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Which key on the telephone keypad is often referred to as the “pound key”?
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If your answer to 1) is “I don’t know,” looking at the keypad which key would you guess it was?
#. Never heard anything else.
(grr. message too short)
What gap? I don’t think I’ve met anyone who didn’t know that # was the pound key.
[QUOTE=FatBaldGuy]
What gap? I don’t think I’ve met anyone who didn’t know that # was the pound key.
[/QUOTE]
I get a lot of Spanish-speaking customers who, I can tell from the phone display, are hitting the star key instead of the pound key. That I attribute mostly to a language barrier. But more and more lately I’ve been getting native English speakers who are making the same mistake. When I use the term “pound key” they have no idea what I mean. They do tend to understand “tic-tac-toe board” however.
What else would you call the # key besides the pound key?
The * key I usually hear refered to as the star key but I guess you could call it the asterisk key.
Yeah, it’s still pretty much the standard name.
i’ve never even heard the term “pound key”. If asked to name the # key I would say it was the hash key.
The preferred nomenclature is octothorpe 
Why “octothorpe?” There’s no “octo” anywhere near it.
[QUOTE=Flander]
Yeah, it’s still pretty much the standard name.
[/QUOTE]
…in American English. As One And Only Wanderers says, the standard name in British English is something else. Not least because ‘pound key’ for us sounds like you mean shift+3 on a UK-layout keyboard, producing ‘£’ 
In North America, most people seem to have no trouble identifying the pound key on a phone. It’s used all the time when navigating through automated phone systems like voicemail menus or teleconference logins.
I use it so often that the little design is starting to wear off the key. 
[QUOTE=silenus]
Why “octothorpe?” There’s no “octo” anywhere near it.
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I always figured it was because there are eight ends coming out from the central rectangle.
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn]
The preferred nomenclature is octothorpe
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That’s just as made-up as anything else.
I’m used to pound key, but I’ve also heard it called the number key.
It’s the tic-tac-toe key.
[QUOTE=garygnu]
That’s just as made-up as anything else.
[/QUOTE]
Well, you can say that about literally any word.
Pound key actually seems to be used more and more often, contrary to what I think the OP is suggesting, but some people call it the number key, since it’s often used to designate a number: Number 4, No. 4, #4.
[QUOTE=UncaStuart]
I always figured it was because there are eight ends coming out from the central rectangle.
[/QUOTE]
Correct. It has eight points.
In medical settings, “#” is used for pounds (in the US, at least). As in, “Weight down 5#.”