"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote in
:

There will also be some people who for bizarre reasons not worth
going into think that the symbol pronounced "pound" is a
noughts-and-crosses grid.

That's because the hash symbol in US keyboards is in the same place as
our pound symbol (shift 3).
Mike.

I believe the reason # is called a pound sign by Americans is that it is
sometimes used in the USA to mean pounds weight. In American usage, #3
means 'number 3' and 3# means '3 lbs'. The latter is a bit old-fashioned,
but you see it sometimes in markets and the like.

Peter

--
Peter Campbell Smith ~ London ~ pjcs00 (a) gmail.com

On 15 Feb, 12:36, Peter Campbell Smith wrote:
"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote :

There will also be some people who for bizarre reasons not worth
going into think that the symbol pronounced "pound" is a
noughts-and-crosses grid.

That's because the hash symbol in US keyboards is in the same place as
our pound symbol (shift 3).
Mike.

I believe the reason # is called a pound sign by Americans is that it is
sometimes used in the USA to mean pounds weight. In American usage, #3
means 'number 3' and 3# means '3 lbs'. The latter is a bit old-fashioned,
but you see it sometimes in markets and the like.

Peter



Which tallies with James Robinson's explanation upthread - in case
anyone missed it I shall quote it below:

-----
On 15 Feb, 02:03, James Robinson wrote:

(snip)

It is also because the # glyph, when used after a number in script in the
US means the same as lb. It appears to have evolved as a result of clerks
quickly scratching lb. with a line through it on packages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_sign
-----

In message , Peter Campbell Smith
writes
"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote in
:

There will also be some people who for bizarre reasons not worth
going into think that the symbol pronounced "pound" is a
noughts-and-crosses grid.

That's because the hash symbol in US keyboards is in the same place as
our pound symbol (shift 3).
Mike.

I believe the reason # is called a pound sign by Americans is that it is
sometimes used in the USA to mean pounds weight. In American usage, #3
means 'number 3' and 3# means '3 lbs'. The latter is a bit old-fashioned,
but you see it sometimes in markets and the like.

I seem to recall years ago hearing the # symbol called "Gate" as well.
Can anyone else confirm this?
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

In message , at 16:43:49 on Sun,
17 Feb 2008, Ian Jelf remarked:
I seem to recall years ago hearing the # symbol called "Gate" as well.
Can anyone else confirm this?

Yes, that yet another one of the names.

http://pages.zoom.co.uk/leveridge/di...tml#Octothorpe
--
Roland Perry

On Sun, 17 Feb 2008, Ian Jelf wrote:

In message , Peter Campbell Smith
writes
"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote in
:

There will also be some people who for bizarre reasons not worth
going into think that the symbol pronounced "pound" is a
noughts-and-crosses grid.

That's because the hash symbol in US keyboards is in the same place as
our pound symbol (shift 3).

I believe the reason # is called a pound sign by Americans is that it is
sometimes used in the USA to mean pounds weight. In American usage, #3
means 'number 3' and 3# means '3 lbs'. The latter is a bit old-fashioned,
but you see it sometimes in markets and the like.

I seem to recall years ago hearing the # symbol called "Gate" as well. Can
anyone else confirm this?

Wikipedia's heard of it, and says it's telephone engineer's slang.

Can anyone remember the ritual needed to summon Clive?

tom

--
All bloggers must die.