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0 pointszimpenfish5y ago0 comments

I'd imagine it was Terminal on MacOS from the capitalisation (and that does what he says, just checked.)

0 comments

Yes. That would be Mac iTerm/Terminal, should have mentioned.

Do people usually use "Alt" to describe the Option key on Macs? I was really confused for a second trying to find it on my Macbook

OJFord5y ago

Yes.

Anyone that hasn't been exclusively using macOS for their entire digital life, or at least years, anyway.

'Command' (resp. 'Windows', resp. 'Super') is a different story. You can't say 'Super' with a straight face without also marking yourself out as someone who borders on saying 'GNU with Linux', or 'I run Arch'.

(For what it's worth, I do run Arch. ;))

IIRC Option is dually labelled as Alt on some Apple keyboards anyway.

franga20005y ago

> You can't say 'Super' with a straight face without also marking yourself out as someone who borders on saying 'GNU with Linux', or 'I run Arch'.

Since basically nobody knows the historical difference these days, I just call it the Meta key to avoid the above situation. When non-techy people ask me what the hell I mean, I just explain that's the technical term for the key and that I use it so both Mac and Windows people understand me. I've even heard one of them start using the term themselves, presumably to appear smarter in front of their boss.

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vangelis5y ago

I use a USB mechanical keyboard with my Mac, Ubuntu at home, so I tend to think of command and option as super and alt.

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