Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cfa!wyatt
From: wyatt@cfa.harvard.EDU (Bill Wyatt)
Newsgroups: comp.std.internat,sci.lang
Subject: Re: Currency symbols
Message-ID: <663@cfa.cfa.harvard.EDU>
Date: Wed, 9-Sep-87 09:46:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: cfa.663
Posted: Wed Sep  9 09:46:40 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 11-Sep-87 01:14:06 EDT
References: <38600001@pyr1>
Organization: Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. for Astrophysics
Lines: 28
Xref: mnetor comp.std.internat:220 sci.lang:1320

[...]
> 	(2)	whilst several posters have discussed the formation
> 		of $ and English Pound Sign & Yen in "and thats why
> 		the word led to the choice of symbol" form, it's worth
> 		recalling that these were established (like most of
> 		our writing conventions) AS PRINTERS KLUDGES - having
> 		to manufacture type was to much of an effort for any
> 		old phoneme to get slapped into 300 -odd sizes, piches,
> 		reversed/you-name-its, so doing it by overstrike and/or
> 		other cheats was commonsense. 
> 
> 		until typesetting came along spelling was in the eye
> 		of the beholder. If it sounded right then you writ it.
> 	
> 		if fome mechanical geniuf had invented a way to do the
                                   ^^^^^^
> 		big letter "f" fenfibly we'd probaby still be ufing it.
> 
Small quibble here - the letter looked like an `f', but was really 
a large `s' like the integral sign, sort of. In addition, the normal
`s' was used at the end of a word, so it still would have been `genuis'.
-- 

Bill    UUCP:  {seismo|ihnp4}!harvard!cfa!wyatt
Wyatt   ARPA:  wyatt@cfa.harvard.edu
         (or)  wyatt%cfa@harvard.harvard.edu
      BITNET:  wyatt@cfa2
        SPAN:  17410::wyatt   (this will change, sometime)