Re: Accents
| From: | Tristan Alexander McLeay <anstouh@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, January 9, 2002, 2:25 |
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On Tue, 8 Jan 2002, John Cowan wrote:
> Stephen Mulraney wrote:
>
> > BTW, why do Americans call # ('hash', 'octothorp') the 'pound symbol' ??
>
> Because it used to be written *following* a number on bags full of
> stuff to indicate their weight in pounds, thus: 20# = 20 pounds
> weight.
And is that why it found it's way onto the keyboard? (We use the US layout
here in Oz. The only reason it's ever used is to mark comments in code,
really. Just like \ is only used in LaTeX and deliminating directories in
DOS/Windows/OS/2.
> (One pound = 2.2 kg, for the maior et sanior part of the word.)
Maior et sanior? And I take it you meant `world'?
Tristan
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