Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!xylogics!bu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: boulder!boulder!bobk@ncar.ucar.edu (Robert Kinne) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: On the Trail of the Elusive Octothorpe Message-ID: <59805@bu.edu.bu.edu> Date: 27 Jun 90 14:45:54 GMT Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu Reply-To: Robert Kinne Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder Lines: 29 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 461, Message 2 of 12 In article <9204@accuvax.nwu.edu> erik@naggum.uu.no (Erik Naggum) writes: >Prelude: "Octothorp" (sans final `e') is listed in (Merriam) Webster's >Third New Int'l Dictionary with etymology "octo + thorp, of unknown >origin; from the eight points on its circumference". "Thorp(e)" is >archaic for "village, hamlet", but that can't be it. I have a lurking suspicion that the derivation may be from a proper name. Thorpe is a rather common family name in the UK and the US. Perhaps at some earlier era a telephone engineer named Thorpe combined the octo (eight) with his name to designate the symbol in a way which avoids the confusion of some of the other usages which vary from country to country. Anyone have any knowledge, ideas, or folklore along these lines? >I've heard that the `#' symbol's meaning is context dependent: > #5 means "number five" > 5# means "five lbs (pounds)" The latter is American usage. The same symbol is also referred to as 'sharp', based on its usage in music (actually the symbol for sharp is a bit skewed, but the octothorpe is a good approximation, as well as can be done with ASCII or typewriters). Most Americans will still refer to # as 'pound sign'. In the US, of course, pound is a unit of force in the British Gravitational System of units (now archaic except in the US). Now everyone should be confused!