Pet Peeve: There are no "backslashes" on the Interwebs

I've heard this mistake before, but the local talk radio station has at least one current offending commercial running that I heard the other day right after hearing a local leader talk to a reporter and make the same mistake. Both state something to the effect of, "Come visit our web site at Blah-Dot-Com-BACKSLASH-Yadda." For those of you that are non-techy, there is a significant difference between a forward slash (generally just called the "slash") and a backslash. Here's the difference:

The slash is used in web site addresses, typed fractions (like 3/4), in abbreviations (such as "w/" and "w/o"), and indicating that two ideas stand side by side (such as "and/or" or "meet me tomorrow/Sunday"). The other is generally not used for anything unless you run CMD.EXE on Windows or are a programmer needing to write out escape codes or break up lines.

The slash is commonly enough used that it is beneath your right pinky on a standard QWERTY keyboard. The backslash, on the other hand, has no standard placement on a QWERTY keyboard. It usually appears above the ENTER key with another rarely needed character, the vertical pipe ("|"), but it also appears next to the space bar and near the escape key among other places depending on your keyboard.

So, when you give out your web address, don't be tempted to sound fancy or use an extra syllable. Rather, just keep it simple and say "slash." In fact, most folks can erase the term "backslash" from their mind and just ban it from their vocabulary altogether.

Cheers.