# Hey Babe, what's your anoctothorpe?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-babe-whats-your-anoctothorpe/505524
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [August 6, 2009, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-babe-whats-your-anoctothorpe/505524 "2009-08-06T13:15:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Brainiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@Brainiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2009, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-babe-whats-your-anoctothorpe/505524/1 "2009-08-06T13:15:17Z")

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A word I learned today by reading the comics.

[Anoctothorpe reference](http://assets.comics.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/200000/90000/0000/600/290651/290651.full.gif)

[Definition](http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Anoctothorpe)

[Put them together](http://www.urbandictionary.com/zazzle.go.php?defid=1300672)

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### Author: ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-babe-whats-your-anoctothorpe/505524/2 "2009-08-06T14:35:47Z")

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I’ve always known the term as “[octothorp](http://www.octothorp.us/octothorp.html),” and wonder if this isn’t a slight mondegreen, as if someone heard “an octothorp” and thought it was one word.

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### Author: ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-babe-whats-your-anoctothorpe/505524/3 "2009-08-06T14:47:41Z")

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**Scarlett** , that’s got to be it. The only question is, was it the author or the character that got it wrong?

**Brainiac,** what’s the name of that comic?

ETA: 'Cause it’s cool.

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### Author: ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-babe-whats-your-anoctothorpe/505524/4 "2009-08-06T15:17:45Z")

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> [@Scarlett67](#):
>
> I’ve always known the term as “[octothorp](http://www.octothorp.us/octothorp.html),” and wonder if this isn’t a slight mondegreen, as if someone heard “an octothorp” and thought it was one word.

Exactly. Much like Spanish _naranja_ came into nglish as “a norange” and then, influenced by the House of Orange, turned into “an orange” – not to mention the large bit of napery worn by cooks to protect a dress turned from “a napron” to “an apron.”

Would “an octothorpe” be a cephalopod football player?