[comp.dcom.telecom] Octothorpe as the Name for #

scjones@uunet.uu.net> (07/31/90)

On a local radio station's call-in trivia show, a listener posed the
question "What is the correct name for the '#' character on a
telephone?", with the answer being, of course, "octothorpe".  Although
the hosts are trusting sorts who are inclined to believe anything
listeners tell them (within reason), they asked for some source
whereby they could verify the information.  Looking through my
(extremely limited) library of telecom stuff wasn't productive, so I
was wondering if anyone knew of a reference that could be found at a
reasonably large public or university library that would mention
octothorpe.

Larry Jones UUCP: uunet!sdrc!thor!scjones SDRC
scjones@thor.UUCP 2000 Eastman Dr.  BIX: ltl Milford, OH 45150-2789
AT&T: (513) 576-2070 


[Moderator's Note: We seem to have come full circle here. Tell the
DJ's to check out the special issue of TELECOM Digest about a year and
a half ago, "All You Ever Wanted to Know About Octothorpes". Maybe I
will re-run that special issue sometime soon. It is in the Telecom
Archives.  PT]

fvest@ducvax.auburn.edu (Floyd Vest) (08/01/90)

In article <10293@accuvax.nwu.edu>, sdrc!thor!scjones@uunet.uu.net
(Larry Jones) writes...

>On a local radio station's call-in trivia show, a listener posed the
>question "What is the correct name for the '#' character on a
>telephone?", with the answer being, of course, "octothorpe". 

>I was wondering if anyone knew of a reference that could be found at a
>reasonably large public or university library that would mention
>octothorpe.

Look to the oft mentioned "Understanding Telephone Electronics" by The
Texas Instruments Learning Labs published by Radio Shack.  I saw it
there first.


Floyd Vest    Auburn University   FVEST@AUDUCVAX.bitnet              
{...!gatech!ducvax.auburn.edu!fvest}    fvest@ducvax.auburn.edu