# No, you don't remember when a hashtag was called a pound sign. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 23, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448 "2014-06-23T14:55:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/41 "2014-06-24T01:20:16Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > “Grandma, where are all your naked selfies from when you were a girl?” Honey, this is called a Polaroid Land Camera. We used to make “Zippy Friskies” with it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/42 "2014-06-24T01:23:32Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Unfortunately, as a descriptivist, I also have to agree with the other posters: It is now. The old “it is now” copout of the descriptivists, eh? > [@johnpost](#): > > Big Ben on my tape recorder is a recording of a bell ringing, my tape recorder doesn’t ring. It does if you think of a bell and a speaker producing sound by vibrating. > [@elbows](#): > > Obviously the OP never used a phone tree in the 70’s or 80’s! “If you’d like to leave your phone number, press the pound sign!” Seventies or Eighties? I get automated phone systems calling it the pound sign and the number sign during the same sequence of messages every day. Once a machine called it the hash, but none have called it “that tic-tac-toe thing,” proving that machines are smarter than people. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/43 "2014-06-24T03:38:38Z")
If # is a hashtag, then #yesalldoofi is a hashtagtag, right? ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/44 "2014-06-24T03:49:57Z")
This is a very amusing thread. It would be even funnier if I had smoked like a # of #. Figuratively or metaphorically, to suggest a lot. Not that other thing. We really need a word for the opposite of figuratively. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/45 "2014-06-24T03:58:08Z")
I grew up knowing the # character as ‘number sign’. Only in (presumably US-sourced) phone menus did I start to hear # referred to as ‘pound’; I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone outside these boards use # to mean ‘pounds’ after a number. But even that limited exposure to # as ‘pound’ was more frequent than hearing it called ‘hash’. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/46 "2014-06-24T05:23:56Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Man, I’m waging the war against forward slashes being called “backslashes” in URLs. (Heard it _again_ on the radio today. Seriously, what the fuck? What are we all still using DOS, where most normal people would have ever had use for a backslash. When has a backslash _ever_ been used in a URL? Is it even a legal character?) I have years to go before I catch up to “hashtag” meaning the hash symbol (although I’ll grant that one) PLEASE KEEP UP THE GOOD FIGHT! You have no idea how fucking maddening this was/is when you work tech support. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/47 "2014-06-24T05:28:44Z")
> [@Wednesday\_Evening](#): > > I also think “octothorp” has a better ring to it and we should use it on all occasions. 😃 Seconded! ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/48 "2014-06-24T05:32:45Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > This is a very amusing thread. It would be even funnier if I had smoked like a # of #. Hahahaha haaa! > [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Figuratively or metaphorically, to suggest a lot. Not that other thing. We really need a word for the opposite of figuratively. DEFINITELY. Since the regular word for that has been transmogrified into its own opposite. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/49 "2014-06-24T05:34:37Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Since then I’ve seen it pop up on Facebook in other forms a few times. And did you see it with your eyen? Because if you saw it with your eyes, you shouldn’t complain. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/50 "2014-06-24T06:30:12Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Unfortunately, as a descriptivist, I also have to agree with the other posters: It is now. It’s called metonymy, and with language it’s like how water flows downhill: You can’t stop it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/51 "2014-06-24T07:40:17Z")
I’m just happy that ‘pound sign’ is falling out of use. To me, this is a pound sign: £ (and it’s made ever so slightly worse by the fact that this is the shifted 3 Key on UK keyboards - the same place as the # on US keyboards, so any ambiguity can’t be resolved that way) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/52 "2014-06-24T08:16:18Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’m just happy that ‘pound sign’ is falling out of use. > > To me, this is a pound sign: £ > (and it’s made ever so slightly worse by the fact that this is the shifted 3 Key on UK keyboards - the same place as the # on US keyboards, so any ambiguity can’t be resolved that way) Make of it what you will but the £ key is disappearing from American keyboards and being replaced by a € key. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/53 "2014-06-24T08:52:12Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > So we’re all just going to ignore that Twitter itself considers the # to be the hashtag? I’ll post the link again: > > [https://support.twitter.com/articles/49309-using-hashtags-on-twitter](https://support.twitter.com/articles/49309-using-hashtags-on-twitter) I wouldn’t say it’s being ignored. It just isn’t all that relevant, at least in its current form. The page has apparently only existed since 2013, and could just be reflecting current usage. It doesn’t discuss the history of the term. Other than the OP, I don’t think anyone is arguing that the symbol is not currently called a hashtag, just that this developed later. It just makes more intuitive sense that Twitter originally referred to the whole thing as a hashtag, based on it being started with a hash symbol, than they called the symbol a hashtag, meaning it was somehow tagging a hash. It’s not impossible they did it that way, but it just seems less likely. If you can find a link that would show that Twitter called it that when hashtags first featured on their service, or at least something predating the practice saying hashtags out loud, that would be more convincing. And, of course, we must remember that they predate Twitter by quite a long time. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/54 "2014-06-24T09:01:01Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Ring > > 1. make a clear resonant or _ **vibrating** _ sound. 1. The word “or” makes the word “vibrating” optional. 2. All sounds are produced by vibrations. A speaker still vibrates. Where it breaks down is whether or not a musical excerpt is actually a ring. It would arguably fit the definition you gave, but that seems insufficient. I’d actually define “ring” to mean “makes a sound like a bell.” By that definition, I would say that most phones do not ring anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/55 "2014-06-24T10:02:46Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > To me, this is a pound sign: £ So, if I write something like: £YesAllDoofi, then that’s a cashtag? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/56 "2014-06-24T11:12:38Z")
I don’t know why Americans call it the pound sign when there were already at least two other abbreviations for “pound” with _£_ and _lb_. The # was also already known as either the number sign or the hash, so it seems doubly unnecessary to take a symbol that already has a name and give it a meaning that already has a symbol. This is a hash: # This is a hashtag: #amusingaside ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/57 "2014-06-24T11:54:16Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > So, if I write something like: £YesAllDoofi, then that’s a cashtag? ¥€$ ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/58 "2014-06-24T12:25:53Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I don’t know why Americans call it the pound sign when there were already at least two other abbreviations for “pound” with _£_ and _lb_. The # was also already known as either the number sign or the hash, so it seems doubly unnecessary to take a symbol that already has a name and give it a meaning that already has a symbol. The symbol was (and for all I know still is) used occasionally to indicate poundage, as in, “I have #4 of rice”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/59 "2014-06-24T14:28:47Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Make of it what you will but the £ key is disappearing from American keyboards and being replaced by a € key. I don’t even think I’ve seen a £ key on a US keyboard since the Commodore 64 days. I’m not even sure how to make that sign without cutting and pasting. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/60 "2014-06-24T14:30:56Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > The symbol was (and for all I know still is) used occasionally to indicate poundage, as in, “I have #4 of rice”. In that usage, I’ve only seen it as “4# of rice,” not “#4 of rice.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448.md?page=4)