ANSWERS: 1
  • The # symbol is not the pound sign, Ice man. The pound sign is impossible to type on this site but it is located on the same key as the number 3 on my computer keyboard. I assume your keyboard is the same.
    • Ice man
      Actually fair maiden, you are mistaken. # on this side of the ocean it is referred to as the "pound" sign. It is often used as a telephone shortcut, as advertised " Press the pound key & 729" (example) for direct access to your taxi co., or pizza shop, or whatever. The pound symbol that you are familiar with refers to a monetary value, and looks more like a cursive capital letter L with a small cross bar. Yes, our keyboards are the same and # is on the 3 key. What I don't know is - do you use the term "hashtag" for the # symbol in the UK? For as long as I've been alive the # denoted a shortcut for the word "number" , as in "my phone # is 111-111-1111". But now the facebook generation call it a "hashtag" and it's used for something altogether different.
    • Bootsiebaby
      The term "hashtag" is used in the UK but it is more often abbreviated to "hash". I have also seen that symbol used to denote "number". What does "pound sign" mean on your side of the Atlantic, Ice man? If it is not used to refer to our monetary system, what does it refer to? We don't use dollars as monetary units in the UK but we still recognise the $ symbol as the dollar sign. We still use it when ordering imported items from the Internet that are priced in dollars. I thought the import/export business would have worked the other way as well, so that on your side of the Pond the pound sign would have been recognised in the same way that we recognise the dollar sign. Or does the word "pound" have a completely different meaning over there that I am unaware of?
    • Ice man
      The Euro, as well as the British monetary pound sign is recognized here the same way you recognize the $ dollar sign. As to why the # had come to be known as the pound sign here is a mystery to me. I can only tell you that it has been known as such since the telephone switched from a rotary dial to a keypad.. I would hazard a guess to say it was probably named that way by some 20 year old who lacked imagination and yearned for a crisp new word for an old symbol, the same way it's now known as "hashtag". For reasons unknown to me the younger generations like to rename things as if they had invented something new and original. I sometimes wonder if it's not their way of getting even, and paying us back for making them eat their vegetables when they were little. : -).

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