a very bad question

[leo.hou]

I like that "military intelligence" ;-)




Thank you all of you for helping me

 

[Arndt Jonasson]

The noun "pound" is never used for "#" as this word is used[*] for our
currency symbol and an (obsolete) imperial weight measurement.
...
[*] Actually there are other uses of the noun "pound" but none is for
describing the symbol "#".

In American English (an oxymoron, probably) the symbol "#" is actually
used as an abbreviation for "pound" as in the (not quite obsolete
here) unit of measurement of mass. It is also used as an abbreviation
for "number" as in "Bus #21" -- is this also true in England? (I've
been there, but I don't remember seeing this.)

In the telephone conference system we are using here, a pre-recorded
American voice says "to change settings at any time, press the pound
key", and the # key is meant. What is the # key on a telephone called
in Britain?

 

[Arndt Jonasson]

Peter Wyzl ([email protected]) wrote on MMMMCLXXIV September MCMXCIII in
<URL) () : Hi guys, prepare for a bad question... I want to know how to pronounce
() : "~" and "#" in English
()
() ~ is spelt tilde but pronounced tild or tilled
()
() # is called either pound or hash depending whether you speak US English
() (pound) or UK/Australian English (hash)


In Dutch, 'hekje' (meaning "little fence", although the suffix '-je',
which means "little" is often used for no apparent reason) is often
used. In the 80s, the term 'spoorwegovergang' ("railroad crossing")
was sometimes used as well - but that term seemed to have died away
after September started.

In Swedish, we often say "brädhög", which means heap of planks. The
most common name (at least for telephone use) seems to be "fyrkant",
which means rectangle.

 

[Alan J. Flavell]

In the telephone conference system we are using here, a pre-recorded
American voice says "to change settings at any time, press the pound
key", and the # key is meant.

A pity they don't read the Unicode standard.

What is the # key on a telephone called in Britain?

To be honest, response systems usually avoid calling it anything at
all.[1] But for the common folk it's known as the "square" button.
The more techie of us call it "hash", of course.

Google suggests
http://spotlight.ccir.ed.ac.uk/public_documents/Dialogue_design_guide/keypad_choices.htm

http://spotlight.ccir.ed.ac.uk/public_documents/technology_reports/No.2 Key_names.pdf

[1] In contexts where you and I might expect to be invited to
terminate the input with "#", they often tell the user to "press the
star button", instead.

 

[Octo Mancer]

In the telephone conference system we are using here, a pre-recorded
American voice says "to change settings at any time, press the pound key",
and the # key is meant. What is the # key on a telephone called in
Britain?

It's always referred to as 'hash'.

 

[Alan J. Flavell]

It's always referred to as 'hash'.

For some small value of "always".

 

[jhunterj]

A pity they don't read the Unicode standard.

I have yet to find a phone that encoded its buttons at all, let alone
with the Unicode standard.

Unicode is just a way a representing a (very large) set of characters.
It's not a reference manual on English (or other language) usage.

 

[David H. Adler]

Well, yes, that's what an oxymoron is, you know.
Like "Large medium", "jumbo shrimp", or "military
intelligence".

I've always been fond of "postal service".

dha

 

[Rene Schickbauer]

I've always been fond of "postal service".

I favour "trusted computing"...

LLAP & LG
Rene

 

[Alan J. Flavell]

I have yet to find a phone that encoded its buttons at all,

We're not discussing encoding: I'm talking about reference names.

Unicode is just a way a representing a (very large) set of characters.

....and assigning them reference names, amongst other things.

It's not a reference manual on English (or other language) usage.

Nevertheless, the character which it defines as POUND SIGN is the
Pound Sterling currency sign. You can ignore that if you want, but
don't come whining when you find that it leads to misunderstandings.

 

[Peter Wyzl]

: On Fri, 4 Feb 2005, Octo Mancer wrote:
:
: > On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 09:48:46 +0100, Arndt Jonasson wrote:
: > > and the # key is meant. What is the # key on a telephone called in
: > > Britain?
: >
: > It's always referred to as 'hash'.
:
: For some small value of "always".

In _Britain_ (and Australia) the value of always would be very large, but
not absolute. "Mostly" (except by expats) would be more accurate...

P

 

[Alan J. Flavell]

:
: For some small value of "always".

In _Britain_ (and Australia) the value of always would be very large,

I look forward to your critique of the URL that I cited.

"Mostly" (except by expats) would be more accurate...

Have you got something against English ex-pats in Scotland? I may
have cited a Scottish report, but in my experience it relates just as
well to my homeland: twice as many respondents called it "square" as
called it "hash".

About Australia I claim no knowledge.

 

[Sherm Pendley]

[snip] they often tell the user to "press the
star button", instead.

You mean the asterisk?

No, no - he means the splat.

sherm--