Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!killer!vector!nobody From: ucla-an!bongo!julian@ee.UCLA.EDU (julian macassey) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Octothorpe source Message-ID: Date: 19 Nov 88 23:25:08 GMT Sender: chip@vector.UUCP Lines: 27 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-Submissions-To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 8, issue 183, message 6 I am looking for an authoritative reference for the term OCTOTHORPE. An octothorpe is an # , which is what is usually referred to as "the pound sign" or "the hash mark", sometimes as "the number symbol". I know the correct term is octothorpe, I have seen references to it in some Bell docs, I have even seen a news clipping years ago that mentioned it. My problem is that every now and again, some smart Alec asks me where it comes from. I have even been accused of making it up. No dictionary I have seen has ever given me a definition. Yes I have looked it up in the 24 Volume Oxford English Dictionary. I have checked the encyc Brit and alleged Telecommunications Dictionaries. I do know that Octo means eight and Thorpe means beam. So the word has some roots. There is a good term paper here for someone. Yours Julian Macassey -- Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo voice (213) 653-4495