I'd like to know if anyone knows the meaning and etymology of the word "anoctothorpe". I think it's the # sign but I'm not sure.

# is just octothorpe far's I know. Going a-googling I find 121 hits for anoctothorpe and 19,100 for octothorpe. Among the most authoritative of the latter I submit for your consideration:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-oct1.htm

Weighing in for the former what looks like the best is this from the snopes message board (Useless fact [sic] #94) and it's none too supportive if you read on down the replies:

http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=47;t=000401;p=1

Abigail, I would argue that if a cumbersome, obscure word like "anoctothorpe" or "octothorpe" has become supplanted in ordinary usage for decades by a term like "pound sign" or "number sign" or "hash mark" or "square", it is best not to disturb their remains.

Each has died a natural and entirely deserving death and whoever perturbed you by exhuming "anoctothorpe" is doing no-one a service.

Some obsolete words have interesting histories and some bear themselves in repose with grace and dignity.

These words are obscure both in usage and history and they are ungainly to boot.

So let's send these ghastly curmudgeons back to the grave, Abigail. Shall we? :)

The assertion that "octothorpe" was made up by a guy working for Bell Labs named Don MacPherson.

http://www.sigtel.com/tel_tech_octothorpe.html

This is one of the three source stories cited by Michael Quinion in his column on the subject.

anoctothorpe..

I would have thought that this was pretty obviously a typo of "an octothorpe" -- I trust that this was pointed out by someone in Faldo's second link!?

-ron o.

noc, noc...

Interestingly that was my the subject of my very first post back in August 2001...
http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?cat=&Board=words&Number=36166

and a quick search of the Board shows another four earlier posts, no less...

Thanks everyone for the help. As to what tsuwm said, I think it's plausible but I have seen "anoctothorpe" around more often; does that make it an accepted alternative spelling (perhaps like "color" vs "colour")? Thank you wofahulicodoc, Father Steve and Faldage for those links, that was really interesting!

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind." –Rudyard Kipling

> I think it's plausible but I have seen "anoctothorpe" around more often;

Really? You've seen "anoctothorpe" more often than "an octothorpe"? That would be very surprising, given their respective Google hit ratios, as quoted by Faldage above. I had never seen "anoctothorpe" until your initial post, and automatically assumed it to be a simple case of a missing space.

Maybe it is a case of a missing space. I think perhaps more people encounter the wrong spelling; I read from one of the links that it's a circulating email, "useless facts". So it's likely that the original was a typo and people like me assume that it's the right spelling.

Sorry, I must have failed to make myself clear. What surprised me was your statement that "perhaps more people encounter the wrong spelling". As Faldage's Google hit count shows, "anoctothorpe" is A LOT less common online than "octothorpe".

people like me assume that it's the right spelling.

Just a hint:

Don't assume that traveling emails, particularly those labeled "Useless Facts", bear any relation to reality.

Well I'm not sure about that, then. For myself, I've never encountered "octothorpe" before this, but have seen "anoctothorpe" several times.

And all through this thread I've been thinking that an anoctothorpe could be an octothorpe with all its little thorpes missing - in other words, a teeny, tiny square.

It could be one where all the little thorpes light up at night, a noctothorpe

Bingley

little thorpes light up at night, a noctothorpe
great!

And a proctothorpe is ... well ...

quick! call Dr. Thorpe!

Call him what?

A paean in the arts?

heh. good one, mav.

And a proctothorpe is ... well ...

haptic?