What is your favorite alternate name for a (specific) keyboard key?

[chacham]

Function Keys / F-keys

 24/9%

Backtick / Tilde

 42/15%

Backspace / Delete

 8/3%

Tab / Diet Coke

 21/8%

Caps Lock / Shift Lock

 7/3%

Enter / Return

 33/12%

Shift / House

 2/1%

Control / K'tarl / KAOS

 14/5%

Windows Key / Super

 27/10%

Option / Alt

 12/4%

Menu / Application

 0/0%

Pause / Break / Pause Break

 2/1%

Insert / Overtype

 4/1%

Page Keys / Pig Keys

 8/3%

Arrow / Direction

 5/2%

Num Lock / Number Lock

 5/2%

Any / Other

 58/21%

272 total votes

[choroba]

Did you know that the at-sign is called a "rollmop" in Czech? (Not only the key, though, the character as well.)

[chacham]

Did you know that the at-sign is called a "rollmop" in Czech? (Not only the key, though, the character as well.)

Fascinating

[atcroft]

I selected the "Function Keys/F-keys" option, in part because of an incident my SO (also a technical person) told me about. One of their co-workers was on a support call, and told the caller to "press the 'Fn' key". My SO's manager, who was within earshot at the time, misunderstood it as the slang "F-in'" (or "ef-in'") key, and hilarity ensued. Thereafter there was a running joke in my SO's office regarding the "Fn"/"f-in" key.

[perldigious]

When I was issued my most recent new laptop by my company, I was horrified to discover the absence of "Home" and "End" keys from the integrated keyboard. Those "F-in" keys as you call them, along with the "Arrow (Direction)" keys have become my salvation when I'm writing code. Although, there was a couple months or so where it was like trying to learn to walk again...

I warned them that if they dared to start replacing the Software Engineer's laptops with the same laptop as mine, management could very well have a riot on their hands.

[LanX]

Strange that no emacser has mentioned the mythological meta key yet ... ;)

[Old_Gray_Bear]

EMACS never meta key it didn't like.

[BrowserUk]

EMACS never meta key it didn't like.

That sentence seems too ... wordy.

• EMACS never meta key it didn't: Hm.
• EMACS never meta key it: Nah.
• EMACS never meta: Ummm...
• EMACS never: Perfect!

:)

[afoken]

Caps Lock and Shift Lock are actually two quite different functions that can be mapped to the same key:

Shift Lock largely emulates what could be archived even on old mechanical typewriters: A locked shift key. All letter keys return upper case letters, all number keys return interpunction characters, and keys with interpunction return alternate interpunction, just as if you hold the shift key with any of the keys (ignoring cursor and function keys).

Caps Lock is smarter, it affects only letter keys, so that you get upper case letters, but interpunction and number keys still return the unmodified interpunction or number.

Microsoft adds an "(IBM)" suffix to the selected keyboard mapping for keyboard mappings that use Caps Lock instead of Shift Lock.

On Linux and X11, the Caps Lock key can be remapped to implement the Caps Lock or Shift Lock function, it can switch between two different keyboard layouts, it can swap its function with the Ctrl key, and that are just a few possibilities.

Alexander

[chacham]

So, i guess you call it caps lock then. :)

And thanx for the nice writeup.

[ExReg]

I miss the old VAX keyboard where Enter and Return were different keys

[chacham]

I miss the old VAX keyboard where Enter and Return were different keys

A room full of people discussing the difference between the two keys, starting with functionality but then shifting to the name and other inanities. That ends when you enter and return to the new line of discussion.

[hippo]

R / Pirate

[vitoco]

"Tiny flag" ("Banderita" in Spanish) for Windows key.

BTW: where is that "Any" key? I can't find it in my keyboard.

[ExReg]

https://shop.keyboard.io/

[ww]

What? No option for BANG (!), splat (#) or star (*)?

[chacham]

No option for BANG (!), splat (#) or star (*)?

Those are names for the symbols, not the keys.

[Athanasius]

A dubious distinction in this context, but an interesting one, reminiscent of Lewis Carroll:

    ‘You are sad,’ the Knight said in an anxious tone: ‘let me sing you a song to comfort you.’
    ‘Is it very long?’ Alice asked, for she had heard a good deal of poetry that day.
    ‘It’s long,’ said the Knight, ‘but it’s very, very beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it—either it brings the tears into their eyes, or else—’
    ‘Or else what?’ said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.
    ‘Or else it doesn’t, you know. The name of the song is called “Haddocks’ Eyes.”’
    ‘Oh, that’s the name of the song, is it?’ Alice said, trying to feel interested.
    ‘No, you don’t understand,’ the Knight said, looking a little vexed. ‘That’s what the name is called. The name really is “The Aged Aged Man.”’
    ‘Then I ought to have said “That’s what the song is called”?’ Alice corrected herself.
    ‘No, you oughtn’t: that’s quite another thing! The song is called “Ways and Means”: but that’s only what it’s called, you know!’
    ‘Well, what is the song, then?’ said Alice, who was by this time completely bewildered.
    ‘I was coming to that,’ the Knight said. ‘The song really is “A-sitting On A Gate”: and the tune’s my own invention.’

— from Through the Looking-Glass, quoted in Use and Mention by Norman Schwartz. See Haddocks' Eyes and Use-mention distinction.

:-)

[soonix]

I see you have listed "Backtick / Tilde" as one, but to me the Tilde is something completely different …

[chacham]

The question was what do you call the key. In most cases, people use the "bottom" or non-shifted version of the symbol as the key's "name". One notable exception to that is the backtick, which most people seem to ignore and just refer to as the tilde, hence the option. Well, at least that's why i suggested it like that. :)

[hippo]

On a UK QWERTY keyboard the backtick and tilde keys are not only different keys but also widely separated. I don't think you would ever find a British hacker referring to the backtick key as "tilde" or vice-versa.

[ww]

That suggests a problem with the poll's conflation of Backspace / Delete as those are two distinct keys in the US QWERTY layouts I've seen and perform distinctly different actions on WinDoze boxen.

[soonix]

yes, that explains it. I am used to german keyboard layouts (QWERTZ), where the tilde originally was absent. Meanwhile it is on our keycaps, but I'm not sure about its "canonical" location :-)

[salva]

In Spanish, there isn't a specific name for the tilde (~). The closest is "Virgulilla", but that name can refer to several writing marks and anyway it is quite unknown.

So, people have invented other names for that key/symbol. My preferred one is "gurruņito", meaning literally, something small and wrinkled.

[wazoox]

I'm calling the "Windows" key "Apple". Because back in ol' times (until 2011) Apple keyboards had an apple on the "Command" key. In France everyone always called the "command" key the "Apple" key anyway; I never heard it called "Command" until I started browsing the English-speaking web 20 years ago; back then I already had called it "Apple" for 10 years anyway.

My Apple //c has two Apple keys, open and closed. It's a pretty good thing, if you ask me.

[chacham]

My Apple //c has two Apple keys

Our Apple ][e had it as well. Wasn't it ctrl-esc-open apple for a video test, or something like that?

[wazoox]

Well I remember of holding both Apple keys when turning on the computer, to initiate self-test...

[wjw]

The exclamation key, "!" (shift 1 -> '!' on my keyboard) is called 'bang' or 'shebang'. That substitution is so built in that when someone tells me to use the 'exclamation' key, I have to think about it...

[BrowserUk]

A.K.A pling in some circles.

[chacham]

when someone tells me to use the 'exclamation' key

They actually say exclamation key?

[wjw]

Actually, what I hear from most is "shift one".

[planetscape]

Here, it's the CATS' LOCK key, because they are the only ones who use it...

[shmem]

I'm missing the Space Bar/Pub Key option...