Names for the Command key [Archive]

Nermal

Oct 1, 2004, 09:27 PM

We all know what the Command key is, but some people seem to give it rather interesting names. Of course, we've all heard 'Apple key' and sometimes 'clover key.' Some more I've heard are 'pretzel key,' as well as 'squashed spider' and even 'Windows key' :eek:

So I'm curious, what are the most interesting/strange names that you've heard for the Command key?

wdlove

Oct 1, 2004, 09:57 PM

The only one that I have ever heard or used is the "Apple" key. My friend. ;)

bousozoku

Oct 1, 2004, 10:01 PM

Nothing too interesting but more on what you've mentioned.

Cloverleaf key and someone mentioned open Apple or closed Apple, which had to do with the Apple IIc/IIgs and the location of the key--left or right.

t300

Oct 1, 2004, 10:03 PM

Most people I know just say "Apple" and not "Apple Key."..But yeah, I haven't heard of anything else but the things you mentioned.

PlaceofDis

Oct 1, 2004, 10:48 PM

anyone know why the 'option' key has 'alt' on it as well? shouldnt it just be one or the other? did apple do this a a result of window's keyboards?

jsalzer

Oct 1, 2004, 11:35 PM

I'm all for scrapping all of the command/option/control commands and rethinking them. Some of them still make sense ("Option" when starting up the computer gives you all your startup disk options). Now it seems like we're just scrounging for the key combos that are left. Let's scrap them all, rethink it, and start over. ;)

Personally, I still call it "Open Apple", and every time I read "command", I have to look at the keyboard and figure it out.

bousozoku

Oct 1, 2004, 11:51 PM

anyone know why the 'option' key has 'alt' on it as well? shouldnt it just be one or the other? did apple do this a a result of window's keyboards?

It's for the sake of emulation. Note that the del and the num lock keys are marked twice too to indicate their dual purposes.

agreenster

Oct 2, 2004, 12:17 AM

I've always said "open apple" and people look at me funny sometimes. I have to explain it, and usually.....they still look at me funny. I've had to train myself to say just "apple."

Mechcozmo

Oct 2, 2004, 02:23 AM

To-ma-to...To-ma-to...
They sound different but mean the same thing...

I say Command, my friend says Apple and I've heard at the Apple Store: "That one, next to the long one."

NusuniAdmin

Oct 2, 2004, 10:16 AM

"Apple Key"
"command key"
"key next to space"
"key with funky design on it"

obeygiant

Oct 2, 2004, 10:23 AM

stupid key

ultra key

keykey

lu-key

Mar-Key Mark

per-key

MONKEY

hcuar

Oct 2, 2004, 11:16 AM

I was talking to a long time Mac user at work... I mentioned the "Open Apple" key and he looked at me crazy. I explained the old keyboards with the Open/Closed Apple keys... and he told me that there was never such a thing. I thought I was loosing it. ;)

Kyle?

Oct 2, 2004, 11:56 AM

History behind design at folklore.org (http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Swedish_Campground.txt&sortOrder=Sort%20by%20Date&detail=medium&search=command%20key).

So, I move that from now on we call it the campground key. :)

amyhre

Oct 2, 2004, 12:00 PM

I've only heard command and Apple key being said. I'm used to calling it the command key so hearing it called Apple usually gets under my skin. Been using Macs since System 7 and also have used the old Apple II's quite a lot. Good times.

realityisterror

Oct 2, 2004, 01:55 PM

i've also seen propeller key.. thought not by any intelligent person... ;)
i called it apple before i got my imac, and now just command (or cmd when i'm lazy)

reality

r6girl

Oct 2, 2004, 02:10 PM

i call it the "open apple" key too. i realized once i got my mac that my grade school had used macs in the tiny lab in the basement run by mrs. foster, because i remember her explaining the "open apple - control - c" key combination to us (can't remember what this does). and there was a "closed apple" key because she would specify which apple key to use (open or closed, of course). i had never realized until then that i'd been using macs when i was 10! my friends and i would sometimes choose to spend recess inside in the lab to play computer games. i remember this one game where you played a stick figure doing the long jump and you needed to use the keyboard to prompt his jump. once, i totally missed hitting the key, and got a "face-fault" error. my friend and i just about fell on the floor laughing. ah, those were the days!

marianne

iMeowbot

Oct 2, 2004, 02:40 PM

I tend to call it the commandapplecloverthingy key, to cover the possibilities.

rainman::|:|

Oct 2, 2004, 05:25 PM

I learned open-apple as well, although once I realized how long it's been since i've needed to say closed-apple, i started using command. but when i'm in a hurry i revert to open-apple, which does get some weird looks at work...

paul

TLRedhawke

Oct 2, 2004, 05:47 PM

TDM21

Oct 2, 2004, 07:00 PM

Personally, I still call it "Open Apple", and every time I read "command", I have to look at the keyboard and figure it out.

I, too, was taught to call it "open Apple." I started using Apple computers as early as 3 years old and that's what I was always told. Now when I read instructions and see "command key" I am always confused.

wowser

Oct 2, 2004, 07:02 PM

"that-key-with-the-sort-of-squiggly-thing-on-it key"

hcuar

Oct 2, 2004, 08:23 PM

On a different slightly off topic note... Who here that uses a Wintel machine actually uses the Windows key? I think it's gotta be one of the most useless keys.

jsalzer

Oct 2, 2004, 08:59 PM

On a different slightly off topic note... Who here that uses a Wintel machine actually uses the Windows key? I think it's gotta be one of the most useless keys.

Whelp - I spend most of my work day on a Wintel, but I long ago threw the keyboard and mouse in a drawer and have been using an Apple keyboard and mouse ever since (to the dismay of my techie). So, I guess my Windows key has a picture of an Apple and a Clover-Leaf-Squiggle-Campground-Lucky-Charm on it. ;)

Not being at work to experiment right now, I'm not even sure what the Windows key does. Doesn't it just open the Start menu? And can't I just do that with my (Apple) mouse? If it has another function, I guess I haven't needed it.

Here's the more important keyboard question. I program the Filemaker database that we use, and I have a heck of a time getting people to distinguish between "Return" and "Enter" because those gosh dern Wintel keyboards say "Enter" on both. For the love of fluffy puppies, why did they do that? Even Microsoft products (Excel, etc.) distinguish between the carriage return and the Enter key. It's a pain in the tail, because my on-screen instructions can't just say "press Enter". I actually have to put a picture of a keyboard with the number pad Enter highlighted.

I'd like five minutes in a jello-wrestling ring with whoever had that bright idea. And here's the kicker. Why change that (presumably to escape type-writer-related terminology) and not rename "Shift", which, unlike "Return", doesn't really mean anything in terms of a computer?

(For you youngins, the shift key on a typewriter actually shifted the typewriter's carriage so that the capital letter hit the ink ribbon).

Giaguara

Oct 2, 2004, 09:07 PM

i answer to apple technical calls (and fix computers and stuff) for my work.

i call it "apple key". i know it majorly annoys classic users. but it does not say "command", so every keyboard layout has "Apple" logo on it.

Applespider

Oct 3, 2004, 09:34 AM

Not being at work to experiment right now, I'm not even sure what the Windows key does. Doesn't it just open the Start menu? And can't I just do that with my (Apple) mouse? If it has another function, I guess I haven't needed it.

How many times have you gone for the Ctrl key on a Win keyboard and accidentally hit that stupid windows one - especially in Excel. Argh!

Anyhow, it does open the Start menu but you can then navigate through the items on your start menu by using keyboard shortcuts. I find it quicker to use the mouse if I'm going that deep into it at work but hey, it's there.

I call it Command in my head but when speaking to my mother or sister (non techy and new Mac users) I call it the Apple one so they can see it more easily...

AndiePandie

Oct 3, 2004, 09:51 AM

I call it the "open apple" key and seriously just learned it was called the "command" key. I learned on an Apple in HS and we were taught that "open apple + control + escape" can reboot the computer. I have always called it "open apple" since then. Perhaps I should change with the times. :p

Doctor Q

Oct 3, 2004, 11:26 AM

When I teach people, I call it the Apple key. I mention that its official name is Command, but for beginners that's just one more thing to remember so "Apple" is simpler. Unless you are used to pre-Mac Apple computers, there's not much use calling it "open Apple".

iMeowbot

Oct 3, 2004, 12:33 PM

i call it "apple key". i know it majorly annoys classic users. but it does not say "command", so every keyboard layout has "Apple" logo on it.
I've been running into Kensington keyboards that have the loopy deal and no Apple logo. :mad:

dPratt

Oct 3, 2004, 12:38 PM

Generally I say "command," every now and then "apple," and of course back in the day "open apple."

But one of my professors in college (head of the graphic design department, no less) always called it the "butterfly" key. That was like fingernails on a chalkboard. It made it even harder to (appear to) concentrate on her inane computer "lessons" when she said things like that:)

r6girl

Oct 3, 2004, 02:51 PM

Command, Apple, Cloverleaf. Interesting tidbit, the game you were all too likely playing, MacLC40 (as I used to play on my old old, built Apple II), was Microsoft Decathlon. So, all the while that you never realized you were a Mac junkie, you also never realized you'd been a Microsoft junkie as well ;) Speaking of that game, the face faults were funny, but the pole vault was such a complex set of commands that it required two people to execute properly.

that is too funny! microsoft decathlon, huh? had i known about that evil empire back then, i'm sure i would have forgone playing that game! :p

yeah, i don't remember the pole vault part very well, but definitely the long jump and the face faults. i have no idea what model the macs were, but i remember they were pretty large, with tiny monochrome monitors. wish i could remember what those were...

marianne

Mechcozmo

Oct 3, 2004, 07:52 PM

Just heard it called by someone in the neighborhood "Weirdo Key"

In case anyone wants to know, the Windows key and the Break key (on a Windoze computer) displays the system info. At various schools, buisnesses, etc, it is often times left enabled on a computer, so you can see system properties, but you cannot change them as you don't have the power too. I recently found out using this method that our school's computers use 500Mhz Celerons :eek: And they only have 64MB of RAM :eek: and they run Windows 2000 :eek: (Well the last part I knew before...)

Nermal

Oct 4, 2004, 02:20 AM

Some of these are indeed interesting.

Butterfly key I understand, it does look a bit like a butterfly. Thank you for your input obeygiant :rolleyes:, and thanks Kyle for the history.

And, of course, the rest of them are all appreciated :)

homerjward

Oct 4, 2004, 02:39 AM

On a different slightly off topic note... Who here that uses a Wintel machine actually uses the Windows key? I think it's gotta be one of the most useless keys.
i use it on a desktop, windows+d and windows+l being my favorites and i also use it to open the start menu. but on my laptop (when i dont have my usb board plugged in) it's up by the f keys with the right-click key and the print screen key. down at the bottom it's been replaced by the function key. ugh! i almost never take advantage of the portability of this thing because i cant stand the keyboard, although ive grown to prefer a trackpad to a mouse, except for not being able to scroll or to tap the right half to right click and just the left half to left click...

dotnina

Oct 4, 2004, 03:37 AM

I used Macs in grade school, then didn't touch Macs again until college (my first Mac, a few months ago). I was taught "Open Apple," and I didn't know there was any other name.

When people told me about some commands you can pull with the "Command Key," I was annoyed ... "There IS no command key!"

I feel awfully silly now, don't you know. :D

cazlar

Oct 4, 2004, 05:02 AM

I usually refer to it as "Command", but when I am showing non-Mac users something I refer to it as "Apple" as I've found they get too confused otherwise.

As for open and closed apple - I remember using a keyboard with the closed-apple on it ages ago, but I can't remember what it did - was it just a different modifier?

jdechko

Oct 4, 2004, 10:16 AM

On a different slightly off topic note... Who here that uses a Wintel machine actually uses the Windows key? I think it's gotta be one of the most useless keys.

I use it for a few things. Most often its to lock the computer (win + L), and maybe the run command. But other than that, I rarely find myself using it.

rueyeet

Oct 4, 2004, 12:36 PM

You can tell someone's been a Mac user for a while when they call it the open Apple key. :) Coming in lately like I did, I know it as the Command key.

I've also heard it called the flower, the cloverleaf, the loop, and my favorite: the splat.

wordmunger

Oct 4, 2004, 12:44 PM

the one next to the option key. NO, NOT THE CONTROL KEY, THE @#$@&* OTHER ONE!

Santiago

Oct 4, 2004, 02:38 PM

On a different slightly off topic note... Who here that uses a Wintel machine actually uses the Windows key? I think it's gotta be one of the most useless keys.

I find that the only use for it is hold it down and hit E, thereby bringing up an explorer window to let you poke at the filesystem.

dross

Oct 4, 2004, 02:45 PM

I always called it the open apple key but there is a guy in my office who calls it the butterfly key. He is a bit strange.

FelixDerKater

Oct 4, 2004, 05:03 PM

I just call it Apple. For example, Apple-Option-Escape to force quit.

Others I know call it command or clover.

tuc

Oct 4, 2004, 05:07 PM

I have called it the 'Quincunx' key for many years now, but not in front of those easily confused. If you're not familiar with the word look it up (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=quincunx).

btw, I concur that calling it the 'Apple' key is a mistake if anyone might be using a 3rd-party keyboard. I understand the open-apple/closed-apple heritage from the Apple II days, but I almost always use 3rd-party keyboards and there just aren't any apples on them.

iMeowbot

Oct 4, 2004, 07:18 PM

As for open and closed apple - I remember using a keyboard with the closed-apple on it ages ago, but I can't remember what it did - was it just a different modifier?

Yeah, it was basically the option key.

Lisa had an Apple key, early Macs had just the clover. Both ended up on there later.

By the way, does anyone have a name for the option key icon? Ummm, the attached thingy.

MacFan26

Oct 4, 2004, 07:43 PM

the one next to the option key. NO, NOT THE CONTROL KEY, THE @#$@&* OTHER ONE!
:D

I usually say "command" these days. I was actually thinking about this the other day, how I missed saying "open Apple." (that must really signify that I'm a nerd). That's what the lab teachers said while using Apple ]['s in elementary school. Aw, good times.

grapes911

Oct 5, 2004, 12:53 AM

I hope most of these are jokes, but here they are any way.
http://www.quinn.echidna.id.au/Quinn/WWW/OtherBits.html

cb911

Oct 5, 2004, 01:43 AM

I'm all for scrapping all of the command/option/control commands and rethinking them.

i was planning to scrap all of the current keys from my keyboard. :D back in the good old days when i had a TiBook, i was going to take each key off, and replace the letters and symbols on there with symbols from The Matrix. :D i think i got about half way through planning what symbols i would use for each key, but then i sold my TiBook. and can't do that with the AlBooks, well, not as easily anyway.

but i might try it when i get around to buying a 1GHz TiBook and giving the whole case chrome plating and polished titanium on the palm rests and inside the lid. :D

Doctor Q

Oct 5, 2004, 12:41 PM

i was planning to scrap all of the current keys from my keyboard. :D back in the good old days when i had a TiBook, i was going to take each key off, and replace the letters and symbols on there with symbols from The Matrix.Here's the keyboard I use for all my MacRumors posts:

MacFan26

Oct 5, 2004, 02:21 PM

Here's the keyboard I use for all my MacRumors posts:
woah. What made you decide to use the "zero" key instead of the actual "O" key? :D

Santiago

Oct 5, 2004, 02:32 PM

By the way, does anyone have a name for the option key icon? Ummm, the attached thingy.

The option symbol? At some point I realized just what it is—a symbolic representation of a switch or of choosing an option. You come in from the left path and decide to take the lower path out as opposed to the higher path.

Doctor Q

Oct 5, 2004, 02:57 PM

woah. What made you decide to use the "zero" key instead of the actual "O" key? :DFor some odd reason, my keyboard came with only one actual "O" key, so I had to improvise with the keys or else change my name to Doct0r Q. (:D yourself)

Hey, wait a minute. I could have bought two keyboards to cannibalize and spelled DOCTOR Q properly! Next time I'll know better.