# Symbol practice; don't read unless you have plenty of time on your hands!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [June 29, 2000, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091 "2000-06-29T23:30:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2000, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/1 "2000-06-29T23:30:41Z")
Did that accomplish anything? (I tried this once before; I didn’t have the NumLock button down the first time so it may not have worked)
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2000, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/2 "2000-06-29T23:32:20Z")
Damn! It didn’t work. I had NumLock on and held sdown the ALT key while typing numbers. Oh, well, let’s try it with Num:Lock OFF:
I hope THAT worked!
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### Author:  [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2000, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/3 "2000-06-29T23:52:20Z")
Wow, that took no time at all to read. Your just funnin’ me aren’t you, Doug?
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### Author:  [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2000, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/4 "2000-06-30T00:01:23Z")
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Looks OK to me. You’re using the num pad, correct?
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2000, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/5 "2000-06-30T00:18:58Z")
The _number pad,_ eh?
Well?
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2000, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/6 "2000-06-30T00:20:13Z")
It doesn’t work! every time I try to use the number pad I get a bell-like sound in the earphones, whether Number Lock is up or down.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2000, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/7 "2000-06-30T00:48:50Z")
Welcome to the Straight Dope, and thank you for posting your comment.
Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link:
[What causes ringing in your ears? (09-Dec-1994)](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_094.html)
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### Author:  [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2000, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/8 "2000-06-30T01:02:57Z")
OK, here’s what I’m doing-
I’ve got NumLock on (although it doesn’t seem to make a difference if its on or off) and I’m holding down the ALT key and then pressing 156, giving me £. It is viewable in the preview pane so its not like it just magically appears in your post. The symbol does not appear until you let off of the keys.
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### Author:  [@ren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ren)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2000, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/9 "2000-06-30T02:07:09Z")
**Arnold** WooHooo! Still laughing!
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2000, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/10 "2000-07-20T23:27:56Z")
I hope _that_ accomplished something.
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2000, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/11 "2000-07-20T23:29:43Z")
DAMN! It _didn’t!_ Can I blame this on Microsoft InternetExplorer? (accurately, that is)
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Jim)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2000, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/12 "2000-07-21T00:23:48Z")
I don’t think you can blame it on IE. I normally use Netscape 4.7, but I am posting this with IE5 and if it shows up the way it looks in the preview then I don’t thinnk you can blame it on IE.
Using Moe’s example, I hold the ALT key down and type 156 and I get £ that. Works the same in Netscape, too. So, I don’t know where it’s going wrong for you.
Jim
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### Author:  [@jesuslynch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jesuslynch)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2000, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/13 "2000-07-21T20:47:25Z")
Try using the munber keys at the top of the keyborad. For some strange reason, they seem to work when the keypad won’t.
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2000, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/14 "2000-07-22T22:05:49Z")
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Hey! That works for me!! 🙂 Maybe with this model (a Dell monitor and keyboard) the ALT code does generate the symbols while the numbers at the top row (above QWERTY) don’t! Thanks for the suggestion!! 🙂
dougie\_monty
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### Author:  [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2000, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/15 "2000-07-23T05:41:40Z")
Sorry, nothing to add; I use a Mac with no complicated ALT+# system. Just testing the sig.
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### Author:  [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2000, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/16 "2000-07-23T05:42:44Z")
Um, let’s try that again… I clicked Show Signature, but appearently if you click Preview Reply it unchecks it again. Nice.
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2000, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/17 "2000-07-29T21:39:29Z")
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Duh. some of those don’t come out. I’d still like to know if one can get Cyrillic, Greek, Chinese ideographs, Hebrew, or Arabic script–or even the Irish uncial script–by using ALT with numbers. 😕
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### Author:  [@Baskety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baskety)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/18 "2000-07-30T06:46:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \*
> \*\*Welcome to the Straight Dope, and thank you for posting your comment.
>
> Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link:
> [What causes ringing in your ears? (09-Dec-1994)](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_094.html) \*\*
---
### Author:  [@Baskety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baskety)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/19 "2000-07-30T06:54:36Z")
## Originally posted by dougie\_monty \* \*\*+
-
¦
¶
\_
µ
\_
·
"
Duh. some of those don’t come out. I’d still like to know if one can get Cyrillic, Greek, Chinese ideographs, Hebrew, or Arabic script–or even the Irish uncial script–by using ALT with numbers. 😕
\*\*
[/QUOTE]
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### Author:  [@Nessy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nessy)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/symbol-practice-dont-read-unless-you-have-plenty-of-time-on-your-hands/24091/20 "2000-07-30T19:30:27Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by dougie\_monty \*
> \*\*
>
> Did that accomplish anything? (I tried this once before; I didn’t have the NumLock button down the first time so it may not have worked) \*\*
I don’t think so, but it might
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