octothorpe

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The Word of the Day for November 9 is: 

octothorpe   \AHK-tuh-thorp\   noun
          : the symbol #

Example sentence:
          Barry noticed the pound sign on the telephone and remarked about how 
much the octothorpe resembled a tic-tac-toe grid.

Did you know?
          Stories abound about who first called the # sign an "octothorpe" 
(which can also be spelled “octothorp”). Most of those tales link the name to 
various telephone workers in the 1960s, and all claim the "octo-" part refers 
to the eight points on the symbol, but the "thorpe" remains a mystery. One 
story links it to a telephone company employee who happened to burp while 
talking about the symbol with co-workers. Another relates it to the athlete Jim 
Thorpe, and a third claims it derives from an Old English word for “village.” 
If the plethora of theories leaves your head spinning, you might want to take 
the advice of the wag who asked (poetically), "Can we simply just say, / Ere it 
spoils your day, / It's the thorp between seven and nine?"





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