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Subject:Re: Technical name for the #? From:Doug Nickerson <Doug_Nickerson -at- ONSETCOMP -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 23 Nov 1998 15:19:16 -0500
rowlands -at- CLICKPLANET -dot- COM,Internet writes:
>All I would add is that there are
>times when using "octothorpe" would be appropriate - for example, when
>producing documentation for telecom engineers.
>
>The point is that documentation should have as its goal the ability to
>reach the audiance for which its being produced.
>
>Gareth Rowlands
>Technical Writer
>Click Interactive
A fairly well-regarded book on serial communications lists the following
names for the character '#':
Sharp sign (the real musical sharp sign is "more slanty.")
Number sign (current practice is to use "Nr." or "No.")
Pound sign ("This usage greatly confounds the British, ...")
Ticktacktoe sign
The book goes on:
". . .Other names than have been proposed include Hatch, Chiffer, Corral,
Quadrux, Dunphy, Sidfrigand, Jang and Bradgard--all submitted in a contest
recently held by the Washington newletter "Privacy." The winning names in
that contest were Octothorpe, judged "most authentic," and Gridlet, judged
"most intriguing." "
Reference:
Campbell, Joe, "C Programmer's Guide to Serial Communications," Howard W.
Sams, 1988, Pg. 14
Doug Nickerson
Bourne, MA.
Programmer/author/person
doug_nickerson -at- onsetcomp -dot- com
