octothorpe
Nov. 14th, 2013 07:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordoctothorpe or octothorp (AWK-tow-thorp) - n., the hash symbol #.
Also called a number sign, pound sign, and many other names. Octothorpe is primarily but not exclusively US usage, for it was apparently coined by one or more Bell Labs engineers, though exactly which engineers and how is partially disputed -- for while all sources agree the octo- is from the eight points on a #, they disgree on whence the -thorp(e): the two more likely stories being after Olympian Jim Thorpe and a fellow engineer named Ogelthorpe.
---L.
Also called a number sign, pound sign, and many other names. Octothorpe is primarily but not exclusively US usage, for it was apparently coined by one or more Bell Labs engineers, though exactly which engineers and how is partially disputed -- for while all sources agree the octo- is from the eight points on a #, they disgree on whence the -thorp(e): the two more likely stories being after Olympian Jim Thorpe and a fellow engineer named Ogelthorpe.
---L.
