catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  feature key
       
           (Or "flower", "pretzel", "clover", "propeller",
          "beanie" (from propeller beanie), splat, "command key") The
          Macintosh key with the cloverleaf graphic on its keytop.
       
          The feature key is the Mac's equivalent of an alt key (and
          so labelled on some Mac II keyboards).  The proliferation of
          terms for this creature may illustrate one subtle peril of
          iconic interfaces.
       
          Many people have been mystified by the cloverleaf-like symbol
          that appears on the feature key.  Its oldest name is "cross of
          St. Hannes", but it occurs in pre-Christian Viking art as a
          decorative motif.  Throughout Scandinavia today the road
          agencies use it to mark sites of historical interest.  Apple
          Computer picked up the symbol from an early Macintosh
          developer who happened to be Swedish.  Apple documentation
          gives the translation "interesting feature"!
       
          There is some dispute as to the proper (Swedish) name of this
          symbol.  It technically stands for the word "sev"ardhet"
          (interesting feature) many of these are old churches.  Some
          Swedes report as an idiom for it the word "kyrka", cognate to
          English "church" and Scots-dialect "kirk" but pronounced
          /shir'k*/ in modern Swedish.  Others say this is nonsense.
       
          [{Jargon File]
       
          (1997-11-20)
       
       

  feature key n. [common] The Macintosh key with the cloverleaf graphic
     on its keytop; sometimes referred to as `flower', `pretzel', `clover',
     `propeller', `beanie' (an apparent reference to the major feature of a
     propeller beanie), splat, `open-apple' or (officially, in Mac
     documentation) the `command key'. In French, the term `papillon'
     (butterfly) has been reported. The proliferation of terms for this
     creature may illustrate one subtle peril of iconic interfaces.
  
     Many people have been mystified by the cloverleaf-like symbol that
     appears on the feature key. Its oldest name is `cross of St. Hannes',
     but it occurs in pre-Christian Viking art as a decorative motif.
     Throughout Scandinavia today the road agencies use it to mark sites of
     historical interest. Apple picked up the symbol from an early Mac
     developer who happened to be Swedish. Apple documentation gives the
     translation "interesting feature"!
  
     There is some dispute as to the proper (Swedish) name of this symbol.
     It technically stands for the word `seva"rdhet' (thing worth seeing);
     many of these are old churches. Some Swedes report as an idiom for the
     sign the word `kyrka', cognate to English `church' and pronounced
     (roughly) /chur'ka/ in modern Swedish. Others say this is nonsense.
     Other idioms reported for the sign are `runa' (rune) or `runsten'
     /roon'stn/ (runestone), derived from the fact that many of the
     interesting features are Viking rune-stones. The term `fornminne'
     /foorn'min'*/ (relic of antiquity, ancient monument) is also reported,
     especially among those who think that the Mac itself is a relic of
     antiquity.