National Ampersand Day
Have some fun with curly, quirky character on #NationalAmpersandDay
8 September is National Ampersand Day, and is the perfect opportunity to acknowledge and applaud this great little glyph.
This curly, quirky little character is very useful – but also fun and functional – and is loved by all. It used by many, from jotting a shorthand and to branding corporate names.
The founder of this National Day, Chaz DeSimone, decided to use this date, because he found that many of the characters can be cleverly disguised as ampersands when certain fonts were used. DeSimone – a designer and typographer – founded this day in 2015. He also has a monthly design project called Amperart that features the ampersand as fun and fabulous art.
Some little known facts about the ampersand include:
• The ampersand (&) used to be the last letter of the alphabet.
• It is a combination of e and t which is the Latin word et, meaning ‘and’.
• The plus sign is actually an ampersand.
To discover more interesting facts about the ampersand, visit www.Amperart.com.
Have some fun with the ampersand to celebrate today and do some of the following:
• Use a lot of ampersands!
• In everything you write substitute the word (and) with the symbol (&).
• Replace syllables with the ampersand, for example &droid, c&elabra and b&.
(These are only a few ideas – there are many other replacements that can be done).
• Send a special note to friends whose name contain and, for example &dy, &drea, Alex&er and Gr&ma.
• Keeping in mind that the ampersand contains the letters et, design new styles of ampersands.
• Visit Amperart.com
Post on social media using #NationalAmpersandDay.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at roodepoortrecord@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 955 1130.
For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister newspaper websites
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to let your voice be heard!
