Tom Bell wrote:
John W. Kennedy wrote:
James Knott wrote:
Dotan Cohen wrote:
This is a hash sign: #
I believe that you may call this a number sign, but the technical name
for it is hash.
Actually, it's called an octothorpe. Hash is food (at least it pretends
to be <g>).
It has several names. Its official Unicode designation is "Number
sign". It is also known as "pound sign" (it is not used to designate
the UK currency unit, but it is still used in paper specifications, as
in "20# bond"), "hash", "crosshatch", and, yes, "octothorpe", or
sometimes "octalthorpe". But note that "octothorpe" was made up by a
practical joker in the 20th century. The notion that it is somehow the
"proper" name is an urban myth. (It is also sometimes used as a
substitute for the musical sharp sign, but it's not really the same.)
In fact, I remember when the phone company issued a statement in
official mail to all employees stating the Bell Labs had named it
"octothorpe" for the dial pad of the new touchtone phones.
This is NOT an urban myth.
I did not say that it was. I said that the notion that "octothorpe" is
somehow the "proper" name is an urban myth, seeing that it is, in fact,
only a recently coined alias.
--
John W. Kennedy
A proud member of the reality-based community.
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