www.alphadictionary.com

Thanks for the lesson. I never could figure out the Alt+ thing. It never worked for me. Now I know why; I was using the numbers at the top, not the number pad. I much prefer using the keypad over the mouse, when I can.

I think that "ALT-nnnn" entry technique dates back to the original IBM PC.

I first saw it documented in the Microsoft Basic manual, but was probably part of the BIOS for the keyboard, since it works in most of the data entry applications.

If you have a couple of special characters you use all the time it's faster to remember the ALT sequence than have to switch back and forth to CHARMAP.EXE or switch keyboard definitions. If you type a lot in another language, though, it's probably best to add the keyboard definitions and switch, although the layouts can be a pain to find an remember. For example, on the French keyboard, the "/" key is the "é" character.

Did you see today's GoodWord? "Pixilated" is another example of an adjective formed from a noun by adding -(lat)ed with no intermediate verb. It doesn't seem strange at all, maybe because it's been around since 1848, according to the etymology dictionary.

Reviewing this a year later, I see someone referred to the prominence of past participles in the transformation into adjectival use. this shouldn't be surprising, since participles are normally used as adjectives. I hadn't thought of past participles in that way before, however.