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While passing briefly through Hounslow station last week I encountered some poorly-rendered but delightfully weird graffiti.
( Yes please, I want to see faint pictures of scribbling! )
( Yes please, I want to see faint pictures of scribbling! )
Last night, ChrisC idly asked me why, on Twitter, hashtags are called hashtags.
Simple, I said, because they start with a #.
But, he said, they're called hashtags in the US, where the # is known as a pound sign.
I have a vague idea that # is sometimes called a pound sign; it's always struck me as a bit odd. I've always assumed it was related to the days when character sets were limited and it was used in place of £.
But of course they're hashtags. After all, they may call it a pound sign, but they don't pronounce it "pound".
But, said ChrisC, they do. In particular, in the US, C programmers talk about "pound defines".
( Note for non-geeks )
( Note for geeks )
Pound defines?
Yes, he says. And pound includes. And pound ifs. And so on.
This is madness. Why wasn't I told? And can they be made to stop it?
And does anyone know why our American friends don't talk of poundtags?
Simple, I said, because they start with a #.
But, he said, they're called hashtags in the US, where the # is known as a pound sign.
I have a vague idea that # is sometimes called a pound sign; it's always struck me as a bit odd. I've always assumed it was related to the days when character sets were limited and it was used in place of £.
But of course they're hashtags. After all, they may call it a pound sign, but they don't pronounce it "pound".
But, said ChrisC, they do. In particular, in the US, C programmers talk about "pound defines".
( Note for non-geeks )
( Note for geeks )
Pound defines?
Yes, he says. And pound includes. And pound ifs. And so on.
This is madness. Why wasn't I told? And can they be made to stop it?
And does anyone know why our American friends don't talk of poundtags?
