Re: fortran character set

Richard Maine wrote:
Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply
<helbig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <1188271167.470173@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, harper@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
(John Harper) writes:

The problem is all the non-dollar currency symbols. Many Americans call
the hash mark or octothorp a pound sign, but it has nothing to do with
currency. If one is is referring to currency, a real pound sign is a
script upper case L with a horizontal line across its middle, in countries that use or formerly used the pound, e.g. UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ.
But isn't this just because the pound sign (£) and the number sign (#)
are often on the same key and depending on the environment either one or
the other might be printed? Alternatively, the ASCII code might be interpreted in a non-standard variant as the pound sign, so if I send
you £ and say it is pound, you might see # and call it the pound sign.

No, that is not why. Those usages predate computers. I didn't bother
trying to track it down, but I'm (moderately) sure that the octothorpe
was called a pound sign when I was a kid. Not that I quite predate
computers, but certainly "ordinary" people wouldn't have been much
influenced by such computer conventions then.

Growing up in West Oz post decimalisation, "#" was always called a hash. Muscially inclined folk called it a sharp. It wasn't until I came to the US when I heard it called a pound sign....

....or had to deal with lbs and oz and gallons and feet and yards and miles etc.

Octothorpe is totally over the top! :o)

cheers,

paulv

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: What do YOU call the # sign?
    ... the British "pound sign," the crossed-L for UK currency. ... "octothorpe" was coined in the 1960s by Bell Labs when that key was ... included with touch tone phones. ... service to "press the square key". ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: fortran character set
    ... If one is is referring to currency, a real pound sign is a ... Those usages predate computers. ... Octothorpe is totally over the top! ... "Hash mark" seems the more common term in computer lingo. ...
    (comp.lang.fortran)
  • Re: What do YOU call the # sign?
    ... the word "octothorpe" for ... I started wondering what AUE contributors prefer ... Does this mean that when the voice system says "press pound", ... It's how I learned to note pounds in recipes and on shopping lists, ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: pronunciation of "#".
    ... hash, pound, number, ... octothorpe, gate, ... ... What peeked at my curiosity was also wondering ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: scuse my ignorance
    ... measurement shoul d have been ditched at the same time as LSD currency. ... #To replace all the pounds and the shillings and the pence. ... The familiar pound, shilling and pence coins are to be phased out over the next 18 months in favour of a system dividing the pound into units of ten, including half, one, two, five, ten and 50 pence denominations. ... On that day the United Kingdom changed from the centuries old tradition of using 12 pence to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound to a new decimal 100 new pence to the pound." ...
    (uk.rec.motorcycles)