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How is ampersand a joke name?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand

The etymology [1] does not suggest a joke origination.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand#Etymology

Through folk etymology, it has been claimed that André-Marie Ampère used the symbol in his widely read publications, and that people began calling the new shape "Ampere's and". [3]

To quote the Jargon File's entry on ASCII character names <http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/a/ASCII.html>:

"INTERCAL called this `ampersand'; what could be sillier?"

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