"As for the name: probably something descriptive like
"hash-bang" though this has a specifically British flavor, but
in any event I don't recall particularly using a pet name
for the construction."
In the UK ! was (maybe still is) pronounced as "pling". I know I've definitely said hashpling.
Actually surprised the American's weren't calling # "pound" then, but maybe that evilness showed up later. But whatever, it's never been a pound symbol in any country that uses pounds!
Another interesting fact about # is that in the late 90s or early 2000s, British Telecom tried to gaslight the British public into thinking that # was pronounced "octothorpe". Fortunately, everybody realised this was idiocy, and we all carried on calling it "hash" like we always had.
