#If | #IfOnly #AsIf #IfSlashThen (or is it #IfBACKslashThen?, #IfThatMakesAnyDifference) ... #WhyDoTheyCallIt a #Slash or #ForwardSlash (#/) or a #Backslash (#\)?
'If' (below-hyperlinked to a post about whether you will "Bounce from" or "Engage with" articles you read) is built on an even-deeper source ... something crucial that firms the foundation upon which our lexicon stands ...
The word “If” is built on ancient words that mean "|Whether, |So," on top of Foundation-Meanings that might include |Doubt, |Condition, |Stipulation, |Hesitation, |Exception, |Challenge.
If/then or If\then (from the conditional phrase, e.g. 'if "THIS" is thus, then "THAT" is thusly') ... that brings up "Slash" & "Backslash"
The "Slash" (or "Forward-Slash," punctuation recorded from 1961) is 'a vertical bar ("|") that leans forward' ("/"), and the "Backslash" (introduced with computers in 1977, and only used in computer-programming (Folders in a File-name, mostly) or math (the "set difference") ... so there is NO 'if\then'—unless 'then' is a file-or-folder within the 'if'-folder 🤓) is 'a vertical bar that leans backward' ("\").
The word "Slash" is built on ancient words that mean "to Break, |Splinter (|Slat)" (as early Americans would use the term as a verb for "|Clearing the Land of Trees," and as a noun for "an Open |Tract in the |Forest" (a Meadow)) ... and "Backslash" is obviously built on 'that with the "Back"-prefix added').
But then, why do they call "|" a 'vertical bar' and they use both 'Slash' and 'Forward-Slash' for "/"?
... or maybe that's just me ... Actually, I called '|' a 'vertical dash' ... not sure why—I guess it's because we call "-" a "Dash" ...
Know anything else interesting about that? Comment!
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I appreciate your comment, and I'll probably approve it & publish it soon (give me about a week before you try to post it again when it doesn't publish immediately ... thanks)