exceptions, and Control-C also fell under that
convention. But technical writers started to evolve it to '+' in maybe the
90s to help convey the notion of both at the same time.... and
coincidentally to avoid silly arguments about convention vs "the rules"
that made things more confusing, not less.

P.P.S. I don't have a good source to this other than second-hand
recollection of my wife who used to do technical writing in the 90s, and
half-remembered usenet flame wars. The English rule, though, can be found
in any style manual, and is direct from a former English professor (also my
wife).
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