Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!killer!vector!nobody From: aem@ibiza.Miami.Edu (a.e.mossberg) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Octothorpe source Message-ID:Date: 21 Nov 88 14:52:27 GMT Sender: chip@vector.UUCP Lines: 24 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-Submissions-To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 8, issue 184, message 5 In , wrote: > An octothorpe is an # , which is what is usually referred to >as "the pound sign" or "the hash mark", sometimes as "the number >symbol". I know the correct term is octothorpe, I have seen >references to it in some Bell docs, I have even seen a news >clipping years ago that mentioned it. Indeed, that's the same place I learned the term, but usually have to revert to 'number sign' or 'pound sign'. > My problem is that every now and again, some smart Alec asks >me where it comes from. I have even been accused of making it >up. No dictionary I have seen has ever given me a definition. Yep, same here. I've never been able to find it in a dictionary, nor have I been able to find the original reference from where I learned it. I was beginning to think I made it up in some frenzied nightmare. Perhaps Bell invented it, and then changed their collective mind. aem a.e.mossberg - aem@mthvax.miami.edu - aem@mthvax.span (3.91) Man is here for the sake of other men. - Albert Einstein