Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!husc6!osf!dbrooks From: dbrooks@osf.OSF.ORG (David Brooks) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: Pound sign (was Re: the Telephone Test) Message-ID: <782@osf.OSF.ORG> Date: 8 May 89 21:13:58 GMT References: <147@ixi.UUCP> <1558@cfa.cfa.harvard.EDU> <30104@apple.Apple.COM> <27109@ism780c.isc.com> Reply-To: dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks) Organization: Open Software Foundation Lines: 42 In article <27109@ism780c.isc.com> marv@ism780.UUCP (Marvin Rubenstein) writes: > >Believe it or not, there is a document for ANSII. It gives the names for >each of the characters in the character set. Some examples: > > # pound sign > ^ circumflex > \ reverse slant > _ underline > ~ overline (or tilda) > ` accent grave > @ comercial at sign > > Marv Rubinstein Damn. I lost my ASCII definition (X3.4). But in the newer ANS 7-bit and 8-bit multilingual graphic character set standard it says: # NUMBER SIGN And in ISO646, the international equivalent to X3.4: POUND SIGN # NUMBER SIGN I lived in England for 33 years, and I never ever ever ever saw # used for pounds weight -- always lb. I still find # = pound mildly irritating, but I defer to Websters for American usage. My theory was that the confusion arises from this very ISO standard, which allows 2/3 to be either # or pound-sterling. Consequently some British teletypes (yes, I did say 33 years) put pound sterling on the shift-3 key, and -- well, you can imagine the rest. But this theory has had cold water poured on it by the originator of the question. If you are reading this on such an ancient British teletype, you are by now very confused. -- David Brooks dbrooks@osf.org Open Software Foundation uunet!osf.org!dbrooks 11 Cambridge Center Personal views, not necessarily those Cambridge, MA 02142, USA of OSF, its sponsors or members.