pound signs

[ROOD DAVID S]

Armik and I were discussing this discussion and realized that the symbol
above the 3 is to be called the "pound sign" in both American and British
jargon -- but refers to a different symbol, depending on which side of the
pond you're on.  The designers of typewriter keyboards are to be commended
for choosing so carefully, eh?


David S. Rood
Dept. of Linguistics
Univ. of Colorado
295 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0295
USA
rood at colorado.edu

On Thu, 13 Jun 2002, R. Rankin wrote:

> I've always called the # sign above the 3 on the US keyboard "cross hatch".
> Bob
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: ROOD DAVID S <rood at spot.Colorado.EDU>
> To: Anthony Grant <Anthony.Grant3 at btinternet.com>
> Cc: <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 1:44 PM
> Subject: Re: pound signs
>
>
> >
> > This is way out of the realm of Siouanist discussions, but since we're
> > naming the # sign in various cultures, I'm reminded of a problem I had
> > programming my German cellphone.  I was supposed to do something and then
> > press the "raute Taste" (Taste - key, button), which experimentation
> > finally showed me to be the pound sign. "Raut" refers to either a rhomboid
> > in technical geometry terms, or the diamond in a deck of cards.  Neither
> > of those meanings struck me as right for #; does that say something about
> > the way we match and categorize abstract symbols in various cultures, or
> > am I just dumb about such things?
> >
> >
> > David S. Rood
> > Dept. of Linguistics
> > Univ. of Colorado
> > 295 UCB
> > Boulder, CO 80309-0295
> > USA
> > rood at colorado.edu
> >
> > On Thu, 13 Jun 2002, Anthony Grant wrote:
> >
> > > 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.
> > >
> > > 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.
> > >
> > > Anthony
> > >
> >
>