You say pound sign, I say number sign, let's call the whole thing off.

[Jeff Erickson]

>   |  |
> --+--+--
>   |  |
> --+--+--
>   |  |
> is a "number" sign or a "hash" sign. It is NOT repeat NOT a pound sign.
> A pound sign is what appears on a five pound note, and looks like:
>        --
>       /
>   ---+---
>   ---+---
>     /
>   -------
> (or some more ornate version).  How would you like it if I kept saying:
>        dollar include stood eye oh dot aitch?

Since starting a survey of non-alphanumeric pronunciations on misc.misc, I
have received five pieces of mail chastising, nay, CONDEMNING me for the
use of "pound" to describe the ASCII character that looks like an unstarted
game of tictactoe.

The "pound" pronunciation refers to the unit of weight, not the unit of
British currecy [which I usually refer to as "pound sterling" or just 
"sterling" to avoid confusion :-)].  At one time, a box labeled "1000#" 
supposedly weighed half a ton.

I've never in my life seen a five pound note, and I'm sure I wouldn't want
to carry one around in my wallet.  Most American money masses no more than
a couple of grams, yet the American dollar is worth more than a pound.  This
leads me to believe that Great Britain is actually a neutron star imbedded
in the North Atlantic.  Or perhaps it's the density of Britain's inhabitants.
:-)

You weren't confused.  You know what Americans (those quaint colonials with
the odd accent) mean when they say "pound".  No currency symbols of any kind
are used in the definition of the C language.  ($ is a legal character in
identifiers in some compilers, but not according to K&R2.)  A modicum of
thought is all that is required to understand, and you obviously have the
talent for producing (or at least procuring) such modica.  The purpose of
terminology of any sort is to effectively pass on information.  Since you
KNOW what "pound" refers to in this context, the term serves its purpose
admirably.

Thank you and good day.


-- 
Jeff Erickson       Claris Corporation  | Birdie, birdie, in the sky,
408/987-7309      Applelink: Erickson4  |   Why'd you do that in my eye?
krazy at claris.com     ames!claris!krazy  | I won't fret, and I won't cry.
       "I'm a heppy, heppy ket!"        |   I'm just glad that cows don't fly.