Corpora: "hash" (was "at sign")

[Mary Califf]

Actually, # is used in American English as an abbreviation for pound
(as well as for number), and I believe that that usage predates the
existence of keyboards.  

On Fri, 12 Oct 2001, Harold Somers wrote:

> On the subject of names of ligatures and other characters, I have 
> noticed that some Americans call the # sign "pound". AM I right in 
> thinking this is because its key is in place of the GBP £ sign (shift-
> 3) on the keyboard?
> I call it "hash", though I have also heard it called "hatch" which 
> would be more (etymo)logical (a hatch being a door made of 
> crossbars).
> Anecdotally, I remember being confused as a kid when I first came 
> across the usage of # to mean "number" (as in Issue #5). In British 
> English (at least at that time) its use was restricted to musical 
> notation ("sharp").
> 
> Not sure what any of this has do with corpora however, but it is a 
> sunny Friday lunchtime here in Manchester!
> 
>