France Says 'Non' to 'Hashtag'

Au revoir, "hashtag." French language cops are striking the English word from their lexicon in favor of the francophone mot-dièse, reports the Local as picked up by Time. The Commission Générale de Terminologie et de Néologie is tasked with preserving the language, and similarly banned "email" in 2003—Frenchies are supposed to use courriel. However, many French folks are complaining that mot-dièse (aka "sharp word") is not the mot juste. And the twitterverse is snarking: "Why don't they use 'ashtag - zis is veery French & we would undérstund. # motdiese," tweeted one user. Dièse is actually the French word for a musical sharp; the "#" symbol is a croisillon, reports the New York Times. (More France stories.)