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French authorities have declared war on English word “hashtag” in its continuing drive to keep its language as free as possible from English loan words. France’s government has special department that oversees purity of its language and issues recommendations regarding outside influences. General Commission for Terminology and Neologisms has decided that “hashtag” will no longer be used in government documents and public statements. Instead, it will use new, French term “mot-dièse,” which is translated as “sharp word”. Commission also encouraged users of social media, especially people on Twitter, to use new word.

“Hashtag” is latest English word to fall foul of French authorities. Officials recently released list of words and terms they want removed. These include “e-mail”, “blog”, “supermodel”, “take-away”, “chewing gum”, “parking”, “weekend” and “low-cost airline”. Schoolteachers in France have been urged to discourage students from using them. Many Twitter users pointed out that “mot-dièse” refers to wrong symbol as word “dièse” denotes sharp symbol from music, which looks similar to hashtag symbol. One comment on Huffington Post website suggested France needed to accept new words. It said: “Many languages use loan words and society hasn't fallen apart because of it.”