# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/61 "2014-06-24T15:32:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Make of it what you will but the £ key is disappearing from American keyboards and being replaced by a € key. I can’t find either one on this red, white and true blue keyboard. Socialist. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/62 "2014-06-24T16:26:19Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > ¥€$ Like. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/63 "2014-06-24T16:40:02Z")
[Timely and relevant comic strip](http://www.gocomics.com/barneyandclyde/2014/06/23) ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/64 "2014-06-24T19:36:02Z")
I use it daily at work. As in defining a number of items. Pt needs #90 tablets please. ---
**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/65 "2014-06-26T02:22:42Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > [Timely and relevant comic strip](http://www.gocomics.com/barneyandclyde/2014/06/23) And here’s another [one](http://zitscomics.com/comics/june-19-2014/). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/66 "2014-06-26T06:14:55Z")
Do phones still have extensions? How about wall phones? And how about party lines? ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/67 "2014-06-26T11:47:01Z")
The “#” IS the hashtag, as twitter defined it, because its parser looks for the hash symbol as the tag for the upcoming keyword, and then gets the keyword to do statistical magic. This is not a confusing concept people. But maybe it’s because I have a bit of coding/scripting experience and know a little bit about parsing. The # symbol is the tag for the parser, so it is the hashtag. But it’s only a hashtag when used as an actual tag for parsing. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/68 "2014-06-26T13:32:44Z")
I don’t use Facebook or Twitter or any of that. Just what does a hashtag do? I looked on wiki and don’t get it. Is it like a hyperlink? I had NEVER heard of this # called a ‘hash’ until just recently. It’s a pound sign or octothorpe or possibly a sharp. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/69 "2014-06-26T13:37:33Z")
The octothorpe can be called different things based on its usage. There. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/70 "2014-06-26T13:43:07Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > The octothorpe can be called different things based on its usage. There. 😉 I already said it but “tic tac toe grid/playground.” Poor man’s swastika? ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/71 "2014-06-26T14:17:18Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > The “#” IS the hashtag, as twitter defined it, because its parser looks for the hash symbol as the tag for the upcoming keyword, and then gets the keyword to do statistical magic. > > This is not a confusing concept people. But maybe it’s because I have a bit of coding/scripting experience and know a little bit about parsing. The # symbol is the tag for the parser, so it is the hashtag. But it’s only a hashtag when used as an actual tag for parsing. No, it has to be a pound sign followed by at least one non white-space character before it’s parsed as a hashtag. A naked # is parsed like any other character. You can verify this by sending a tweet with a # in it. The # will show up in black instead of brown (or blue if you use Twitteriffic). Even two ## doesn’t parse as a hashtag. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448/72 "2014-06-26T15:16:27Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I don’t use Facebook or Twitter or any of that. Just what does a hashtag do? I looked on wiki and don’t get it. Is it like a hyperlink? It’s just a symbol to mark the next word as a keyword, so that the tweet or facebook post gets grouped with other like tweets/posts. If you just tweet Some Hollywood sound mixer is an asshole, it will get lost in anonymity. But if you tweet “Some Hollywood sound mixer is an asshole #SoundMixerControvery” then anybody searching for [#SoundMixerControversy](https://www.google.com/search?q=sound+mixer+controversy&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb) would see your tweet. Twitter and facebook also watch for the most frequently occurring hashtag labels to call things ‘trending.’ Or the _Tonight Show_ can ask people to post jokes about soccer players biting people and tell them to hashtag it #TonightShowSoccerBites. Nothing magic, it’s just useful because real words don’t start with #. It’s an ‘escape character’ to dinosaurs like us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-remember-when-a-hashtag-was-called-a-pound-sign/691448.md?page=3)