Re: CHAT ampersand (was: noun compounds)

Mark J. Reed wrote:
> Oh, another handwritten variation I see commonly looks like a
> lowercase epsilon (or a backward 3) with vertical lines attached to
> the top and bottom.  (Sometimes it's a vertical bar all the way
> through, but more often I see the two-line version, perhaps with the
> lines manifesting as exaggerated serifs on the ends of the thing
> instead of additions in the middle.)
>
That sounds like the version I've seen from time to time; if it's simple
enough, it's very clearly Latin _et_-- an epsilon with the bottom line
curved upwards with horizontal line on top, to form a little T or
tau...which as I recall is in fact the origin of the symbol

Back in the days of handwriting and note-taking, I got in the habit of using
ampersand and other abbreviations that don't seem common anymore--- w/ for
with, w/o without, and idiosyncratic -ing as a straight line with a
descender at the end (inspired IIRC by Gregg shorthand, which I learned but
never used much).