It does have to do with cooking -- more than much posted here. Janet, on our telephones it is referred to as "the pound sign." In recipes it indicates pounds (weight) as does lb. or lbs. So, 1 kilo of beef is equal to 2.2# of beef in the USA.
It's also recognized as a sign to indicate a number follows. E.g., #1, #9, etc.
Many people over the years have been confused when told to hit the pound key on their phone. I would think that now with all the phone menus, enter this then the pound key, most people are familiar with it.
hello Sorry to bother you .. Just a question which has nothing at all to do with cooking...although i often look at your recipes... I m english.. left to live in marseille france 35 years ago when this sign didn t exist # What the "Dickens" does it mean and what is it's name???
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Thanks a million
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Bon week end tous janet
It does have to do with cooking.
Cooking is probably the venue where the [#] sign is used least.
I don't think I ever came across this sign outside of music lessons until I went to the States for the first time. Don't think it was a standard key on a UK typewriter. Not sure what it was used for originally in the UK.
I know it as the hash sign and know that our friends across the pond call it a pound sign.
Steve (Ex-pat Brit in Lyon)
janet said:
hello Sorry to bother you .. Just a question which has nothing at all to do with cooking...although i often look at your recipes... I m english.. left to live in marseille france 35 years ago when this sign didn t exist # What the "Dickens" does it mean and what is it's name???
hello Sorry to bother you .. Just a question which has nothing at all to do with cooking...although i often look at your recipes... I m english.. left to live in marseille france 35 years ago when this sign didn t exist # What the "Dickens" does it mean and what is it's name???
It did exist 35 years ago. It's used to denote numbers, and so is sometimes called the number sign. It's also used to denote pounds as a unit of weight, and in the US is sometimes called the pound sign.
Its name varies. Google on "hash mark" and restrict your search to http://wikipedia.com.
On an AZERTY keyboard, it is the 3 key along with the "Alt-Gr"key but I don't have an English keyboard to see what the "Alt-Gr" corresponds to or how it is labelled.
Steve
PS For Info, in French it is called "dieze" (sp ? ), no idea why.
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3 Shifted is # and using the option key, I get £. Probably the alt key on PC keyboards. I drive a Mac.
> It's the pound sign, indicating (in the case of recipes) a pound of > whatever ingredient.
I never knew that!!! we always write lb as in 5lb
Same thing. I know the origin of lb, but I don't know the origin of the # sign.
I just know my grandmother wrote her recipes with #1 flour, etc. I always re-wrote them to say lb. or pound, but I knew what she meant 🙂
Jill
Out of curiosity, did she write the pound sign first? It seems odd because in my head, I'm "hearing" pound one flour instead of one pound flour. OTOH, when I see $5, I "hear" five dollars. Huh. Interesting. -- -Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ For your listening pleasure: http://www.am1500.com/pcast/80509.mp3 -- from the MN State Fair, 8-29-07
hello Sorry to bother you .. Just a question which has nothing at all to do with cooking...although i often look at your recipes... I m english.. left to live in marseille france 35 years ago when this sign didn t exist #
it is a hash and is often used to indicate a number
It's also an octothorpe, and has other names as well. 🙂
-- Blinky RLU 297263 Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org <----------- New Site Aug 28
hello Sorry to bother you .. Just a question which has nothing at all to do with cooking...although i often look at your recipes... I m english.. left to live in marseille france 35 years ago when this sign didn t exist # What the "Dickens" does it mean and what is it's name???
It did exist 35 years ago. It's used to denote numbers, and so is sometimes called the number sign. It's also used to denote pounds as a unit of weight, and in the US is sometimes called the pound sign.
Its name varies. Google on "hash mark" and restrict your search to http://wikipedia.com.
And since it has more than one *application*, it's probably best called "octothorpe" or "hash", which aren't context specific, when speaking of it generally -- and the OP did say "nothing at all to do with cooking", so in the context of her question those would probably be better than "pound sign". Especially when there's a monetary symbol with the same common name and there aren't any other octothorpes or hashes.
-- Blinky RLU 297263 Killing all posts from Google Groups The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org <----------- New Site Aug 28
hello Sorry to bother you .. Just a question which has nothing at all to do with cooking...although i often look at your recipes... I m english.. left to live in marseille france 35 years ago when this sign didn t exist #
it is a hash and is often used to indicate a number
It's also an octothorpe, and has other names as well. 🙂
In article <[email hidden]>, "Ophelia" <[email hidden]> wrote:
> jmcquown wrote:
>> It's the pound sign, indicating (in the case of recipes) a pound >> of whatever ingredient. > > I never knew that!!! we always write lb as in 5lb
Same thing. I know the origin of lb, but I don't know the origin of the # sign.
I just know my grandmother wrote her recipes with #1 flour, etc. I always re-wrote them to say lb. or pound, but I knew what she meant 🙂
Jill
Out of curiosity, did she write the pound sign first? It seems odd because in my head, I'm "hearing" pound one flour instead of one pound flour. OTOH, when I see $5, I "hear" five dollars. Huh. Interesting.
I don't have her original written recipes anymore (mores the pity!) but I recall she wrote the # sign before the ingredient listed. I think my mother (Scottish!) did the same thing.
hello Sorry to bother you .. Just a question which has nothing at all to do with cooking...although i often look at your recipes... I m english.. left to live in marseille france 35 years ago when this sign didn t exist #
it is a hash and is often used to indicate a number
Yes, it's called a "hash mark", but is commonly called a "pound" sign here in the USA.
--
Ham and eggs. A day's work for the chicken, a lifetime commitment for the pig.
"octothorpe" or "hash", which aren't context specific, when speaking of it generally -- and the OP did say "nothing at all to do with cooking", so in the context of her question those would probably be better than "pound sign". Especially when there's a monetary symbol with the same common name and there aren't any other octothorpes or hashes.
I have heard it called a "commercial pound." I believe that was to distinguish it from the monetary pound. It used to be used for bulk items sold by weight instead of volume like flour, for example. I think you can still see this use on manifests of large bulk shipments. That usage goes back at least in to the early twentieth century, but how much further back I don't know. The other names and meanings all seem to be newer.
hello Sorry to bother you .. Just a question which has nothing at all to do with cooking...although i often look at your recipes... I m english.. left to live in marseille france 35 years ago when this sign didn t exist #
it is a hash and is often used to indicate a number
Yes, it's called a "hash mark", but is commonly called a "pound" sign here in the USA.
Melba's Jammin' wrote: > In article <[email hidden]>, "Ophelia" > <[email hidden]> wrote: > >> jmcquown wrote: > >>> It's the pound sign, indicating (in the case of recipes) a pound >>> of whatever ingredient. >> >> I never knew that!!! we always write lb as in 5lb > > Same thing. I know the origin of lb, but I don't know the origin of > the # sign.
I just know my grandmother wrote her recipes with #1 flour, etc. I always re-wrote them to say lb. or pound, but I knew what she meant 🙂
Jill
Out of curiosity, did she write the pound sign first? It seems odd because in my head, I'm "hearing" pound one flour instead of one pound flour. OTOH, when I see $5, I "hear" five dollars. Huh. Interesting.
I don't have her original written recipes anymore (mores the pity!) but I recall she wrote the # sign before the ingredient listed. I think my mother (Scottish!) did the same thing.
Another meaning related to cooking is can size and thus quantity. At least in the US, there's long been a numbering sytstem for can sizes.
Many people over the years have been confused when told to hit the pound key on their phone. I would think that now with all the phone menus, enter this then the pound key, most people are familiar with it.
nancy
Can you imagine the confusion if told to hit the octothorp key?
Many people over the years have been confused when told to hit the pound key on their phone. I would think that now with all the phone menus, enter this then the pound key, most people are familiar with it.
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Can you imagine the confusion if told to hit the octothorp key?
Heh, talk about phone rage. What the #### is the octothorp key???
