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From: aem@ibiza.Miami.Edu (a.e.mossberg)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Octothorpe source
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Date: 21 Nov 88 14:52:27 GMT
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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