# What is this strange character "¤"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 23, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-character/369949 "2006-08-23T22:08:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-character/369949/1 "2006-08-23T22:08:31Z")
Well, what is it? Looks a bit like Sputnik. What’s it doing on my keyboard? What’s it called? Does anyone use this thing for anything? Oh, and feel free to chuck this in MPSIMS if it’s too mundane for GQ. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-character/369949/2 "2006-08-23T22:18:56Z")
Windows Character Map, when viewing the Verdana font, describes ¤ as ‘Currency Sign’. And I found this: > **[Currency sign (typography)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_%28typography%29)** > > The currency sign ¤ is a character used to denote an unspecified currency. It can be described as a circle the size of a lowercase character with four short radiating arms at 45° (NE), 135° (SE), 225° (SW) and 315° (NW). It is raised slightly above the baseline. The character is sometimes called scarab. > The symbol was first encoded for computers in 1972, as a placeholder for national currency symbols such as the dollar sign, in national variants (ISO 646) of ASCII and the International Reference... ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-character/369949/3 "2006-08-23T22:19:48Z")
Looks like the Green Lantern symbol to me. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-character/369949/4 "2006-08-23T23:05:11Z")
According to the Wiki article, it’s a generic currency sign, for when you don’t have the proper symbol available. Seems awfully specialized if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-character/369949/5 "2006-08-24T00:46:00Z")
In reality, most applications use the 3 letter currency code (GBP/USD/etc) in this situation. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-character/369949/6 "2006-08-24T02:15:16Z")
In html it’s ¤ Looks fancy when you use it as a text separator 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-character/369949/7 "2006-08-24T13:09:03Z")
What’s the ALT + for this? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-character/369949/8 "2006-08-24T14:16:15Z")
**Bosda** ALT + 0164 seems to work just fine ¤ ¤ The above symbol was printed at “size 7” just for the sake of ease of viewing. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-character/369949/9 "2006-08-24T14:33:05Z")
[QUOTE=wolf\_meister] **Bosda** ALT + 0164 seems to work just fine ¤ ¤ The above symbol was printed at “size 7” just for the sake of ease of viewing. [/QUOTE] It kind of reminds me of the doodle from that Vonnegut book. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-character/369949/10 "2006-08-24T14:42:33Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use it to indicate an actual generic currency. I therefore propose that we rename it to be the ‘sputnik’ and we can use it as a placeholder when counting planets or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-character/369949/11 "2006-08-24T15:25:58Z")
[QUOTE=wolf\_meister] **Bosda** ALT + 0164 seems to work just fine ¤ ¤ The above symbol was printed at “size 7” just for the sake of ease of viewing. [/QUOTE] My thanks. [QUOTE=Sunspace] I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use it to indicate an actual generic currency. I therefore propose that we rename it to be the ‘sputnik’ and we can use it as a placeholder when counting planets or whatever. [/QUOTE] There are 8. Pluto got the boot.