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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What you guys call the pound sign, the noughts and
crosses sign (I know what tic-tac-toe is but I've spent a lot of time in the US
and most Brits would just be puzzled) is called the Hash sign here.
Probably from French hache 'axe'. It's fairly recent in use in Britain: we
wouldn't have understood what the sign in (say) 'Riot in Cell Block #9' meant 20
years ago. Now that we have it, I wonder how we ever lived without
it. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I customarily use $ for the posatalveolar sibilant
in postings to people I think will understand. British keyboards don't
have the cent sign, though, which is a pity as I've long liked it as a quick way
of signalling /ts/ in the way that Mayanists use it. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Anthony</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>