I had always thought of # as the "number sign." Then The Telephone Company did away with my dial and forced me to dial digitally. Their automated voices began to tell me to "press the pound sign." The image that came into my mind was pounding on the telephone with a hammer in frustration with The Telephone Company. It did not dawn on me until just now that it wasn't a term invented by The Telephone Company.
I've used the # to indicate weight, but I just didn't think of avoirdupois weight when dialing the telephone - I thought of a hammer, and VENGEANCE!! I own stock in AT&T, but I still want to kill 'em.
-Joe Offer-