That's a Forward Slash

As I listen to NPR for 40 minutes each way on my commute, I get a bit rankled whenever I hear a URL read over the air as "siteaddress.com backslash foldername." URLs have forward slashes, not backslashes. Just say "slash." IE turns backslashes into slashes in URLs, but why say backslash if it's not a backslash??

Forward Slash

Also known simply as a slash: /

Backslash

\ (Weird that backslash is one word.)

According to The Microsoft Manual of Style, third ed., "Use a slash mark to separate parts of an Internet address...Use a backslash with server, folder, and file names." (p. 182). If Microsoft says so, it must be true.

Also, don't use "log on to our Web site at..." It sounds weird.

That is all.