From: eachus@spectre.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus)
Subject: Re: the term "pound sign" (was: help: character to integer)
Date: 1996/10/11
Date: 1996-10-11T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <EACHUS.96Oct10204608@spectre.mitre.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 53gged$oqi@felix.seas.gwu.edu
In article <53hnn3$474@news.nyu.edu> kenner@lab.ultra.nyu.edu (Richard Kenner) writes:
> The list for Morse code I'm looking at includes just the letters,
> numbers, period, comma, question mark, colon, semicolon, fraction
> bar, and some symbols not in ASCII.
> Actually, in telephony "#" is called an "octothorpe".
You can blame Ma Bell for the name octothorpe, but the symbol # for
pounds goes way back. I'm not sure if I could dig up a printed
reference before 1700, but I am certain I can find one that predates
the telegraph by at least a century. (Actually the Williams College
Library is a great place to look if you are still in Pownal, Robert.
Just ask for early arithmetic textbooks.)
--
Robert I. Eachus
with Standard_Disclaimer;
use Standard_Disclaimer;
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next prev parent reply other threads:[~1996-10-11 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 27+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1996-10-01 0:00 help: character to integer Eric Anthony Spear
1996-10-02 0:00 ` Richard A. O'Keefe
1996-10-02 0:00 ` George Haddad
1996-10-02 0:00 ` David C. Hoos, Sr.
1996-10-02 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1996-10-05 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1996-10-07 0:00 ` the term "pound sign" (was: help: character to integer) Adam Beneschan
1996-10-09 0:00 ` Michael Feldman
1996-10-09 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1996-10-09 0:00 ` Michael Feldman
1996-10-10 0:00 ` Richard Kenner
1996-10-10 0:00 ` Adam Beneschan
1996-10-11 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus [this message]
1996-10-11 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1996-10-02 0:00 ` help: character to integer Dave Marshall
1996-10-07 0:00 ` Paul Tongue
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
1996-10-15 0:00 the term "pound sign" (was: help: character to integer) W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)
1996-10-16 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1996-10-17 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1996-10-18 0:00 ` Andrew Lynch
1996-10-23 0:00 ` Richard A. O'Keefe
1996-10-27 0:00 ` @@ robin
1996-10-17 0:00 John Walker
1996-10-17 0:00 W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)
1996-10-18 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1996-10-18 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1996-10-18 0:00 ` Sandy McPherson
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