Re: Octothorp

[TIMMERMAN <timmerma -at- IPDLINK -dot- IPD -dot- ANL -dot- GOV>]

     Misti,

     What you call it (#) depends on whether you are identifing or
     defining the symbol.  According to Merriam Webster's Collegiate
     Dictionary, tenth edition, the name for the # symbol is octothorp
     (I didn't know this word; thanks for educating me).  Its meaning,
     however, is another issue.

     # = pounds (business and finance)
     # = number (business and finance)
     # = insert space (proofreader's mark)
     # = (How many other meanings are there?)

     So, is your reference to the name of the symbol, or to its meaning?


     Don Timmerman
     Argonne National Laboratory
     dtimmerman -at- anl -dot- gov


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject:
Author:  Misti Delaney <mdelaney -at- SOFTWARE-SERVICES -dot- COM> at Internet-Mail
Date:    8/15/96 10:11 AM


I'm forwarding this is a message for a friend:

        In some documentation I'm doing (aimed at librarians), I referred to
the
        octothorp (#).  My boss loves the word, but never heard it before, and
        it's not in the abridged dictionaries we have here.  I meant to look it
up      in my OED or Random House dictionary, but didn't have time
        yesterday.  So - do any of you know the origin of the word octothorp?
        I have a vague suspicion that it's an old printer's term (used only by
old     printers, no doubt... folks under 45 are forbidden to use it, and
        therefore must call it a hash mark or pound sign <g>)

        I get to keep the word, but just for my own curiosity if you were
        referring to #, would you call it a hash mark, a pound sign, or an
        octothorp?

        and, when was the last time (other than buying nails) that you saw #
        mean pound?  Usually, I see lb.  And why is lb. the abbreviation for
        pound, which has neither letter in it?  (oh: lb. is an abbreviation for
        libra, the Latin word for scale, and maybe for pound too... ok, that
        makes sense.)

        WA!  I miss my OED! (it's at home somewhere, but I'm at work)

        -becca



*******************************************************************
Misti Delaney (Tucker)

Technical Consultant/ Communication Specialist
Software Services Corporation
Ann Arbor, Michigan
(800) 448-1568

*******************************************************************
My opinions do not in any way represent those of my employer.
     >

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