Rhonda Anderson wrote:
> Melba's Jammin' > wrote in
> news:thisisbogus-
> :
>
>>
>> I believed it for a while. My antenna flew up when it
>> didn't know what a pound sign is.
>
> Barb, was that the reference to the # sign? The only
> reason I know that's a pound sign was that I read it on
> here <g - does that mean I'll send your antennae flying
> too??>, though I'm not in the USA. I may have already
> asked this at sometime over the years, but if so I can't
> remember. Is this usage widespread across the US, or is
> it regional? Is it in current use - e.g. at shops etc.?
> Just curious.
>
> I've never seen any symbol used here to denote pounds. Of
> course labelling etc. is in metric. However, even in old
> recipes I've always just seen "lb" used.
>
> Rhonda Anderson
> Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

Just as a reference the "official" name of that symbol is the octothorpe.
Here's a description: http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-oct1.htm

Try that at your next trivia party.

--
Pete Romfh, Telecom Geek & Amateur Gourmet.
promfh at hal dash pc dot org