Apple - How to memorize the Option key ⌥?
Weird/cool question!
I think I went through a similar thought process at one point: the way I think of it is like a set of train tracks. The train enters at the left and reaches a fork or split, giving it the option of the upper or lower path to the right. In the glyph, the tracks are set for the lower option.
Shift does have its own glyph: ⇧, which can be remembered as pushing the case of the typed letter up.
It's been suggested that the origin of the option key symbol lies in the symbols used in electrical diagrams to indicate a switch [1,2], allowing the electrical current to either go through the bottom or top route:
See also the section switches on the Wikipedia article “Electronic symbol”.
I remember reading that this isn't just a suggestion, but is the actual origin of the symbol but I can't find an authoritative source on that at the moment.
- http://www.quora.com/Keyboards-computer/What-is-the-origin-of-the-Macs-option-key-symbol-%E2%8C%A5
- https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1864469
The easiest way is this:
There is only one key on the entire bottom row of the keyboard with two items stacked on top of each other -- just like the ⌥ in question. I think this is a much simpler visual-mental association to remember.