Conference thebay::joyoflex

    G'day,
    
    I have seen a discussion on those lace gizmos somewhere - in jol
    maybe? anyway, I think it was decided that they were called tags
    or was it  something else?
    
    Surely the symbols #$@^% etc are not part of the alphabet? They
    are symbols being notations for concepts or words/phrases.
    
    for example @ means 'at the cost of' in the business world
                # means  'number' or 'pound' according to use and so
    on
    
    
    What then is the collective noun for a set of symbols?
    
    
    Do numbers have allographs? and graphemes?  
                                    |
    is a 4 a capital four, with a   | |   four being a lower case four?
                                    --+-
                                      |                                
    
    derek
    

    
    >What then is the collective noun for a set of symbols?    
    
    A Religion.
    
    Richard.

    The "#" was designated an OCTOTHORP by the people at Ma Bell when they
    first developed push-button phones.

    Re: .3
    
    Hmmmm. Does that make
    
    +	a quadrothorp, and
    -	a bithorp, and
    Y	a trithorp?
    
    What do you suppose a unithorp might be?

    
>    .  a unithorp

Hm. I do not completely agree, I'm afraid. Isn't the "." a *monothorp*, the "o"
being the 'unithorp'?

And another suggestion:

    *   a multithorp
    @   a wanderthorp

>And another suggestion:
>
>    *   a multithorp
>    @   a wanderthorp

    OK, we might as well jump in with both feet:

    ~   a quasithorp
    `   a semithorp
    $   a pecunithorp
    %   a schizothorp

>    `   a semithorp

Don't forget to make a distinction between:
   ' the sharp semithorp, and
   ` the flat semithorp, and, of course:
   " the double semithorp!!

    On my terminal, * is an octothorp, just like #.

    A `:' is either a two-headed unithorp or a duplithorp.
    What do you thorpologists call the `;' -- a pseudoduplithorp
    that protects itself through protective colorization, or
    an entirely new breed, the sesquithorp?

     '<'  = sinothorp
     '>'  = rectothorp
     '\'  = retrothorp
     '/'  = aggressithorp
    
    
    Scooter

+   posithorp
-   negathorp
_   underthorp
=   equal-sign ;-)

Arie

    The reason ya'all can't agree about the unithorp, is because none
    of you has seen one.  They can only be seen (or written) by virgils
    
    thorry
    jj

    Didn't see another "names for symbols" note, so...
    
    ...is there a term for: 
    
    	the "male" symbol (circle with arrow pointing up)
    	the "female" symbol (circle with plus-sign on the bottom)
    	a combination of the two, loosely overlapped (sort of like the
    		Olympic circles, but with just the two - which leads me
    		to wonder what life would be like if we had five sexes.
    		But I digress.)
    
    I ask because a "news" sniplet in the paper the other day pointed out
    that alleged rock star Prince has legally changed his name to the
    combined symbols for male and female - and has, as yet, refrained from
    telling anybody how he wants it pronounced. [The simplest thing would
    be to pronounce it "Prince," I suppose, but what fun is that?]
    
    I'd appreciate any answers in a hurry, because if I were to run into
    the guy at an airport or something and wanted to tell him that his
    flight was departing, I'd hate to have to say, "Oh, Mr. male-symbol-
    juxtaposed-with-female-symbol..." - poor kid might miss his plane.
    
    Suggestions?
    
    -b

    Can't answer the question, but I do know they are the astronomical
    (and astrological) symbols for Mars and Venus.  The "male" one
    represents Mars' shield and spear; the "female" one Venus' mirror
    (or so I've read.  They always looked to me like schematic
    representations of genitalia, a more genteel version of the Hittite
    glyphs).
    			-John Bishop

    Re .19: As John said in .20 the male one is Ares' shield and spear, the
    female one is Aphrodite's mirror, but as far as the mixing of both is
    named and pronounced, the only answer that comes to my mind is to read
    aloud (preferably is the Greek original) the verses of Iliad where Ares
    beds Aphrodite and they both are caught in a net by Hephaestos
    (Aphrodite's husband). It makes things a little hawkward when someone
    wants to give his name or when you want to greet him. Maybe for
    shortness' sake you could name him Mr "Iliad ZZ yy-xx" (I'll have to
    check for the actual chapter and verses number).
    			Denis.

    Re: .19 
    
    Why say Prince is an "alleged" rock star?  You may not like him, but
    there's no doubt that he's a rock star.  
    

Several years ago, somebody wanted to legally change his name to a four-digit
number that escapes me.  The judge turned him down because he was concerned
that it would screw up computers and the like.  At least his name could be
represented in every standard character set!  I don't think the male and
female symbols are even Zapf Dingbats.  Speaking of which, those Zapf
pointing fingers would be nifty names for the Pointer sisters.

    Re .22: Oh, well, I was referring to a newspaper clip, so I thought it
    might be amusing to use the journalistic "allege" (something like the
    editorial "we" - or is that the royal "we"? Which connects rather
    nicely with someone whose name used to be "Prince" - wish I'd thought
    of it before.). Since I hadn't heard anything about him in ages, until
    this name thing, I'd gathered he was transitioning from "rock star" to
    "behind-the-scenes rock producer" or something. [I actually enjoyed
    some of the things he wrote, but his personal charisma seems to be
    emitted in wavelengths that I can't detect...]
    
    Tangent: Last night Arsenio Hall made some reference to the name
    change, and suggested that he might adopt a symbol himself; he said
    he'd opt for the "fasten your seatbelt" logo, as in airplanes, but he
    thoughtfully provided a pronunciation to go with it - the ratchety
    "click" noise that seatbelts make.
    
    Pertaining to nothing in particular,
    -b

    	Mirror + Shield = Perseus's shield
    
    (unless I'm remembering the wrong darn Greek)
    
    Ray

    Re .23
    
>Several years ago, somebody wanted to legally change his name to a four-digit
>number that escapes me.  The judge turned him down because he was concerned
>that it would screw up computers and the like.  At least his name could be
>represented in every standard character set!
    
    Nope.  What we commonly call "Arabic numerals" or "Hindu-Arabic numerals"
    do not look like the numeric characters used in Arabic or Hindi, let alone
    Chinese, and Thai/Cambodian/Lao.  And these are modern standard character
    sets; I caught myself before adding a few ancient ones.
    
    -- Norman Diamond

Hey, maybe this is a way to stop your name turning up
in direct-mail databases?   Just pick a glyph which isn't
in the average character set...

    In the absence (as yet - I haven't given up the search) of an answer to
    the question, may I be so bold as to propose:
    
    
    	circle with arrow  = "prince"
    	circle with plus   = "princess"
    	two linked circles = "prinxe"
    
    :*)
    
    Jon

    How about:
    
    	circle with arrow  = "prince"
    	circle with plus   = "princess"
    	two linked circles = "prance"
    
    

    I came across a magazine article which printed what it claimed was
    Prince's new name, but the symbol didn't look anything like a
    juxtaposition of the Venus/Mars symbols to me. Lots more curlicues and
    such - perhaps to suggest appendages in addition to primary sexual
    characteristics. [No pronunciation hints there, either. ;-)]
    
    -b

    I hear him referred to as "Formerly known as Prince" on some TV show.
    
    Joseph
    

Sort of like FYR Macedonia (Former Yugoslavian Republic).