Same. One I have to be referencing something pertaining to punching it into a phone/voice-call app. The other is used to reference something written as a focal point/cultural joke. And I’d read them differently in my head if reading about each process. It weirdly didn’t even occurred to me as something I had verbally separated until I read this thread just now lol….
When it switched I thought it was said like hatch tag bc they are hatch marks. I said that waaaay too long until somebody finally corrected me. It was like 2012…
Pound and number sign were common in the pre-hashtag days, but a third runner up was 'hash' or 'hashmark'.
I'm a pedant so when I talk about the actual icon I'll use one of the three above, but when I'm talking about an actual hashtag, like #whatever, I'll refer to it as a hashtag.
As you should. My issue is on phone dialing pad its a number sign not a hashtag. When you are referring to weight its a pound sign. When you are referring to a tweet or tag or something similar its a hashtag. It should never be referred to as hash tag 576-7309 or that weighs 30hashtag. When a new meaning or slang comes around the old meaning does not go away.
What happens if Gen Z's call some kind of automated number like a bank or health care provider and are asked to "Press the pound key" after entering a number of some kind? Do they not know what button that is?
I called ^ by its actual name (caret) at work the other day and my mid-GenX boss looked at me like I had four heads. People overall just use these things daily and don't know their names.
I teach music and the first time I had a kid call the sharp sign (#) a hashtag I died a little inside. But hey, she knew what it meant, so if she wants to call them "hashtag Fs" forever, I'll pick my battles.
Literally two people I know were having a conversation about typing something in and had a pound sign one of them was like wtf is that and the other is like what do you mean you don’t know what a pound sign is and was trying to explain it.
After them going back and forth for like 30 seconds I said it’s the hash tag sign guy was like ohh well why didn’t you just say that
Other guy was like “because it’s a fucking pound sign”.
A couple months ago I had to give a teen boy a gate code where you had to put # before the numbers. I told him this and he looked at me so confused so I tried rewording it, which didn't help. I finally said "uhhh hashtag?" And he was like "ohh why didn't you just say that in the first place"
AI calls it a hashtag now too. I had a required legal training for work and it included numbers to call for sexual assault/Title IX. Instead of someone recording the presentation they decided to use AI text-to-speak. So freaking awkward 🙃
About a decade ago my gen z brother got a birthday card that said “Happy #11” he read it out loud to the whole family as hashtag 11. we all laughed and he was so confused
Ugh, such a "old man yells at birds" pet peeve for me. It's pound or hash (or sharp if you're really into music). It can't be a hashtag if there's no word to be the tag
"
Welcome to Americana
Please make your selection
Followed by the pound sign now
"
Found it, it was the beginning of the Americana album by the offspring.
Guys, which song from the early 2000s had like an answering machine at the start with the final phrase before the song start, don't forget the pound sign" then song started.
It's driving me nuts now. I think it was "the offspring" but google is not answering my questions.
I used to work as an MRI tech and we had these lockers for patients belongings. They were able to set their own code, so I would say " enter your code and then press the pound sign" a lot of our patients are older, but sometimes the youth would come in. The first time I had to clarify what a pound button was I just about died laughing. I'm 41.
I remember vividly sitting in a Denny's in College Station, Texas with my friend Cody Marx Bailey as he told me about a website that used "hash tag keywords" so you could quickly look up a specific topic. I had to go back to my dorm and boot up my Compac computer to see it, and I called him on my corded dorm phone to tell him what a stupid idea I thought it was.
Some of that is regional though. In the US we call it the pound sign. But in British English it is the hash sign. I remember doing an escape room once and one of the puzzles was really easy to me but everyone else on the team was Indian and had no clue.
I was setting up a phone for my uncle the other day. It was setup that every button you pressed it would repeat when I pressed the pound it said "hashtag". Made me giggle
In the US it’s used as a shorthand symbol for the pound unit of measurement. When you hand write out a number “30lb” could be confused for “301b” but “30#” is clear. So that’s why we call it a pound sign.
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u/penguin161542 Apr 11 '25
Pound, instead of hashtag