From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_40,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,52921ff59f662931 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)" Subject: Re: the term "pound sign" (was: help: character to integer) Date: 1996/10/17 Message-ID: <9610171618.AA08190@most>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 190223558 sender: Ada programming language comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU mailer: Elm [revision: 70.85] newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1996-10-17T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: :> Well I must say that at first it seemed quite credible that this was indeed :> an old term, but the failure of anyone to come up with other than the most :> dubious scraps of anecdotal evidence is puzzling ... So: Feldman's claim that physics teachers used '#' for "pounds" around 1960 is a dubious scrap of anecdotal evidence. And: Webster's claim made in 1957 that '#' was used for "pounds" in commerce and business is a dubious scrap of anecdotal evidence. And: my claim that at least one non-computer-literate secretary used '#' for "pounds" before 1950 is a dubious scrap of anecdotal evidence. Now: How do we describe the claim the started this silly argument, to wit: >. . . But for example, the symbol for 16#23# which is # in >the US version, is the pound stirling symbol in the UK (this is why # on >a US touch tone phone is called the pound key). I suspect "this is why" was merely a case of inadvertent inaccuracy. (Let he who is without sin...) But even if he meant it, is it worth a big fight? I predict that if someone with a better newsreader than I :-) were to put this question on alt.english.usage the result would be a hundred dubious scraps of anecdotal evidence, two hundred useless opinions, and at least ten conclusive quotes from hundred-year-old dictionaries. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- W. Wesley Groleau (Wes) Office: 219-429-4923 Hughes Defense Communications (MS 10-40) Home: 219-471-7206 Fort Wayne, IN 46808 (Unix): wwgrol@pseserv3.fw.hac.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------