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Subject:Re: the pound sign (#) From:Mark Levinson <mark -at- SD -dot- CO -dot- IL> Date:Wed, 9 Aug 1995 15:06:47 IDT
James Perkins wrote:
The sign you have typed there [ # ] is not a pound sign.
** It is indeed known as the pound sign (among other names), for
a couple of reasons. On old British-oriented typewriters
its place was taken by the crossed L you're familiar with,
and in ascii printers the same substitution was sometimes
made. Moreover, in some contexts (such as the weight of
paper) the "#" sign actually does mean "pound".
It's also called an octathorp, but I can't cite where.
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