Called the pound sign, number sign and more recently the hashtag, it actually developed as a scribble for the abbreviation of pound in latin: lb, where lb is an abbreviation of libra, itself a shortened form of the full expression, libra pondo - literally “pound by weight” in Latin (though the Roman pound was only 12 ounces, not 16.) The history told me nothing why an involuntary, extremely painful spasm, is named after a horse called Charley. Charley in the UK is often spelled Charlie, a diminutive of Charles, and it's also used to call a foolish or silly person. Who was Charley; was it the name of a horse?

Context Explanation

etymology - Why is muscle cramp called a “charley horse”? - English ... I know that ^ is called a caret, but this doesn't seem to apply to the similarly shaped but nonetheless different < and > symbols. The only names I've heard them called is the less-than sign and the greater-than sign, but those names seem rather informal and apply only to their use in math.

Insight Material

Over on Stackoverflow, I keep seeing questions wherein posters say: *I have an item named SoAndSo (a table, a file, etc.). Shouldn't it be: *I have an item called SoAndSo. Is "named" an accepta... Why is weekend so called in the U.S., when it is not the end of the ... What is it called when you do something to gain entrance to a group?

Final Conclusion

It's called polysyndeton, and creates a polysyndetic co-ordination. Polysyndeton is the use of several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted (as in "he ran and jumped and laughed for joy"). The word "polysyndeton" comes from the Greek "poly-", meaning "many," and "syndeton", meaning "bound together with". It is a stylistic scheme used to achieve a variety of ...