The # symbol precedes the word “octothorpe” by at least a hundred years!Its origin is murky, but it was probably, originally, called the pound sign, for weight, not currency… derived from the Latin script for “Lb.”
Hashtag is a relatively new term and, as noted above, also means lb (weight) or number sign. Newspapers used to use the symbol to indicate a story is finished, or “30” in the jargon of the day, though I haven’t a clue why thirty meant finished.
is definitely not called an octothorpe! It’s a sharp sign, a number sign, a pound sign, tic tac toe, and hash tag.
Years ago, someone at AT&T decided it should be called an octothorpe, but why he thought he had naming rights to something that had been around for centuries is a mystery. In any case, no one ever calls it an octothorpe.
That is definitely NOT called an octothorpe! It’s a musical sharp, a number sign, a pound sign, tic tac toe, and now a hash tag.
Years ago, someone at AT&T decided it should be called an octothorpe, but why he thought he had naming rights to something that had been around for centuries is a mystery. In any case, no one ever calls it an octothorpe.
Playdoh was created to help women clean coal soot stains off the wallpaper during spring cleaning. After coal was fazed out for heating and cooking. An enterprising exec found his kids liked playing with the stuff and resold it as what we know today. Learned that on Mysteries at the Museum.
The topic of the # came up recently in another comic, though I can’t remember which. Here’s a clip from Wikipedia (that also refers to another Wikipedia article) that explains it.
*Not to be confused with the Chinese character 井, the sharp sign (♯), the viewdata square (⌗), the numero sign (№), the equal and parallel to symbol (⋕), or the game Tic-tac-toe’s grid.
For uses of number signs within Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Number sign.
#Number sign
Number sign is a name for the symbol #, which is used for a variety of purposes, including (mainly in Canada and the United States) the designation of a number (for example, “#1” stands for “number one”). In recent years, it has been used for “hashtagging” on social media websites.1
The term number sign is most commonly used when the symbol is used before a number. In the United States and Canada, it is sometimes known as the pound sign (particularly in the context of its use on telephone keypads), and has been traditionally used in the food industry as an abbreviation for pounds avoirdupois. Outside of North America the symbol is called hash and the corresponding telephone key is called the “hash key”, and the term “pound sign” usually describes the British currency symbol “£”. The symbol is defined in Unicode as U+0023 # number sign (HTML # · as in ASCII).*
And “pound sign”, of course, should not be confused with “£”.
It’s used for “pound” mainly in America, and mainly when describing paper. x# paper means that 500 17″×22″ sheets of paper (the usual size at the paper factory, before it’s cut into smaller sheets) weighs x pounds, so if you have 500 17″×22″ sheets of paper, and it weighs 20 pounds, then that is 20# paper.
Charlie Fogwhistle over 8 years ago
#Pound sign
SusanSunshine Premium Member over 8 years ago
The # symbol precedes the word “octothorpe” by at least a hundred years!Its origin is murky, but it was probably, originally, called the pound sign, for weight, not currency… derived from the Latin script for “Lb.”
Weakstream over 8 years ago
Tic tac toe
NeedaChuckle Premium Member over 8 years ago
My parents bought us Play-Doh. I cannot stand the stink! No one else seems to notice.
e.groves over 8 years ago
Kerovan over 8 years ago
Hashtag is a relatively new term and, as noted above, also means lb (weight) or number sign. Newspapers used to use the symbol to indicate a story is finished, or “30” in the jargon of the day, though I haven’t a clue why thirty meant finished.
sdjamieson Premium Member over 8 years ago
Years ago, someone at AT&T decided it should be called an octothorpe, but why he thought he had naming rights to something that had been around for centuries is a mystery. In any case, no one ever calls it an octothorpe.
sdjamieson Premium Member over 8 years ago
That is definitely NOT called an octothorpe! It’s a musical sharp, a number sign, a pound sign, tic tac toe, and now a hash tag.
Years ago, someone at AT&T decided it should be called an octothorpe, but why he thought he had naming rights to something that had been around for centuries is a mystery. In any case, no one ever calls it an octothorpe.
cripplious over 8 years ago
Playdoh was created to help women clean coal soot stains off the wallpaper during spring cleaning. After coal was fazed out for heating and cooking. An enterprising exec found his kids liked playing with the stuff and resold it as what we know today. Learned that on Mysteries at the Museum.
Jogger2 over 8 years ago
The Wikipedia article name is “Number Sign”
finnygirl Premium Member over 8 years ago
The topic of the # came up recently in another comic, though I can’t remember which. Here’s a clip from Wikipedia (that also refers to another Wikipedia article) that explains it.
*Not to be confused with the Chinese character 井, the sharp sign (♯), the viewdata square (⌗), the numero sign (№), the equal and parallel to symbol (⋕), or the game Tic-tac-toe’s grid.
For uses of number signs within Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Number sign.
#Number sign
Number sign is a name for the symbol #, which is used for a variety of purposes, including (mainly in Canada and the United States) the designation of a number (for example, “#1” stands for “number one”). In recent years, it has been used for “hashtagging” on social media websites.1
The term number sign is most commonly used when the symbol is used before a number. In the United States and Canada, it is sometimes known as the pound sign (particularly in the context of its use on telephone keypads), and has been traditionally used in the food industry as an abbreviation for pounds avoirdupois. Outside of North America the symbol is called hash and the corresponding telephone key is called the “hash key”, and the term “pound sign” usually describes the British currency symbol “£”. The symbol is defined in Unicode as U+0023 # number sign (HTML # · as in ASCII).*
Angry Indeed over 8 years ago
That was Silly Putty, silly.
John W Kennedy Premium Member over 8 years ago
And “pound sign”, of course, should not be confused with “£”.
It’s used for “pound” mainly in America, and mainly when describing paper. x# paper means that 500 17″×22″ sheets of paper (the usual size at the paper factory, before it’s cut into smaller sheets) weighs x pounds, so if you have 500 17″×22″ sheets of paper, and it weighs 20 pounds, then that is 20# paper.
ColonelClaus over 8 years ago
Actually, the pound sign is an italicized musical sharp