France bans Twitter term 'hashtag'

The French government has included the Twitter term 'hashtag' in a list of words to be avoided in order to protect the national language. The Académie Française is responsible for maintaining standards of French and has identified the English social networking term as a word that undermines linguistic purity, The Mirror reports. Public figures, teachers and the French media have been urged to adopt the new term 'mot-diese' when referring to the micro-blogging site's tagging system. The Official Journal said: "The English term hashtag should wherever possible be replaced with the French term mot-diese." 'Hashtag' now joins other English terms including 'email', 'blog', 'supermodel', 'take-away', 'parking', 'weekend' and 'low-cost airline' that are blacklisted, as authorities fear they will become commonly used in everyday French. Sports commentators are also being asked to avoid using 'coach' and 'corner' during football matches, in favor of their French counterparts 'entraineur' and 'coup de pied de coin'.

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• "France" hasn't "banned" the word hashtag. The Académie has merely made a recommendation of a native word to use instead.

• [R1]: this is an American board. Expect zero reading comprehension or reason.

• Digital Spy = Britain It's their article, their title, thus they are the idiots, not Americans.

  Oh%2C%20snap%21

• le (h)ashtag. l'ashtag. l'hashtag.

  "the H is silent", lol

• Of course, the Quebecois will now consider using "hashtag" a sacrilege and will avoid it like plague. The European French speakers will continue to use it even more frequently.

• Oh my Dieu!

• The French are insecure because their very badly-constructed, Latin-on-a-mushroom-trip language is dying while English and Spanish are thriving. Worldwide, English and Spanish have several times more native speakers (apiece) than French.

• That's just ridiculous, R7. If any language out of those three is farrago, it's indubitably English.

  Linguist

• Wow, they're very uptight over there. There are a lot of French words that we use all the time without getting bent out of shape over it.

• The English language could do with a few prissy schoolmarms policing it.

• I agree, R10.

  Sister%20Mary%20Michael%2C%20switch%20in%20hand

• Franglais terms like le weekend and le parking are not going away regardless of what the Alliance Français may wish. As self-conscious as the french are about this subject if you want to discuss a country that is [italic]really[/italic] paranoid about linguistic pollution then you just can't beat Iceland. They have been forced to invent increasingly bizarre icelandic word combinations to encompass modern (foreign} technology and cultural influences. They even have a list of "approved" names for Icelandic babies which MUST be adhered to if the child is to qualify for an Icelandic passport. Most names common in english are not sanctioned though, amusingly, "Elvis" has been approved. Elvis conquers all!

• HAGELSLAG?

• Freedom fries, freedom fries, freedom fries!

• French people are learning English and use Franglais so the AF can shove it up their derriere!Derriere is my favorite French word BTW.....

• [quote]Latin-on-a-mushroom-trip language

• R16, I was just going to post that and ask R7 to marry me.

  Fifi La Fague-hague

• The "French" word bistro is actually from Russia. "Bistroi" is the Russian word or "fast" or "hurry up." When the Russians occupied Paris in Napoleonic times, they would demand food. The French have made food a sacrament and built a Mass around it. The Russians were having none of that. No preparing food for hours before serving it. The Russians would pound the table, "Bistroi! Bistroi!" Hurry it up already! Move it! So the French opened up restaurants that offered less formal meals which could be easily cooked. They were called Bistroi, and eventually bistros.

• I can understand why Quebers are insecure but why are the french concerned about using a few english words?

• [quote] why are the french concerned about using a few english words? A few rotten apples can spoil the bunch. Much like the vocal fry and uptalk epidemic.

• Didn't Tony Blair tell a story about Bush complaining that the French didn't know the meaning of the word "entrepreneur"?

• Interesting, R18, I never knew that.

• Mot-diesse sounds like a brand of tampons - Ladies! Use "Mot-Diesse" for that extra fresh feeling!

• That's mot-dièse, s'il vous plaît.

  Honor%E9%20de%20Balzac

• R7 It's not quantity,it's quality! The French are assholes BUT for good reason.It's a beautiful language that hasn't been changed that much for centuries. As nice as English is, they want to keep their culture and their language intact. Though to be honest once again,the young people are speaking English and will use English words.That can't be stopped. Spanish you say? Yuck!;)There are so many countries speaking it already compared to French that it doesn't merit a comparison to begin with. I saw Marion Cotillard on the Sag Awards on E and on Conan recently and she's still making little mistakes here and there. It's kind of obnoxious when she boasted about working with a language coach for months at a time.

• Are you kidding me, R7? You must be French yourself, because it's a fact that the world's native English speakers outnumber native French speakers at least five times over. Your idiotically-designed, consonant-deficient language is DYING. World-wide, English dominates over French in every aspect of life! Get used to it. In 500 years English and Spanish will still be around and French will be a forgotten memory. Sorry, but your language is a clumsy trainwreck and English and Spanish are far more practical in every way, shape and form.

• Hashtag! Hastag! Hastag! And gay marriage, too!

• This doesn't surprise me at all. Most French people are racist and loathe anything that has to do with English. Just look at how the francophones are treating the anglophones in Canada. It's disgusting! French is a dying language anyway. The fact that they need to work so hard to "conserve" the language speaks volumes. The French language laws in Quebec are so strict because they believe the language will die out if the dreaded English people get to speak their own language. Talk about insecurities, yikes. It's a lost cause, English is so widely spoken and Spanish is gaining ground fast, same with Portuguese and the rise of Brazil. They might as well give up.

• Thanks, R18 -- that's fascinating (maybe even true?). As much as I hate fascism, there may be a place for it in the preservation of language & I do appreciate the efforts of L'Académie Française. Now that William Safire is dead, the best Americans can do seems to be the occasional DL Grammar Nazi.

• R26, did you reply to the wrong post? R7 basically said the same thing as you.. I'm confused.

• First redtags and now THIS!

  Cheryl

• Does anyone else agree with me on this? The fact that the English language is flexible makes it perfect for technological innovation. When new industries arise, the English language accepts endless new jargon words without question. In my lifetime, I've seen the computer industry spring into existence and add I don't know how many words and new meanings to the OED: software, mainframe, cloud, hacker, kludge, download, javascript, etc. Giving academics approval of which words are okay, slows down the techies who are inventing stuff.

• They're beginning to sound like the separatists in Quebec.

• But R32, for every good & useful piece of jargon (such as "software", "hacker", "kludge") that serves a purpose within a specific field, the English language's vaunted flexibility permits abominations to thrive: "they" as a singular pronoun; "I could care less" meaning the opposite; "irregardless"; "innovate"; "grow the economy"; "parenting"; etc., etc., etc.....

• It's a pound sign, not an hashtag. French is one of the most beautiful languages in the world. Even though my ancestors are almost entirely German, mastering and using French in high school and college was much easier than German. IMHO, Spanish is the ugliest and silliest European language. I'm of Generation X. Why was Spanish being taught to me in third grade? Preposterous! Looking back, more advanced math and science were far more important.

• I find German FAR more ugly than Spanish.

• Speaking of French pronunciation, would "Hercules" be "Ercules" in French? And in Spanish "Jercules?"

• r32 Yeah, I agree. English has many advantages over French and other languages. Although English is not that simple a language, the spelling makes more sense, the grammar and pronunciation. The language is also inclusive and accepts foreign words. It also helps that English is everywhere in popular culture and academics so almost everybody is exposed to it. English is the international language and nothing can change that. All that said, I do love French.

• In French, Hercules would be Hercule (Ercyule)

• Here's the moral reason why these French Nazi-collaborator pigs owe America & England for the rest of their putrid existence: both our countries sacrificed hundreds of thousands of lives to free these anti-semitic French cowards from Nazi rule. That is an historical fact whether you arrogant, snobby French "trou de cul" wish to admit it or not. You were Nazi lapdogs and both of our countries (US/UK) spilled a great deal of blood to free you despicable French cowards. So fuck your xenophobic, bigoted, anti-American French culture with every last quantum of my yankee soul, you arrogant, bigoted, worthless, elitist, radical-Islam-blowing French "tas de merde." As far as this "ugly American" is concerned, the Nazis should have done with those backstabbing Frenchpigs what they did with the Jews. YOU French cowards should have been herded to Auschwitz and not the Jews. And I don't believe that French Resistance fairy tale for a single second. After all the blood we spilled for you fucking ingrates, you French motherfuckers SICKEN me.

• R5 are you kidding? Quebecers love their anglicisms. Haven't you heard one of 'em talking about "le weekend"

• R40 must be even older than I am -- sounds like he actually lived through WWII (maybe even in France!).

• It's not as if Americans don't complain about the rise of Spanish in some areas. What was that hullabaloo about bilingual education?

• R40 You're sick take your meds. Not every Frenchman was a collaborator nor was he a partisan either. The truth was in between.Anti-Semitic asses eh? The biggest Jewish population in Europe by far resides in France today. The last two French presidents,Sarkozy and Hollande, have been half or part Jewish. How many American presidents have had a Jewish grandparent or father? Try none!

• I live in France and this type of thing is used strictly among a small group of academics things like email (or anything computer related) will always be in English..email= courrier électronique. pfft

• I agree with them about "takeaway." It's so overused and deductive. They might as well say "double plus good takeaway." Language is meant to be expressive not to reduce everybody to simple minded drones.

• I loves zee France...we make it with da OOOH la la...

• Mon dieu, you Americans just don't get it. You have such a utilitarian view of everything. According to you, a language is only important if a lot of people speak it. And if people in the past who spoke said language did bad things, then the language itself is worthless. Please! What on earth do they teach in American schools? I realize that foreign language instruction is woefully absent in your schools, but so must logical reasoning courses! Every language has inherent value and beauty. Every language is part of le patrimoine de l'humanité. And some languages, such as French (or English, for that matter), possess incredibly rich literary traditions. Some languages such as French (or again English) have also been used to express humanity's great philosophical and scientific advances. Learn a language for its literature, for its history, for the culture it expresses, for its music. Don't learn a language simply because a lot of other people speak it. But please, you Americans, whatever you do, learn a foreign language. The rest of the world will thank you!

  Victor%20Hugo