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From: | Andrew Bernard |
Subject: | Re: When to Use Pound Signs |
Date: | Wed, 06 Jan 2016 21:00:14 +1100 |
User-agent: | Microsoft-MacOutlook/0.0.0.151217 |
Well, something I never knew: From the Oxford English Dictionary II Online: octothorp, n. The hash sign (#), as it appears on the buttons of touch-tone telephones and some other keypads. 1996 New Scientist 30 Mar. 54/3 The term ‘octothorp(e)’ (which MWCD10 dates 1971) was invented for ‘#’, allegedly by Bell Labs engineers when touch-tone telephones were introduced in the mid-1960s. ‘Octo-’ means eight, and ‘thorp’ was an Old English word for village: apparently the sign was playfully construed as eight fields surrounding a village. Andrew On 6/01/2016, 15:55, "Colin Campbell" <address@hidden on behalf of address@hidden> wrote: I wonder if the spaces delimited by the lines are thorpes? |
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