Should we bring back the percontation point?

[Trekker4747]

In all my (significant) time in US, never heard # referred to as pound. 'Hash', yes.

In all my time in the US (my entire life), I have only heard it called "pound" and have never heard it called "hash" until this thread.

Unless my eyes are deceiving me that particular sign looks like "not equal to."

 

[RoJoHen]

In all my (significant) time in US, never heard # referred to as pound. 'Hash', yes.

In all my time in the US (my entire life), I have only heard it called "pound" and have never heard it called "hash" until this thread.

Hash as in hash mark. The '#' sign is often used in Twitter feeds.

Yes, but I have never heard it referred to as a hash mark. I have only heard "pound" and "number sign."

 

[RoJoHen]

In all my (significant) time in US, never heard # referred to as pound. 'Hash', yes.

In all my time in the US (my entire life), I have only heard it called "pound" and have never heard it called "hash" until this thread.

Unless my eyes are deceiving me that particular sign looks like "not equal to."

That only has one vertical line. The symbol we are discussing has two.

 

[Amaris]

In all my time in the US (my entire life), I have only heard it called "pound" and have never heard it called "hash" until this thread.

Hash as in hash mark. The '#' sign is often used in Twitter feeds.

Yes, but I have never heard it referred to as a hash mark. I have only heard "pound" and "number sign."

Really? I don't really move in any Twitter circles, and I've known it referred to as a hash mark for some time, now.

 

[RoJoHen]

I wonder if it's one of those goofy regional things, like Soda vs. Pop.

 

[Trekker4747]

In all my time in the US (my entire life), I have only heard it called "pound" and have never heard it called "hash" until this thread.

Unless my eyes are deceiving me that particular sign looks like "not equal to."

That only has one vertical line. The symbol we are discussing has two.

On my screen that symbol in the quote does only have one vertical line.

On a related note I always wondered why "@" doesn't have a "real name." It's simply "at sign." But a symbol like "&" has a nice, fancy, name like ampersand.

EDIT

Testing a theory:

#
#

Ah! Italicizing the pound-sign turns it into a "not equal to sign." Fascinating.

 

[RoJoHen]

Unless my eyes are deceiving me that particular sign looks like "not equal to."

That only has one vertical line. The symbol we are discussing has two.

On my screen that symbol in the quote does only have one vertical line.

Shift+3

That's the symbol we're talking about.

 

[Trekker4747]

That only has one vertical line. The symbol we are discussing has two.

On my screen that symbol in the quote does only have one vertical line.

Shift+3

That's the symbol we're talking about.

See edit.

 

[RoJoHen]

Ah.

I still see it the way it's supposed to be, even when italicized.

 

[Amaris]

I wonder if it's one of those goofy regional things, like Soda vs. Pop.

It could very well be that. Around here it's "pop", and apparently, "hash mark".

 

[RoJoHen]

Around here, hash is something you smoke to get high.

 

[Amaris]

Around here, hash is something you smoke to get high.

Hey, we reach!
Seriously, I've been picturing actual hash every time I read the word "hash mark".

 

[Trekker4747]

Ah.

I still see it the way it's supposed to be, even when italicized.

Well, when I use the "zoom" feature in the browser the two vertical lines on the pound sine are more clear but right now at 100% zoom at 1280x960 resolution the italicized pound sign appears to only have one vertical line.

 

[RoJoHen]

Well, um...stop that.

 

[Trekker4747]

As I said up-thread I've heard "hash" before when referring to "#" but that's been more in the last few years with the popularity of Twitter. Before that it was "pound sign" or, more crudely, "number sign."

 

[UssGlenn]

To select another option, press the star key.

does anybody know why they called it the star key on phones rather than asterisk?

Read and learn. In Greek, "aster" means "star". "Asterisk" means "little star".

I'm aware of that, I was asking why they went with star over asterisk. Trekker4747 is probaly right about it being the more intuitive name for people who didn't know what it was called. Also it occurs to me that both Star and Pound are used by the computer community and Asterisk and Hash are used by typographers. And since they were added to phones when phone systems started to be computerized it makes sense those were the terms used.

 

[scotpens]

To select another option, press the star key.

does anybody know why they called it the star key on phones rather than asterisk?

Probably because “star” is easier to hear and understand than “asterisk.”

And, speaking of expressing irony in print, has anyone noted the increasing use of ironic strikethrough type as a rather cheap and ham-handed form of paralepsis?

As I said up-thread I've heard "hash" before when referring to "#" but that's been more in the last few years with the popularity of Twitter. Before that it was "pound sign" or, more crudely, "number sign."

Crudely?

To me, it’s always been the number sign. And I’m quite refined, thank you.

 

[lurok]

It's getting to the point where certain Americans are taking the proverbial **** re: hash signs. Why I don't know but I can only imagine for sheer perversity So I shall indulge them no longer...

 

[UssGlenn]

Your confusion is due to the bygone days of computing.

Computer text was originally encoded in ASCII, which was one byte per character.

European keyboards had £ on shift-3, while American keyboards had # on shift-3. But in both locales, shift-3 encoded to the same ASCII code (hex-23).

I have new information:
The use of pound to refer to # predates the invention of ascii code in 1963

My Websters new Collegiate dictionary from 1953, gives the definition of # as "Pounds, if it follows a numeral; number if it precedes a numeral".

Hash mark is defined as military slang for service stripe in 1953 edition, and the 1972 edition, and the 1976 unabridged edition.

"Hatch" as in hatch-marks and crosshatching is definitely the origin of Hash but I don't know when it came into use.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

In all my time in the US (my entire life), I have only heard it called "pound" and have never heard it called "hash" until this thread.

Hash as in hash mark. The '#' sign is often used in Twitter feeds.

Yes, but I have never heard it referred to as a hash mark. I have only heard "pound" and "number sign."

The only time I've ever heard it called a "hash mark" is with Twitter, never in any other context.