How do you say '@'?

What is the English word for @'?

Tweeting from Glass is a quick way to share the moment. No need to pull out a device and type a message. It can all be done with voice commands. However, I have not been successful in mentioning someone using the '@' symbol.

Hashtags work surprisingly well. Simply saying "hashtag frozen" will result in '#frozen'.

However when attempting to use '@', just saying "at discover MATC" results in 'at discover MATC' instead of '@discoverMATC'.

Also, saying "at symbol Sendiks" will result with 'at symbol Sendik's', instead of '@Sendiks'.

Had the same problem when I tried using "at sign Heritage Print" that resulted in "At sign Heritage Print", instead of '@HeritagePrint'.

'@' was created as representation for value or pricing of goods and services. Aside from commercial usage, the symbol was not widely used or understood until the development of Unix and internet in the 1970's. The symbol is widely used today for email address and Twitter.

Twitter uses '@' to 'mention' someone directly in a tweet.  '@' allows users to tag someone in a tweet. This tag allows for the tweet to be found when users are checking who has tagged them. '#' can be used for general words and terms, whereas '@' can be used to get a tweet noticed by those being tagged. It is also used when replying to another person or when wishing to get more people into a conversation.

This is all easy to do if you are using a keyboard, but there does not appear to be any consistently recognized word for '@' that is understood by voice recognition software with Glass or Google for English speakers.

Besides being called the 'at sign' or 'at symbol' in English there are several different ways of referring to '@': 'commercial at', 'atmark','asperand','ampersat'. These are all words that have appeared when I search the web for '@', but none of them have any specific claim to being recognized as '@'.

Interestingly other languages have given '@' different names. The French use arrobase and the Spanish use arroba. The Germans refer to it as the 'monkey tail', Affenschwanz, and the Russians refer to it as the 'dogs tail', sobaka. Since I am not fluent in any of these languages, I am not sure if these words will produce '@'.

The utility of Twitter is limited if one cannot mention others using '@' using voice recognition software. What appears to be the problem is that Google either recognizes a specific word or it attempts to interpret what is said. With '#', it will first spell out the word 'hashtag' after it is stated, but then convert to the symbol when the word has been recognized. Since 'at' is a common English preposition used in many contexts, Glass is not quickly recognizing the word as '@' needed to Tweet.  The solution resides on selecting a specific English word to represent '@'.

So, what word will be best used to say '@' in English and be recognized by Google voice recognition software?

How did my wife get Hoffed?

On April 1st, my wife received an Auto Hoffsome'd picture in her G+photos that she did not take, nor was tagged in. How did the picture arrive there?

The picture was taken at an event using my Google Glass. The picture was not shared with G+ or any other social media service. The original picture uploaded to my G+ photos that night while Glass was charging. A few days later, on April 1st, she received a notification about the Hoffed picture.

No harm done with the Auto Hoffsome photo as we both thought it was quite funny and appropriate for the event.

We were both dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing for a silent auction fund raiser for a German language school. Coincidentally, one of the auction items was a collection of David Hasselhoff memorabilia. Adding Hoff to the picture was in context with the theme and added to the fun we had at the event.

Some of the fun:

What is intriguing, is that my wife did not have a profile picture of herself for her account at the time, nor did I have pictures or reference her in my G+ accounts. Further adding to this mystery is that we have different last names.

How did G+ know that she was in the picture and find her account?

If anyone has an idea or the official word on how my wife got Hoffed, let me know.