Is a trailing # shorthand for 栋？ What other punctuation marks are shorthand for characters these days?

[vellocet]

So, today I was tasked with finding a building in an unfamiliar residential complex. I am walking  around looking for building 6. None of the buildings appear to be labeled on the outside.  This is  distressingly common in  new complexes in my experience.  After all, the people who live there know which building they live in, so what's the big deal?  I also have to pass through a turnstile gate which I have no code or no way to get through. But hey, the people who live there all have an app or a key fob or something so it doesn't even occur to them that someone else might not have one.   after wandering around lost for 15 minutes or so, I finally find a sign on a building that says

6#

单元

After another ten minutes or so wandering around, it turns out this is the building I was looking for.  Evidently the sign meant

6栋
一单元

The 一 was stylized and looked like it was part of the sign, or a hyphen or something.  I thought it meant 6单元. 😵 Which struck me as a rather high number for a 单元 but whatever. Is # some kind of abbreviation for 栋 these days?  In my complex, all the buildings are labeled on the outside with a standard placard with the name of the apartment complex  in characters and pinyin and building number in a clear, easy-to-read sign that is the same all over the city. 

Finally in the building, I go up the elevator to the 11th floor, my destination . None of the rooms are numbered.  I guess and give a rap  of shave and a haircut, nothing.  Nobody's home.  Why bother putting a 门牌 up either, I guess, whoever lives in 1103 knows which apartment he lives in.  I go back down to the lobby and ask which elevator goes to 1103. Elevator 3 goes there.  Because, 3 goes to 03, get it? The lady presses the button for elevator 4, which opens and she tells me to get in.  But...you said elevator 3. Well, there is a hallway from elevator 3 to elevator 4 on the 11th floor which allows access.  Good thing that was obvious to people who don't live there.  

In the elevator, trying to press the button for 11.  There isn't an 11. 10, 12, 14, nothing.  Must be one of those deals where you have to go to an in between floor and take the stairs or something.  The elevator door opens, the lady comes back in and sees me hunting for the 11 button.  Well, there's my problem, I foolishly went for the first row of buttons  I saw when I got in.  Rookie mistake.  These are the handicap accessible buttons which lack an 11 and a few other floors too.  The tall row near the door has all floors, including  11.  Arriving on 11, naturally none of the doors are numbered.  The lady, who has ridden up with me  and whose curiosity is piqued by now, starts asking me questions about who I'm going to see , what's the purpose of my visit and so on.  Typical nosy Chinese who wants to know every detail of the laowai's life. And I've already talked to her about the elevator issue so the cat is out of the bag and I can't give her the ol' ting budong.  

Is this something new, or something I should be aware of from now on?  Did a shift take place where    a trailing # became accepted as a substitute for 栋 and everyone knows but me?  Are there any other punctuation marks are shorthand for characters?

[EnergyReaper]

I prefer to call 6# 6号楼, not 6栋. Sometimes two 单元 are two buildings(that means 两栋楼),such as 2# in the picture below.

[Tomsima]

So # is shorthand for 号, that explains why when Im buying things on taobao the different 款 available are often listed 1#, 2#, 3# rather than #1, #2, #3 (where # functions grammatically as English 'number', so must come before)

[vellocet]

On 6/2/2024 at 9:20 AM, EnergyReaper said:

I prefer to call 6# 6号楼, not 6栋. Sometimes two 单元 are two buildings(that means 两栋楼),such as 2# in the picture below.

 

At the hospital I use the different departments are 6号楼, 5号楼,etc. Like the cardiac department is on2号楼, which is on4层, 4th floor. It's this kind of Cartesian coordinate system, so you'll want D, which is at 4号喽2层. Your doctor will be at E, which is 3号楼A区13号. There are two sides to each 号楼, A区 and B区. 

It took a while for me to get a handle on单元. Someone said 单元 was like a twin building.  The concept gave me a  lot of trouble. Why not just call it a different building number?

Around here it's always 二单元, never 两单元. Which is great because 两 makes me think of things that come in pairs. Or that there is a first one, if we're talking about the second one.  

And people always say 栋 for buildings, even if the sign says 撞

Yes, Chinese addresses make me rage, can you tell? And this is  when they have addresses and don't just tell describe  it in terms of landmarks like "it's down the street from where the old post office used to be".  🤬

[cncorrect]

I've seen the usage 'apartment #1' in English. In Chinese, we say '六号楼', so I guess they put a '#' symbol after the number. If I'm unsure where to go in this situation, I'll ask the guard at the gate. If I don't know which door to knock on, I'll call the host directly on my phone. Even a very experienced delivery person can get confused. Their method is to call the buyer directly and get their instructions.

[EnergyReaper]

On 6/3/2024 at 8:25 PM, vellocet said:

It took a while for me to get a handle on单元. Someone said 单元 was like a twin building.  The concept gave me a  lot of trouble. Why not just call it a different building number?

30 years ago, most of the buildings in 居民小区 are 楼梯房(which have no elevators and less than eight floors). Each of these 楼梯房 usually has more than two entrances, and we call them 单元. For example, the 楼梯房 in the picture below has four 单元.

 

Today we have more 电梯房 in 居民小区. Due to habit, we continue to use 单元, even if one 电梯房 may have only one 单元. So when a person tell you that his/her house is 6号楼二单元1703, don't take for granted that 6号楼 is a single building that has more than one 单元.

Hospitals aren't 居民小区 and they don't use 单元. They like to use 区. In your example, one 区 means one side of the building, but one 区 might have many entrances, right? because more entrances are better for escape when there is a fire in hospital.

 

On 6/3/2024 at 8:25 PM, vellocet said:

And people always say 栋 for buildings, even if the sign says 撞

 

I think it's 幢 not 撞, and we always say 栋 maybe just because we feel 栋(dòng) is easier to pronounce than 幢(zhuàng).