kirribilli kim: quicko: a pound of hash?

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

#: we say "pound"; they say "hash"

Mom said...: I could be mistaken, but I believe in the olden days, we did refer, at times, to the pound sign as a hash mark. Seems I recall your Granddad calling it that, unless it was some other symbol...; October 13, 2010 at 3:57 AM
redhedqd said...: Sounds like a felony to me.; October 13, 2010 at 8:05 AM
Mom said...: On second thought, it may be "hatch" mark that we say.; October 13, 2010 at 9:35 AM
Laetitia :-) said...: Mom - I think the 'correct' term is 'hatch' but it comes out as 'hash' because people mis-hear it and then repeat the mistake.

As for the pound symbol, that would be £ (as in the British currency) since 'lb' is an abbreviation, rather than a symbol.; October 13, 2010 at 10:27 PM
KIM said...: Yes, there is that, too. We definitely do say "pound" for "#" though!; October 13, 2010 at 10:38 PM
Laetitia :-) said...: Do you use # as a symbol to mean the weight? In which case it would make sense for you to call it 'pound'.; October 13, 2010 at 10:41 PM
KIM said...: Nooo, we don't ... would have made sense, though!; October 13, 2010 at 10:45 PM
Mom said...: Yes, we do use # to mean pound, as in weight. For example a 5# bag of potatoes.; October 14, 2010 at 2:25 AM