Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009

Hello friends:

I've always found it a little odd that the key on the telephone which
looks like this -- # -- is called the "pound key," and the symbol on
it is called "the pound sign".

It certainly isn't the sign for the British Pound Sterling.  That
symbol looks like a cursive capital "L" with a small vertical bar
through it.

So why do we call what I have always used as a "number sign" (as in
"#8") a "pound sign"??

Well, if Wikipedia is to be believed, the origin of this usage was
partially a concession to the world of computing:

=== begin quoted text ===

Prior to the introduction of the IBM PC there was no unique accepted
standard for entering, displaying, printing, or storing the £ sign in
the UK computer industry. On personal computers prior to the PC the
"#" key was often used; sometimes it was displayed on screen as "#",
but many printers could be set up to print "£" where "#" was sent to
the printer by an application program. Keying in, storing, displaying,
and printing the sign often required special setup. The "#" sign is
referred to as the "hash symbol" in the UK, but it is sometimes called
"pound sign" in non-sterling countries....

....The PC UK keyboard layout has the "£" symbol on the 3 number key,
where an American keyboard has the number sign ("#").

=== end quoted text ===

[I hope the British Pound sign displayed correctly in the quote above
-- this will depend on your browser settings.  You should see three
capital-L-style pound signs at different places in the quote above.
If not, there's probably some weird generic character where they
should be.]

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_sign

But Wikipedia also claims that the sign is sometimes used in the U.S.
to indicate the weight of a pound:

=== begin quoted text ===

The mainstream use in the U.S. is this: when it precedes a number, it
is read as "number", as in "a #2 pencil" (spoken as "a number two
pencil"); when it follows a number, it is read as "pounds", as in "5#
of sugar" (spoken as "five pounds of sugar"). The first form is more
widely used by the general population while the second form is more
specifically used in the food service and grocery/produce industries,
or other fields where units of pounds (as weight) need to be hand-
written frequently or repetitively....

=== end quoted text ===

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_sign

I must say, before reading the article above, I have never seen the
"#" sign used to indicate weight.  Seems an odd choice for something
that must be "hand-written frequently or repetitively," since the
symbol takes four distinct strokes to make.  Wouldn't some kind of
single-stroke squiggle be more efficient (like, say, an upside-down
cursive lower case "L")?

So, which name should we use?  "Pound sign"?  "Number sign"?  "Hash
sign"? or "That little tic-tac-toe thingy"?

I suppose "pound sign" is the least misunderstood -- so I think I'll
stick with that name.

If anyone else has any insights, recommendations, corrections, or
other musings on this, they are most welcome....

--
Brett (in Berkeley, California, USA)
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