pound signs

[Alan Knutson]

Wouldn't you say that would be..... which side of the pound?

:)
Alan K
----- Original Message -----
From: "ROOD DAVID S" <rood at spot.Colorado.EDU>
To: <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 4:41 PM
Subject: Re: pound signs


>
> 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
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
>