Filed under: OS, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Apple
How the Command Key got its four leaf clover
Ok, so it's not really a clover (and I still call it The Apple Key). Folklore.org has the story of how the Finder's menu items (and the Apple keyboard's Command key for that matter) acquired its curious little symbol. It all started with a Steve Jobs rampage (go figure) and ended with a Swedish Campground. Check it out.Incidentally, Folklore.org is a treasure trove of stories about the early days of Apple and the Macintosh. Spend five minutes reading and you'll be there for an hour.
[Via The Apple Blog]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tilted said 11:12AM on 12-05-2005
Cool.
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Erick Erickson said 11:17AM on 12-05-2005
Dude, I stil call it the "Open Apple key."
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Marja-Leena Rathje said 11:24AM on 12-05-2005
Interesting! In Finland, this symbol is on signs along the highways to indicate a craft or artist studio/shop. Long ago it was a mark placed above entry doors to ward evil spirits from entering. Maybe this protects the Macs from viruses!??
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Pete said 12:09PM on 12-05-2005
Marja-Leena is partly correct, but the official term for the sign is that it indicates a sight. Check out Finnish Road Administration's document about road signs here:
http://www.tiehallinto.fi/pls/wwwedit/docs/7729.PDF
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Wry Cooter said 1:59PM on 12-05-2005
I call it a cloverleaf, for those that would be confused if you called it an Apple.
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janiero said 1:32PM on 12-05-2005
Andy Tannenbaum has assembled many of the stories he's written for Folklore.org into a great book called Revolution in the Valley.
I wrote a review about it here: http://hohle.net/scrap_post.php?post=164
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Oyvind said 1:49PM on 12-05-2005
Didn't you read the comments on the story before posting about it?
;-)
The symbol does not mean campground, it is used in the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland) to indicate a general point of interest. Campground has a tent or cabin as signs.
The origin of the sign is a castle seen from above, with a tower in each corner. So to annoy your Mac friends, tell them to hit the Castle key.
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Extensor said 2:35PM on 12-05-2005
I remember always calling that key the pretzel key. This was when I first started making Mac games in 1991. :D
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dogfriend said 3:34PM on 12-05-2005
It was Andy Hertzfeld, not Tannenbaum
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