'#' as comment character vs. '#' as erase character

[Henry Spencer]

>	2) Why were the '#' and '@' characters used as editing characters,
>	   other than nostalgia for Multics (which used lots of weird IBM
>	   2741 printing terminals over half-duplex lines, and couldn't
>	   do much better)...

Remember what system KLT and DMR had been working on immediately before
the development of Unix.  Their fingers were very definitely trained for
Multics typing conventions.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry