I have a vague memory, possibly false, that above the number 3 on US
keyboards is what we call the hash symbol (or cardinal number sign) whereas
on UK keyboards (and Irish ones too!) there's the pound sign as in currency.
I love the village and eight fields derivation. Got any others? (You know
that plus and minus signs were originally used by German brewers to show
which barrels were above/below the mark)
best
Randolph Healy
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2000 7:28 PM
Subject: Re: ampersands
> Begging your pardon, Matthew, but it's what was once called the
> "pound avoirdupois" sign in your part of the world and what's
> still called the "pound sign" over here, and we're often invited
> to "press" it in recorded telephone messages, for example.
>
> It's also still frequently used here in the sense of numeral
> and, among printers and typesetters (at least the ones with whom
> I work) as a sign for letter-space. It's all these different
> meanings, in times and places, that make the orthograph so
> fascinating to me, as I said. I didn't know that the hash mark
> (aka "service stripe" or "inbounds line"?) was the same graph,
> at least in some contexts apparently, so thanks for adding to
> my octothorpic lore--
>
> Candice
>
>
> At 12:36 AM 7/11/00 +0100, you wrote:
> >That isn't a pound sign - it's what we used to call in my programming
days a
> >hash. I think this is a British name for it - the sign isn't widely used
> >over here, and hardly ever in its US sense of 'number'
> >
> >Best wishes
> >
> >Matthew
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> >Date: 10 July 2000 22:25
> >Subject: Re: ampersands
> >
> >
> >>Anyone else like the orthograph (aka, "pound sign"): #? I'm fascinated
> >>by its long history of shifting meanings, beginning with what I think
> >>was its original usage on early (English?) maps to mark a village (8
> >>fields around a town square)--Candice
> >>
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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