On 07/19/2010 10:17 AM, Adam Williamson wrote: > On Mon, 2010-07-19 at 13:03 -0400, Al Dunsmuir wrote: > >> The # is an invented character that originated at AT&T for touch tone >> dialing. The official name is "octothorpe" - Greek for "8 points"... >> but no one ever calls it that. No, it existed long before touch tone phones. > I know =) > >> I think it got called "pound sign" because it was placed on keyboards >> where typewriters used to place the British Pound Sterling symbol. Older publications and invoices actually did use the "#" as "pound" in the States (for weight measurements, not currency). It's also often used for "count" on tally sheets. I've seen it on typewriters made back in the 1920s, LONG before AT&T existed. They used it because it was familiar to many people in the States. They certainly didn't "invent" it. > See my post - it's only called 'pound sign' in the States. British > people never call it that. Don't know what it's called in other > countries. Jeeze, looks like I started something evil here! But I DO so love to roil the normally placid waters of certain lists (he says with a sinister cackle!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer, C2 Hosting ricks@xxxxxxxx - - AIM/Skype: therps2 ICQ: 22643734 Yahoo: origrps2 - - - - UNIX is actually quite user friendly. The problem is that it's - - just very picky of who its friends are! - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -- test mailing list test@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/test
