I was on a conference call to the UK today, and everyone was laughing at the instructions.
[insert stuck up english womans voice]: “Please enter your authorization code and then hit the square key”
What the hell is the square key? Everyone worked out that she meant the pound sign. I know that I never called that sign the ‘pound’ sign, as it is of course reserved for our currency. I used to call it the ‘hash’ mark (not what they call it in Holland ;).
I don’t think I EVER heard a brit call it the square key!
Also, the conf call system was one that asks for your name, so it can play the part of the masters of service and claim:
“Dion has entered the conference”
One of the guys hit buttons, and indeed that worked just fine:
“BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP has entered the conference”
April 8th, 2005 at 11:13 am
I did the same when coming from Australia to the US. I couldn’t find the pound and actually tried the star before trying the hash key to enter a conference call.
August 26th, 2009 at 2:15 am
I’ve just been on a conference call hosted by BT which brilliantly made the issue even more confused:
[Insert posh british female voice] “Please enter your meeting passcode, followed by the HASH key.”
I insert the passcode
[Posh British female voice] “Please enter your meeting password, followed by the SQUARE key”
Hmm… two different names for the same button, in the same audio workflow. nice one!