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

[Sam Hallas]

Paul Heller 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

I recall that, as Wikipedia says,

"Octothorp, octothorpe, octathorp, octatherp - Most scholars believe the 
word was invented by workers at the Bell Telephone Laboratories by 1968 
... as a joke ..."

I think that here in the UK "hash" is the most common usage as "number 
sign" and "pound" are not in common parlance as we have No. and Lb 
described in the article.

Sam




---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus