Octothorpe (The Answer)
Ralph Carlsen
The following explains where "octothorpe" really came from. I
am sending this to you because, as you will see, there are very few
people who could know this story. The reason I am writing at this
time is because I volunteered for the AT&T Lay Off package after 34
years of service at Bell Labs so I may not be around much longer.
During the past year I have enjoyed reading your news group, and I
have used your archives a couple of times (once to get "octothorpe").
Your comments and notes on the postings suggest you and I would agree
on lots of things related to our telecom industry.
Ralph Carlsen
THE REAL SOURCE OF THE WORD "OCTOTHORPE"
First, where did the symbols * and # come from? In about 1961
when DTMF dials were still in development, two Bell Labs guys in data
communications engineering (Link Rice and Jack Soderberg) toured the
USA talking to people who were thinking about telephone access to
computers. They asked about possible applications, and what symbols
should be used on two keys that would be used exclusively for data
applications. The primary result was that the symbols should be
something available on all standard typewriter keyboards. The * and #
were selected as a result of this study, and people did not expect to
use those keys for voice services. The Bell System in those days did
not look internationally to see if this was a good choice for foreign
countries.
Then in the early 1960s Bell Labs developed the 101 ESS which
was the first stored program controlled switching system (it was a
PBX). One of the first installations was at the Mayo Clinic. This
PBX had lots of modern features (Call Forwarding, Speed Calling,
Directed Call Pickup, etc.), some of which were activated by using the
# sign. A Bell Labs supervisor DON MACPHERSON went to the Mayo Clinic
just before cut over to train the doctors and staff on how to use the
new features on this state of the art switching system. During one of
his lectures he felt the need to come up with a word to describe the #
symbol. Don also liked to add humor to his work. His thought process
which took place while at the Mayo Clinic doing lectures was as follows:
- There are eight points on the symbol so "OCTO" should be part
of the name.
- We need a few more letters or another syllable to make a
noun, so what should that be? (Don MacPherson at this point in his
life was active in a group that was trying to get JIM THORPE's Olympic
medals returned from Sweden) The phrase THORPE would be unique, and
people would not suspect he was making the word up if he called it an
"OCTOTHORPE".
So Don Macpherson began using the term Octothorpe to describe
the # symbol in his lectures. When he returned to Bell Labs in
Holmdel NJ, he told us what he had done, and began using the term
Octothorpe in memos and letters. The term was picked up by other Bell
Labs people and used mostly for the fun of it. Some of the documents
which used the term Octothorpe found their way to Bell Operating
Companies and other public places. Over the years, Don and I have
enjoyed seeing the term Octothorpe appear in documents from many
different sources.
Don MacPherson retired about eight years ago, and I will be
retiring in about six weeks.
Ralph Carlsen
These are, of course, my remembrances and are not any official statement
of AT&T or the subsequent 3 companies.
[TELECOM Dgiest Editor's note: Thank you very much for sharing. This
is indeed an interesting report. Do you think you could get Don MacPherson
to join us here among the Digest readership? PAT]