micmath blog

I can tell you from experience that there can be a lot of confusion when Americans speak to Brits about this symbol here → #

You can't use the word "pound," because they've already got a different symbol described by that word: £

The word info website lists some other possible names:

... crosshatch, hash, numeral sign and number sign;

In order to be equally unfair to all, I propose we start using the term "octothorp" instead. From Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style; 2nd edition:

Otherwise known as the numeral sign. It has also been used as a symbol for the pound avoirdupois, but this usage is now archaic. In cartography, it is also a symbol for village: eight fields around a central square, and this is the source of its name. Octothorp means eight fields.

And while I'm on the subject, there are the occasional Britcentrics who will correct you if you try to use the term "billion" to mean this number: 1,000,000,000. Apparently, in the past, Britain used what's called the "long scale" numbering system in which:

• 1 billion = 1 million millions, 1,000,000,000,000
• 1 trillion = 1 million billions, 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
• and so on.

For the life of me I can't imagine why the UK would want to use a numbering system where each unit becomes exponentially larger than the same unit used by the US. Even the British government realized that was a bad idea and switched to the "short scale" numbering system in 1974 (presumably that was about the time their budgets starting regularly getting up into those figures). Today all UK government and national media (including the BBC) use the same system as the US: the short scale.