The Ampersand

Thoughts on usage.

Just a note. When I first learned this DTP (graphic design) stuff in the mid-80’s – there was no one to teach it, so we all learned by flying by the seat of our pants.

To this end, I did some serious study of typography, scouring the local library for any and all books about the subject.

One thing came up about the ampersand (BTW I agree with you about the lovliness [sic] of the ligature). It is not strictly a replacement for “and.” According to my research, there is a “possessive” quality to the ampersand, and to simply replace “and” with an amperand [sic] is not correct in all cases.

For example, “Sanford & Son” is a correct usage, but “Moving & Storage” is not.

I don’t know if this matters to you, you may just be in it for the typography, but I always thought it was an interesting “factoid.”

Michael

I’ve never heard this before. Yes, I know I am the curator of the ampersand blog, but some of the granular details of proper ampersand usage are beyond me. Thoughts? Corrections? Please leave a comment or email if you have something to add. I want to hear from the real grammar folks on this one.

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Mountain Lake & Stream

ampersand lake

Craig Conley writes:

Which came first: Ampersand Stream, or Lake, or Mountain? Here’s an intriguing explanation from The Gentleman’s Magazine, 1892:

Ampersand is a mountain. It is a lake. It is a stream. The mountain stands in the heart of the Adirondack country, just near enough to the thoroughfare of travel for thousands of people to see it every year, and just far enough away from the beaten track to be unvisited, except by a very few of the wise ones who love to digress. Behind the mountain is the lake, which no lazy man has ever seen. Out of the lake flows the stream, winding down a long, untrodden forest valley, until at length it joins the Stony Creek waters, and empties into the Raquette River. Which of the three Ampersands has the prior claim to the name I cannot tell.

Philosophically speaking, the mountain ought to be regarded as the father of the family, because it was undoubtedly there before the others existed. And the lake was probably the next on the ground, because the stream is its child. But man is not strictly correct in his nomenclature; and I conjecture that the little river, the last-born of the three, was the first to be called Ampersand, and then gave its name to its parent and grandparent. It is such a crooked stream, so bent and curved and twisted upon itself, so fond of turning around unexpected corners, and sweeping away in great circles from its direct course, that its first explorers christened it after the eccentric supernumerary of the alphabet which appears in the old spelling book as &.

From the oneletterwords blog. Thanks. Just wondering, but did that illustration accompany the original article?

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