Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!ucsd!nprdc!malloy From: malloy@nprdc.arpa (Sean Malloy) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: Pound sign (was Re: the Telephone Test) Message-ID: <1868@skinner.nprdc.arpa> Date: 4 May 89 15:48:19 GMT References: <630@marob.MASA.COM> <147@ixi.UUCP> Reply-To: malloy@nprdc.arpa (Sean Malloy) Organization: Navy Personnel R&D Center, San Diego Lines: 37 In article <147@ixi.UUCP> clive@ukc.ac.uk (Clive) writes: >The character that looks like: >is a "number" sign or a "hash" sign. It is NOT repeat NOT a pound sign. >A pound sign is what appears on a five pound note, and looks like: >(or some more ornate version). How would you like it if I kept >saying: > dollar include stood eye oh dot aitch >(I actually say "hash include ...") ? The reason the '#' character is called 'pound' is because it has been used to denote a _weight_ in pounds, i.e., 16#, 20#, etc. The character you call a 'pound sign' is properly a 'pounds sterling sign', and denotes an amount of money, just as the "Y with an equals through the upright" is a 'yen sign' and also refers to an amount of money. And a Sudanese pound is referred to as 'SdL', so 'L' would be a 'pound sign' in Sudan for precisely the same reason you claim. Is the British claim to a specific character any better than the Sudanese claim? In usage in America, the '#' sign is called a 'pound sign' through common application. @BEGIN(FLAME) And if you're so bloody righteous about using the proper terminology for characters, why couldn't you take the trouble to determine that the _correct_ name for the '#' character is 'octothorp'? @END(FLAME) Sean Malloy | "The proton absorbs a photon Navy Personnel Research & Development Center | and emits two morons, a San Diego, CA 92152-6800 | lepton, a boson, and a malloy@nprdc.navy.mil | boson's mate. Why did I ever | take high-energy physics?"