[Tutor] How can I escape a pound symbol in my script?

[Tiger12506]

> ron wrote:
>> in the US, # is a symbol for weight, not currency.
>
> I didn't know that; I assumed it was only
> used for ordinal numbering (as in Item #3).
>
> # How do you write out, with a quick symbol, "I'm going to
>> buy 3# of potatoes?

This - #3 - means Number 3
This - 3# - means 3 pounds in weight.

This is the true reason why (most) Americans call it a pound sign. Back in 
the days of typewriters when the key change may have been a reason, most 
Americans did not type. (That was for secretary women ;-)

Sometimes you will see the "pound sign" on old, old recipes, but it is not 
used anymore. Only a novelty now.

In fact, most English teachers in America are young enough now that using 
the # sign for pound will generate a syntax error. (that usage has been 
deprecated) They've all upgraded to the new version of English.

English v1900.1001.2.2 or something like that. ;-)

> Assuming that "you" is us Brits, then:
>
>   3lb

That is the official way in America also. But technically (as I learned in 
some Physics courses) it's supposed to be succeeded by '.' whereas metric 
units are NOT. Picky, picky people, aren't they? sigh.

Jacob S.