[GreenKeys] Why has the '#' symbol been called a number sign, pound sign, and now 'hashtag'?

[Richard Knoppow]

     Don't do that, I thought it was an interesting article. It caused 
me to do some further searching around. I don't think anything in what 
you posted was wrong but there are more detailed articles elsewhere.
    Evidently # was used to indicate a number, as in #1 or Grade #1, or 
for weight as in #2 meaning 2 pounds. I think the last must have been 
fairly rare with lb being much more common. I also looked up lb and also 
the British pound sterling sign to find the origins. Same origin; from 
Latin. OTOH we used to have slugs as a unit of mass in physics. Belongs 
with furlong and chains in measurements that belong in the museum. 
Depends on your frame of reference, I suppose.

On 6/11/2017 11:04 AM, Paul Heller wrote:
> Someone just wrote me and pointed out:
> 
>> You can find plenty of 19th century (pre teletype) commercial 
>> documents where # is used to mean pounds.
> 
> Oh well. Like most stuff out there - can't believe much of anything you 
> find these days. Sad, isn't it?
> 
> I guess it is time to stop posting stuff I come across....
> 
> Paul
> 
>> On Jun 11, 2017, at 6:33 PM, Paul Heller <paul0926 at comcast.net 
>> <mailto:paul0926 at comcast.net>> wrote:
>>
>> I was doing some research on the US dollar sign and the problems with 
>> telex/teletype machines in Germany sending an answerback when they 
>> receive it, and came across this rather interesting article which 
>> covers the pound sign (which is named such because of teletype days!)
>>
>> https://www.quora.com/Why-has-the-symbol-been-called-a-number-sign-pound-sign-and-now-hashtag
>>
>> Paul
>> W2TTY
> 
> 
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-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL