Bob Barr wrote:

>That last sentence is liable to be a puzzler for some folks.
>
>My thought is that you're referring to writing the symbol for pound
>sterling.
>
>The '#' character (I believe its proper name is 'octothorpe') is
>commonly referred to as a 'pound sign' here in the US. At least,
>commonly enough for Micro$oft's purposes. :=)
>
I favor 'hash', but often find myself calling it the pound sign (since
others refer to it as such for telephone dtmf usage, though in that case
it's better to use 'number sign') since that is what most other
americans understand it to be.

Hash specifically:
http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?hash+character
http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?ASCII
List of characters:
http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/contents/character.html
A little down on this page (search for "usenet ascii pronunciation
guide") it has a whole list and pronunciation (all on one page, as
opposed to having them on seperate pages in the FOLDOC above):
http://www.mcs.kent.edu/docs/general/hackersdict/02Entries

Plus we just like making the british confused.  :-)  "Please enter your
four digit code, followed by a pound sign..."  "Where's the  &#$* pound
sign!  Crazy americans!"  First call - try the 'star'  (asterisk, IMHO,
but there again american custom), hang up, second call try the hash or
number sign - it works!  Maybe you'll remember next time... ;-)

-Adam

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