What's # called? Pound? Hash? Number sign?

[LaRoza]

# = hash, £ = pound


It is common to call it a "pound" sign in North America. Technically, it is U+0023

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_sign

[lisati]

# = hash, £ = pound

I'm linking your post in my signature, so I thought I'd correct the typographical terminology. Also [noparse] tags! Didn't know they existed until I clicked quote. The things you learn...


It is common to call it a "pound" sign in North America. Technically, it is U+0023

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_sign

These forums are international in their scope. For the most part, we will know what is meant.
(My phone company calls # 'hash', the fax/voicemail software that came with my now-defunct win98 machine calls it "pound" or "hash" according to which settings are chosen. Now to find the 'beer' key.....:))

[jw5801]

These forums are international in their scope. For the most part, we will know what is meant.
(My phone company calls # 'hash', the fax/voicemail software that came with my now-defunct win98 machine calls it "pound" or "hash" according to which settings are chosen. Now to find the 'beer' key.....:))

Interesting... never heard it called that before! It's a hash to the rest of the world though I think. Confusing North Americans and their insistence on using old redundant terminology and measurement systems... :P

[LaRoza]

These forums are international in their scope. For the most part, we will know what is meant.

To me, it means a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_function

International doesn't mean "use whatever the UK prefers" ;)


Interesting... never heard it called that before! It's a hash to the rest of the world though I think. Confusing North Americans and their insistence on using old redundant terminology and measurement systems... :P
North Americans live on the "other side" where "pound" means a unit of mass/weight (not sure what it measures exactly) or the # sign. To those who call their money that (for some reason) it can be confusing and needed another name.

[cyberdork33]

North Americans live on the "other side" where "pound" means a unit of mass/weight (not sure what it measures exactly) or the # sign. To those who call their money that (for some reason) it can be confusing and needed another name.
Yea, we don't have a £ key.

[LaRoza]

Yea, we don't have a £ key.

And if you want to go for old terms, the British had (or the origins of it) since 775.

[jw5801]

To me, it means a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_function

International doesn't mean "use whatever the UK prefers" ;)


North Americans live on the "other side" where "pound" means a unit of mass/weight (not sure what it measures exactly) or the # sign. To those who call their money that (for some reason) it can be confusing and needed another name.

I wouldn't exactly say it's just "whatever the UK prefers." According to that wikipedia article "in most other English-speaking countries, it is called a hash" with the US and Canada being the only ones to call it a pound sign and even then only "in some regions."

The international term would probably be the 'number sign', since it is generally accepted to be shorthand for 'number', we call it a hash because it looks like the word describes, something diced up. I can't for the life of me make out an lb from it though. :p

And pound meant mass in the commonwealth as well as being a unit of currency, before they switched to the metric system, along with the rest of Europe. A pound is a unit of currency, purely because it described a particular mass of a precious metal (sterling silver, if I recall correctly), not just "for some reason."

If you're curious, a pound is equivalent to a gram, thus it is a mass, not a weight. Pound weight (lb wt) would be the equivalent force due to gravity acting on 1 pound of mass at the equator, or weight.

Also, to be clear, I don't have a £ key either, being from Australia and all. I'd still never heard # called a pound until earlier today, possibly because the rest of the world doesn't call it that.

[cyberdork33]

If you're curious, a pound is equivalent to a gram, thus it is a mass, not a weight. Pound weight (lb wt) would be the equivalent force due to gravity acting on 1 pound of mass at the equator, or weight.

Also, to be clear, I don't have a £ key either, being from Australia and all. I'd still never heard # called a pound until earlier today, possibly because the rest of the world doesn't call it that.
Yes but 1 pound-mass is defined as having a force due to the earth's gravity (average) equal to 1 pound-force. We usually use lb or lbm for pounds-mass and lbf for pounds-force.

pound referring to #, on the other hand, I believe got it's name from telecom. I don't know why... people do use # for shorthand to mean weight though. It is quite annoying.

wow this is OT.

EDIT: nvm, got its own thread now.

[klange]

\043

e: Unicode defines it as "NUMBER SIGN".
There's also & #35; - but that's not very appropriate when it has the symbol in it to begin with.
e: When I posted this the first time, the forum escaped the XML entity to #. >_<

[Superkoop]

Hmm, I guess I just always called it "number key". I have noticed that a lot of people call it a "pound" key when using a telephone, but when using a computer it's a "hash" key.
I simply say "number key" despite which appliance it is on.

[Mazza558]

Hash.

[saulgoode]

I call it an octothorpe.

[klange]

How about octothorpe?
e: saulgoode beat me to it...

[hessiess]

£ = pound
# = hash


"pound" means a unit of mass/weight

pound is a unit of mass, weight is mass relative to gravaty, or something like that anyway :lolflag:

[bobbocanfly]

It is hash as in ... we dont want to go there :P

I call it an octothorpe, just to annoy people that dont know what it is.

[armageddon08]

I think 'hash' is the most appropriate term for # key. I've always called it like that whether on comps or on cellphones.

[Oldsoldier2003]

meh. #! is called "shebang", therefor we should just make it more confusing and call it "she"

[decoherence]

yeah, i usually call it 'sha' for the reason Oldsoldier says. I get funny looks.

[dracule]

£ = pound
# = hash



pound is a unit of mass, weight is mass relative to gravaty, or something like that anyway :lolflag:

pound is a unit of weight. That is why you say "I weigh xxx pounds". How many pounds you weigh is relative to the gravity, so on the moon you will weigh less.


I find it sad that you squabble over what to call a symbol. It isn't hard or surprising that different cultures call it different things.


I wonder when this fascination over spelling differences/naming differences is going to end. It is getting very boring. It mostly ends with "im right and your wrong". everybody is right and nobody is wrong.

[red_Marvin]

Hash or fyrkant, where the latter is Swedish for square. (Well a rectangle would be a "fyrkant" too, litterally it means "object with four edges".)

[tom66]

I call it the shebang or hash sign. NUMBER SIGN is acceptable, or 'that weird H like thing', as I used to call it. The pound sign is confused too much with the '£' currency, weight (lb), and the symbol itself. Hash, as far as I know, is fairly unambiguous.

Somebody I once knew called the at sign (@) I think a 'weird squiggle/spiral thingy'

[aysiu]

I'm an American and had always referred to it as the number sign until I started hearing it in voicemail instructions referred to as the pound key (e.g., Please enter your member number followed by the pound sign or Please record your new voicemail greeting. When you are done recording your greeting, press pound).

I still prefer the number sign, though.

[Tristam Green]

Take the Orwellian route:

I hereby dub it....doubleplus.

[klange]

We all seem to be forgetting the musical / CIL approach: sharp.

[Oldsoldier2003]

We all seem to be forgetting the musical / CIL approach: sharp.

or just "press the tic-tac-toe key"

[beesthorpe]

So is "#|" pronounced "bong" then?
:)

[the yawner]

I call it an octothorpe.

I wonder if I change the recording on our IVR to play "Please enter your card number followed by the octothorpe key"...

[kernelhaxor]

Another interesting usage: C sharp -> C#

[klange]

Another interesting usage: C sharp -> C#
;)

We all seem to be forgetting the musical / CIL approach: sharp.

[jw5801]

pound is a unit of weight. That is why you say "I weigh xxx pounds". How many pounds you weigh is relative to the gravity, so on the moon you will weigh less.

Yes, you are correct. I would dispute that the pound is a measure of force (weight), but I am by no means an authority on the matter. So long as you don't try and tell me the gram is a measure of weight and not mass, I won't complain. There's an interesting discussion on the wiki page for kilogram (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilogram).


I find it sad that you squabble over what to call a symbol. It isn't hard or surprising that different cultures call it different things.

I wonder when this fascination over spelling differences/naming differences is going to end. It is getting very boring. It mostly ends with "im right and your wrong". everybody is right and nobody is wrong.

I find it sad that you seem to think fascination over different names for a commonly used symbol directly correlates to a 'squabble'. I corrected what I perceived as an error, then expressed genuine curiosity upon discovering that some people would not see it as an error. That's by no means a 'squabble', merely me demonstrating my ignorance :)


Also, the # as pound terminology didn't get it's name from telecommunications, apparently it was introduced as a typographical mark intending to be the two characters lb in the one character. It is commonly accepted as shorthand for 'number' nowadays though, as even those from North America appear to express confusion over it being used as shorthand for lb.

Apologies to aysiu for clogging up your tutorial thread, was not my intention in the slightest!

[original_jamingrit]

I'm Canadian, to me "pound" is only a verb. I call it hash, but I like octothorpe. I might use that sometime.

[angry_johnnie]

It may seem odd, but in Mexico, the # sign is, among other things, a cat. :p

[DoctorMO]

pound is a unit of weight. That is why you say "I weigh xxx pounds". How many pounds you weigh is relative to the gravity, so on the moon you will weigh less.

No, I normally say "I weigh XX stones". Look if your going to do imperial units could you at least do them all? Otherwise you'll never know how many chains in a rod or why a pound (£) used to contain 240d (pence).

Now you know why metric is such a bloody blessing. Because the units we were using before are as daft as the dark ages they were invented from.

Now if you can just scrap that stupid 25¢ coin and use the 1,2,5 system. that would be peachy.

[master5o1]

C# tells you the name.

123
456
789
*0# keypads tell you it's name.

#1 'winner' tells you it's name.

# = Sharp, Hash, Number Sign, Pound... etc.

[dracule]

Yes, you are correct. I would dispute that the pound is a measure of force (weight), but I am by no means an authority on the matter. So long as you don't try and tell me the gram is a measure of weight and not mass, I won't complain. There's an interesting discussion on the wiki page for kilogram (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilogram).



I find it sad that you seem to think fascination over different names for a commonly used symbol directly correlates to a 'squabble'. I corrected what I perceived as an error, then expressed genuine curiosity upon discovering that some people would not see it as an error. That's by no means a 'squabble', merely me demonstrating my ignorance :)


Also, the # as pound terminology didn't get it's name from telecommunications, apparently it was introduced as a typographical mark intending to be the two characters lb in the one character. It is commonly accepted as shorthand for 'number' nowadays though, as even those from North America appear to express confusion over it being used as shorthand for lb.

Apologies to aysiu for clogging up your tutorial thread, was not my intention in the slightest!

the comment about a squabble wasnt directed at you rather people going:
I am right and NA is wrong.

To be honest I have only seen # used in the "wild" once as a substitute for pounds. It was on a bag of rice and I had to stare at it for a while to realize what it was. I havent seen one referring to pounds since. almost all people (at least in the US) simply write "lbs"


when i was younger I thought it meant the pound as in the dog-pound. I thought the bars were supposed to be a cage and if you pressed that button it would call the dog-pound. :)

[lisati]

No, I normally say "I weigh XX stones". Look if your going to do imperial units could you at least do them all? Otherwise you'll never know how many chains in a rod or why a pound (£) used to contain 240d (pence).

Now you know why metric is such a bloody blessing. Because the units we were using before are as daft as the dark ages they were invented from.

Now if you can just scrap that stupid 25¢ coin and use the 1,2,5 system. that would be peachy.
A lot of people I know use a mysterious unit of weight called a "cagey". Thankfully the conversion to kilograms is straightforward.
Here in New Zealand, we dropped the 1 & 2 cent coins back in the early 1990s, and more recently dropped the 5 cent coins. And until the coinage was changed, one would occasionally find a 10 cent piece with the word "one shilling" written on the bottom, dating from 1967 when we swapped from the "Pounds, shillings, pence" system, when the shilling coin was replaced with the 10 cent coin.

I think I've got an old New Zealand penny coin somewhere that I discovered in the garden while waiting for contractors to replace a fence that demolished when some trees were removed.

[wenuswilson]

To me, it means a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_function

International doesn't mean "use whatever the UK prefers" ;)


North Americans live on the "other side" where "pound" means a unit of mass/weight (not sure what it measures exactly) or the # sign. To those who call their money that (for some reason) it can be confusing and needed another name.

I've heard that it means both "pound" and "number sign" depending on its placement.

#1 for number one.
1# for one pound.

Not sure if that's legitimate but I know the Verizon Wireless woman [US] say, "Please enter your password and then press pound." when you access voicemail.

[jw5801]

A lot of people I know use a mysterious unit of weight called a "cagey". Thankfully the conversion to kilograms is straightforward.
Here in New Zealand, we dropped the 1 & 2 cent coins back in the early 1990s, and more recently dropped the 5 cent coins. And until the coinage was changed, one would occasionally find a 10 cent piece with the word "one shilling" written on the bottom, dating from 1967 when we swapped from the "Pounds, shillings, pence" system, when the shilling coin was replaced with the 10 cent coin.

I think I've got an old New Zealand penny coin somewhere that I discovered in the garden while waiting for contractors to replace a fence that demolished when some trees were removed.

You guys don't have 5c coins anymore? When did that happen!? I was over a couple of years ago and I swear you had them then!

[gn2]

International doesn't mean "use whatever the UK prefers" ;)

No in this context "International" means the majority of the English speaking world, in which #=hash and £=pound

The USA is only one country.

[gn2]

To those who call their money that (for some reason) it can be confusing and needed another name.

It's not confusing at all, it is you who seems to be confused.

In the UK (and the majority of the English speaking world) for weight in pounds we say "lb" as in 1lb for one pound.
For the plural, "lbs" is used, e.g. 8lbs for eight pounds.

The £ is an uppercase letter "l" we used to have our currency in pounds, shillings and pence, abbreviated l.s.d. and written £5,2/9d.
Weight is in pounds an ounces, lb and oz.
For number we use the abbreviation "no."
We have been doing it this way since before we colonised the land that you are now living in.

[mcsimon]

You guys don't have 5c coins anymore? When did that happen!? I was over a couple of years ago and I swear you had them then!

they were scrapped about two years ago :(

[cyberdork33]

Also, the # as pound terminology didn't get it's name from telecommunications, apparently it was introduced as a typographical mark intending to be the two characters lb in the one character. It is commonly accepted as shorthand for 'number' nowadays though, as even those from North America appear to express confusion over it being used as shorthand for lb.
Yea I recently did some reading and found that to be the case as well.

Also for the force vs mass thing... "pounds" can be used to refer to mass or weight (force), although the unit that should be used for mass is the slug.

Here is some interesting reading on the subject:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-oct1.htm

[Nick Lake]

I originally knew it to be called a "hash" (from a very young age).

After studying music throughout primary and high school i came to know it as the "sharp" symbol (to indicate a semi-tone above the base indicated note).

During my early years of programming I learnt to recognise that it can also indicate a numeric value (usually of double precision).

When I first saw Microsoft's C/J/F# languages I assumed it was called C "hash" - I thought it was pretty interesting that they decided to pronounce it "sharp" (which I think sounds heaps better). They obviously ripped it off from the music world.

I was really surprised to see in this forum that the symbol can be used in some places to indicate a "pound". There was some confusion in the previous posts as to the whether the "pound" was used to measure mass, weight or was a monetary measure. I've never seen it used like that before... interesting. In the UK the pound (mass) and the pound (monetary value) are clearly differentiated using completely different symbols.

Despite having lived in Sweden for a year I also did not realise that our svenska speaking friends used the symbol to represent a quadrilateral.

So... from an anthropological point of view isn't it interesting that a forum such as this (with the philosophical intent of "ubuntu") has made us realise how different (and yet similar) we all actually are!

- Wow I sound like such a hippie!

[Canis familiaris]

Danger.
(# in bash refers to the fact you are root and you can trash your OS)

[Superkoop]

Another term I have heard it refered to before on a couple occasions, is "net". I suppose because it looks a bit like a net.

[picopir8]

The preprocessor definition in C/C++ (#define), is often referred to a "pound define" in many books. I have worked with a number of international programmers and all have also called it a "pound define". Therefore I must conclude that "pound" is correct.

Conversely hash variables, hash tables, and hash functions in programming dont use the # symbol at all.

Once the Euro meets the UKs 5 economic tests, the Pound as a currency will disappear anyway so people can feel free to use either term w/o confusion.

[gn2]

Once the Euro meets the UKs 5 economic tests, the Pound as a currency will disappear

Highly unlikely.

[cyberdork33]

When I first saw Microsoft's C/J/F# languages I assumed it was called C "hash"
Funny, I initially though it was C "pound" or some kind of C++++ (4 +'s make #)

[Barrucadu]

I've always been told it was hash, except in the case of music where it is sharp.

[artir]

Its Almohadilla in Spanish

[Masoris]

# is a chinese character.
井 (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%BA%95)
It called 'jeong' in Korean language.

$ is also a chinese character.
弗 (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%BC%97)
It called 'bul' in Korean language.

[jw5801]

Danger.
(# in bash refers to the fact you are root and you can trash your OS)

In bash it denotes a comment...

It's convention to use # as a delimiter in a root command prompt, but it's by no means a hard and fast rule. Good answer though :)

[Dremora]

It is common to call it a "pound" sign in North America. Technically, it is U+0023

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_sign

Pound....hash.

Pound of hash?

;)

[kko1]

OT (maybe): I decided to finally find out why on Earth a pound (as a unit of groceries - or people) would be "abbreviated" as lb. ;-)

BTW, back on topic. Square has been named, but no-one* has mentioned the term fence, the equivalent of which is used all over in different languages.

*) Except, strictly speaking, lisati and jw5801:

... in the garden while waiting for contractors to replace a fence ...
8-)

[lisati]

You guys don't have 5c coins anymore? When did that happen!? I was over a couple of years ago and I swear you had them then!

I can't remember exactly when, but it was some months back. They used to be the same size as Australian 5 cent coins, as were the old 10 and 20 before they were replaced. The 50 cent piece has been changed too, but, unlike some of the Australian ones I've seen, they're the regular round shape.

When I was on the Gold Coast back in 2006, I remember being mildly surprised when I got a $50 cash advance from the ATM at the hotel that the note was a bright yellow.

[mips]

Hash is what I call it.

[super breadfish]

I call it hash or number sign, but I've heard a lot other names over time:

Sharp
Cross
Net
Treasure ...???
Square

[kaivalagi]

I call it a "hash" or "number sign" if used in that way.

Found this on wikipedia, explaining why it is sometime known as a "pound" symbol:

Keith Gordon Irwin in, The Romance of Writing, p. 125 says: "The Italian libbra (from the old Latin word libra, 'balance') represented a weight almost exactly equal to the avoirdupois pound of England. The Italian abbreviation of lb with a line drawn across the letters was used for both weights. The business clerks' hurried way of writing the abbreviation appears to have been responsible for the # sign used for pound."

Looks like it might have come about because of a mistake :)

[smbm]

Hash or sharp depending on the context.

[kko1]

Looks like it might have come about because of a mistake :)

So, the development of languages is a progressive series of successful misunderstandings? ;-)

[kaivalagi]

So, the development of languages is a progressive series of successful misunderstandings? ;-)

No comment ;)

[Methuselah]

It's called 'sharp' as opposed to 'flat' in music.
Hence the c sharp programing language.

[jw5801]

I can't remember exactly when, but it was some months back. They used to be the same size as Australian 5 cent coins, as were the old 10 and 20 before they were replaced. The 50 cent piece has been changed too, but, unlike some of the Australian ones I've seen, they're the regular round shape.

When I was on the Gold Coast back in 2006, I remember being mildly surprised when I got a $50 cash advance from the ATM at the hotel that the note was a bright yellow.

Yeah our 50s and 100s are pretty (100s are a reasonably bright green)! And our 50c coins are octagonal I think, or they might be decagonal, not sure.

Apparently NZ 5c coins went out of circulation on October 31st 2006, must have been just after I was last there.

[Malac]

So, the development of languages is a progressive series of successful misunderstandings? ;-)
Absolutely, some of them intentional.
I remember seeing a TV program about the standardising of UK English spelling where they intentionally made some of the words to be spelt (spelled) 'strangely' or pronounced strangely in relation to the spelling to catch out spies and people trying to learn the language.

BOT
# is 'hash' everywhere except in music, when it's 'sharp' to me.

[lukjad]

I call it the pound key when it is on a phone, a hash mark when it makes text be ignored in code and a number key when something is #1!!!

[alzie]

When I was a CSR it was the button to the right of the zero. (on the phone)

[mike1234]

I think the phone companies added to the confusion. "Press the pound key or the star key". It's actually an asterisk to me. Not as bad as "press 1 for Español". Welcome to America. Now learn our language.

M.

[saulgoode]

It's called 'sharp' as opposed to 'flat' in music.
Hence the c sharp programing language.

To be pedantic (and isn't that why we're here :) ), the octothorpe (#) is not the same as the musical sharp (♯) character.

[doas777]

I (being north American) call it a pound. I also call the backslash "hack", these () parens, these <> angle braces, these {} curly braces, this & an ampersand, this @ an "At", and ^ a carot.

hope that clears things up. now you jsut need to worry about thee other 6 billion people and what THEY call things.

that is all.

[picopir8]

OT (maybe): I decided to finally find out why on Earth a pound (as a unit of groceries - or people) would be "abbreviated" as lb. ;-)

Lb is short for the latin word "libra" which means balance/scales.

[mips]

Not as bad as "press 1 for Español". Welcome to America. Now learn our language.


You don't actually have an official language as far as I know.

[HermanAB]

Yup, Americans don't know that they don't have an official language. Most of them assumes everybody in the universe speaks English.
;)

[mike1234]

You don't actually have an official language as far as I know.

Sure we do. It's known as English. Specifically American English. It's great to live in a country that can wipe out the entire World in a blink of an eye. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. :KS

M.

[LaRoza]

Sure we do. It's known as English. Specifically American English. It's great to live in a country that can wipe out the entire World in a blink of an eye. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. :KS

M.

No, that is not an official language. The USA has no official language, although some states do.

As for countries being able to wipe out the world, add China, Russia and India to that list (more possibly, but I don't keep taps on nuclear arsenals)

[mips]

Sure we do. It's known as English. Specifically American English. :KS


Sorry but you are mistaken. The language in use will be the one most commonly used by the citizens of the USA. For now it is english, in future it might be spanish or manderin or whatever the majority of the population speaks.. There is no official language as such

[jgrabham]

IIRC £ is derived from the letter L, because of the latin for pound, which I can't remember off the top of my head, livre possible, that's what it is in French. (I think) :S

[Canis familiaris]

No, that is not an official language. The USA has no official language, although some states do.
I never knew USA didn't have an official language. I used to think English and Spanish are the USA's official languages.



As for countries being able to wipe out the world, add China, Russia and India to that list (more possibly, but I don't keep taps on nuclear arsenals)
And each of these countries can wipe each other out. (And there would be lot more countries in that list particularly France and Israel, but I dont keep tabs on nuclear arsenal either) contrary to safety which the person you quoted feels.

[LaRoza]

I never knew USA didn't have an official language. I used to think English and Spanish are the USA's official languages.


Some states have English as the official language, but not all, and the Federal government doesn't have any official language.

English is "standard" but Spanish is very common. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States#Census_statistics

Most people also speak English, so I think the census stats might be off (I don't know if it is an exclusive question).

[LaRoza]

Try installing your fuzzy logic on your next Ubuntu install. Like when it asks for your country for keyboard settings. Go ahead and select 'whatever". Living in South Africa precludes you from actually knowing much about living in the USA.

M.

That isn't nice. He could very well have been in the USA and lack of travel doesn't mean automatic ignorance (and I what I saw of what he wrote, he is right)

Since this is "my thread", I am closing it. We all have the information on what the # is called, the wikipedia article covered it pretty well. The USA has no official language.

Thread closed.