The
ampersand is a ligature of E and T. If you look at it, you can see how it looks like a (lowercase) E and a T.
Despite the obvious conclusion that this is somehow related to
ET, the frightening,
horror-iblific alien bent on
worldwide destruction, it actually is a condensed form of "et". "et" is the
Latin word for "and".
So, when you use an
ampersand, you're showing how scholarly you are and demonstrating your '
3l33t hax0r' knowledge of
Latin.