France bins Twitter's 'hashtag' for Gallic word
The word hashtag has been confined to the dustbin by authorities in France who want French tweeters to use the official Gallic equivalent “mot-dièse” in future.
News of the demise of the word hashtag in France was revealed on Wednesday on the government website Journal Officiel .
The move comes after the Commission Générale de Terminologie et de Néologie, France’s language police, officially validated the choice of “mot-dièse” as a replacement for the now ubiquitous english version.
One of the commission’s roles is ‘to encourage the presence of the French language on social media networks’.
Defined as a “series of characters preceded by the # symbol”, the word ‘mot-dièse’, literally meaning ‘sharp word’, will now be used in all official documents.
Needless to say the news of the end of hashtag caused a bit of a stir as well as a certain amount of ridicule on Twitter.
Berengere Promerat tweeted: “Ahah French commission says French should not use #hashtag anymore but #motdièse!!! What a joke!!!”
Certain tweeters wondered what the commission would set its sights on next.
“’Hashtag’ becomes 'mot-diese' Facebook will become trombinoscope or Fessebouc,” tweeted Jean-Michel Boudon and on a similar note Golden Moustache tweeted: “We will not say Facebook anymore but ‘Livre des facies’”.
A tweeter named Capuche said: “SMS =short message service. I propose 'service de messages en Bermuda' to be validated by our minister.”
There also appeared to be a certain amount of resistance among French tweeters.
“I don’t know about you but I will continue to say hashtag and not motdièse,” said Emmenuelle Vallee.
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News of the demise of the word hashtag in France was revealed on Wednesday on the government website Journal Officiel .
The move comes after the Commission Générale de Terminologie et de Néologie, France’s language police, officially validated the choice of “mot-dièse” as a replacement for the now ubiquitous english version.
One of the commission’s roles is ‘to encourage the presence of the French language on social media networks’.
Defined as a “series of characters preceded by the # symbol”, the word ‘mot-dièse’, literally meaning ‘sharp word’, will now be used in all official documents.
Needless to say the news of the end of hashtag caused a bit of a stir as well as a certain amount of ridicule on Twitter.
Berengere Promerat tweeted: “Ahah French commission says French should not use #hashtag anymore but #motdièse!!! What a joke!!!”
Certain tweeters wondered what the commission would set its sights on next.
“’Hashtag’ becomes 'mot-diese' Facebook will become trombinoscope or Fessebouc,” tweeted Jean-Michel Boudon and on a similar note Golden Moustache tweeted: “We will not say Facebook anymore but ‘Livre des facies’”.
A tweeter named Capuche said: “SMS =short message service. I propose 'service de messages en Bermuda' to be validated by our minister.”
There also appeared to be a certain amount of resistance among French tweeters.
“I don’t know about you but I will continue to say hashtag and not motdièse,” said Emmenuelle Vallee.
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