The Word of the Day is ☞ Manicule

I’ve never been satisfied with the terminology for the pointer cursor, the little hand with the index finger extended, that web browsers use to indicate a hyperlink by default. Standard CSS rules call it a “pointer”, and IE in its typically idiosyncratic fashion calls it a “hand”.

Today I ran across a post on the excellent Language Hat blog which laments the fact that the term “manicule”, meaning a bullet-like symbol shaped like a pointing hand used to direct the readers attention, has disappeared from contemporary dictionaries. The word was a new one on me, and had immediate appeal. I’m not the only one that likes it: it has its own WikiPedia entry and even a Flickr group.

From now on I’m referring to the pointer cursor as the “manicule”, and I encourage all right-thinking CSS users to do the same.

[CC Photo by Mykl Roventine]