Simon Tatham
Been reminded a couple of times recently that I seem to be the only person who refuses to say 'mouse cursor'. I call it the mouse _pointer_, to distinguish it from the 'cursor' which is the block or line or caret in your terminal or text-editing environment that shows where your next keyboard input will go.
If you think 'cursor' is the mouse pointer, what's the other thing called?
And if you say 'cursor' for both, what's your usual strategy when you need to clarify?
Simon Tatham
@goatsarah certainly the Amiga was where I first had a need to refer to the mouse pointer at all, and I'm pretty sure that was what it was called there. So I'd believe it!
Dave Smith
@simontatham @goatsarah Another Amiga user here, although I seem to remember a mouse that I couldn't afford for my QL. However completely with you, it points at things ergo it's a pointer!
Ed Davies
@goatsarah @simontatham I was going to say that "pointer" is probably more general and older than the Amiga. It's what the 'P' in WIMP stands for, after all.
But when I look in Smalltalk-80: The Language and Its Implementation by Goldberg & Robson, 1983, I see it says (pg 292): The arrow in the lower right part of the browser is the cursor. It shows the current location of the mouse.which was a bit of a surprise to me.
Dave Smith
@goatsarah @simontatham Just asked my wife and she said 'cursor'. Oh well, know any good divorce lawyers?
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