Pound sign (was Re: the Telephone Test)

[Ian Stewartson]

In article <27310 at ism780c.isc.com> marv at ism780.UUCP (Marvin Rubenstein) writes:
>In article <4080002 at hpopd.HP.COM> apm at hpopd.HP.COM (Andrew Merritt) writes:
>>  I thought the octothorp meant 'number' in US usage.
>I believe the word 'octothorp' never gained currency.  I could not find it
>in any of the four dictionaries that I looked in. (anyone have an OED handy?)

I had a look in the Shorter OED (and Ency. Britannia) which give no definition
for # (but then I could be looking in the wrong areas).  Pound is Sterling
when used with the scripted L character (with two horizontal lines).

In passing, I noticed that the SOED defines a dollar with two vertical lines
and not the single line on my keyboard.

I always thought it was hash include (or even just include).

Regards

Ian Stewartson
Data Logic Ltd.