Bug 228508

Summary:	Hash terminology
Product:	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4	Reporter:	PSV Davey <psvdavey>
Component:	rhel-sag	Assignee:	Ryan Lerch <rlerch>
Status:	CLOSED CURRENTRELEASE	QA Contact:	Andrew Ross <anross>
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	4.5	CC:	mdoyle
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Documentation
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2010-03-31 03:43:29 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description PSV Davey 2007-02-13 13:37:15 UTC

Description of problem:
Chapter 1 page two (section 1.3) the hash sign (#) is referred to as a pound
sign.  This is the only instance in this document, but I expect it applies to
many other documents too, as it's a mistake I've often seen.

I expect that it's done in a kind attempt to make things easier for UK keyboard
users, but in fact the UK keyboard *has* a hash on it - it's just on a different
key, and the pound (£) sign (which is of course completely different) just
happens to be a shifted (3), where you'd expect to find a hash symbol on a US
keyboard.  Telling a UK user to use a pound sign actually risks greater confusion.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):


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Comment 1 Don Domingo 2007-03-20 23:34:22 UTC

assigning this to jha

Comment 3 Michael Hideo 2007-07-09 02:18:02 UTC

Pound is the defacto standard in en-US telecomunications. However in an effort
to communicate effectively I have added "(or hash)" to the line for en-UK readers.

Marking as Modified for the next build. 

- Mike

Comment 4 Michael Hideo 2007-10-23 02:52:15 UTC

Removing automation notification

Comment 5 PSV Davey 2008-06-16 09:29:30 UTC

Michael.

I didn't know about the defacto standard.  Are you sure?  I've observed that the
hash sign is referred to as a pound sign in a lot of Red Hat documentation, but
this is the first time (in a long career) that I've come across it.

I don't know how it could become such a standard.  I know that Americans use the
sign as a abbreviation for "number", and I've always presumed that they refer to
it in speech as either "number" or "hash".  As far as I know it's never, ever,
had anything to do with pounds, except for the circumstance that UK typewriters
traditionally had their pound sign (the real pound sign) above the digit "3",
which is where US keyboards have the hash sign.  It was of course rare until the
eighties for UK typewriters to have a hash symbol at all.

I can't change the entire culture of Red Hat, but I would encourage you at least
to leave out entirely the reference to "pound" in UK documentation.  UK readers
know what a pound sign is, and it's not what you Yanks say it is:)  As a direct
analogy to imagine what it's like to a UK reader, try thinking how confused you
would be if I referred to # as a dollar sign.

Peter Davey

Comment 6 John Ha 2008-07-28 20:42:30 UTC

Re-assigning to new component owner.

Comment 7 Ryan Lerch 2010-03-31 03:27:31 UTC

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/en-US/System_Administration_Guide_/Kickstart_Installations-Creating_the_Kickstart_File.html

Comment 8 Ryan Lerch 2010-03-31 03:33:17 UTC

IMHO, the definition of both terms in this section is sufficient to cover any future confusion.

Comment 9 Andrew Ross 2010-03-31 03:43:29 UTC

In reference to comment #8

"Lines starting with a pound (or hash) sign (#) are treated as comments and are ignored."