LogFAQs > #882167595

richisdisturbed posted...

Krazy_Kirby posted...

^taken from a wiki link. anyone can edit those. i have never seen or heard someone use # for a weight measurement. if they do then they have used it incorrectly.

it would be like someone saying "i bought too games today"- just because they used "too" instead of "two" doesn't mean they are correct.

I have never seen or heard someone use # for a pound sign, if they do, they have used it incorrectly. Right?

http://blog.dictionary.com/octothorpe/

It is called the pound sign because the symbol comes from the abbreviation for weight, lb, or “libra pondo” literally “pound by weight” in Latin. When writing lb, it was not uncommon for scribes to cross the letters across the top with a line across the top, like a t. See the example below.

http://static.dictionary.com/homepage/carousel/June-2012/lb.jpeg

The phrase “number sign” arose in Britain because “pound sign” could easily be confused with the British currency. The # symbol is sometimes spoken as the word “number” as in the word “number two pencil.”

It was called the pound sign before it was called the number sign. While the practice of writing 5# (approximated) is now relatively dated, it was called the number sign specifically due to the potential confusion for British currency. Not to mention that the octothorpe has numerous other potential meanings depending entirely on the context, thanks largely to technology that's become widespread these past few decades. Welcome to the world of semiotics.
---

"Nostalgia is a hell of a drug."
-Magus 10