Octothorpe/Octathorpe. I'm confused

[Michael Quinion]

Sam Clements wrote

> Is the story posted by Ralph Carlsen to usenet
> http://www.strowger.net/tel_tech_octothorpe.html  basically the
> accepted version of what happened?
>
> Michael Quinion in his 1999 column seems to think so.

Don't rely on me. That's where I got the story from, and I should
have flagged the piece correspondingly. I've no independent evidence
of the origin of the name.

--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: <TheEditor at worldwidewords.org>
Web: <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>