>>Also, "asterix" for "asterisk."
>
>I suppose that's understandable if people are more familiar with the french cartoon character than the names of certain punctuation marks et al, eg solidus, elipsis, ampersand, commercial at

Actually, I think it has nothing to do with the French cartoon character (which most Americans have never heard of), and more to do with many people finding the "sk" combination difficult at the end of a word.

Tamar