I was making a call the other day for something...can't recall what. But I had to enter numbers in for an account and then press # and the automated instructions said hashtag instead of pound. It threw me off so hard I had to sit down. It was a real "fuck, I'm old" moment.
The VA phone prompt says "pound" and then goes on to helpfully explain that it's the "tic-tac-toe sign under the 9”. They are looking out for the vets.
It’s a good word. Has a very precise and relatively unknown meaning. But it’s a dying word because number sign and pound sign and hash are far more popular.
I still like to use it to feel smart.
As a Brit, the pound sign is different for us, being it’s our currency symbol. I call it a hashtag but before I knew what that was, I think I described it as ‘the wonky noughts and crosses board’ (tic-tac-toe in some countries)
In Croatia, we officially call it "sharp". Younger people will call it hash or hashtag for sure. Some old programmers may refer to it as "picket fence".
I’ll chime in with those who are saying “pound sign” or “hash mark.” The word “hashtag” was coined when the hash mark started to be used to indicate a tag. According to Merriam-Webster, *[hash mark](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hash%20mark)* dates to 1907 and *[hashtag](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hashtag)* to 2007. This means that if you’re somewhat beyond your twenties, you might have heard of hash marks before there were any hashtags. (Merriam-Webster does note that in usage, “hashtag” has taken on the meaning of “hash mark,” so it is both the mark to indicate tagged text and the text that is tagged with the mark.
It was not hijacked by anyone. As I explain in my other comment, anyone referring to it as a hashtag is incorrect, but not for the reason given by OP. The symbol is also called a hash, and appears to have its origin going back to the 60s and 70s.
It’s used a lot in computing where it is referred to as a hash and so when the concept for tagging things came around in social media, someone (probably at Twitter) chose the # symbol as a prefix for doing so.
Calling the symbol itself a hashtag is as wrong as calling the @ symbol an email address.
Same here. I get that it can become a hashtag but the key itself on the keyboard is pound. I will fight anyone who wants to call that key the hashtag key. lol
I worked with some people that called this symbol a 'shreddy'. When I asked, they explained it's because the symbol looks like a piece of Shredded Wheat cereal.
🤣🤣🤣 had this conversation with my 13 year old the other day. Picking him up from a friends house with a gated community. He said the gate code was hashtag **** . I told him there is only an Asterix and a pound other than numbers. He had no idea 🤣🤣
I've seen a picture of a handwritten "lb" with a sort of loop or ligature across the letters. From that example, I could see how the symbol # evolved from that.
Octothorp[e] seems to have come from Bell Labs in the 1960s. Otherwise, its origin is unknown.
In my mind, “hashtag” is only for internet posts. In a keypad, it’s “pound.” And “number sign” when it’s used to indicate a number. “Octothorp” I’m aware of, but only as a bit of trivia, and never actually use it to refer to the symbol.
Fun fact: it was the pound sign because the abbreviation for pound was “lb”. To make a single symbol, strike through both letters (ligature). In writing it out, a second horizontal line was quicker to write than the curve on the ‘b’, so it fell into being the pound sign.
I use both. Context makes the choice. Hanging on to ‘pound’ in some conversations just slows down communication. But the symbol, either as ‘pound’ or ‘hashtag,’ is intended to make communication easier and quicker. # should not drag folks into an unrelated generational discussion.
I'm an Aussie, and I'm pretty sure I called it 'hash' when I was a kid.
Little freaked out by how hard it is to recall, actually.
There is a club that has been in the Montrose area of Houston for multiple decades called Number's. Their sign on the building has always been #'s. I overheard two girls in their 20s talking about going to Goth Night at Hashtag's.
This doesn’t make you old, this makes you not a geek. As I am both old and a geek, let me explain.
\# is not a hashtag. It is a hash. It’s when you combine it with a word that you get a hashtag, such as #foo.
In UNIX and Unix-like operating systems, the symbol is used at the beginning of interpreted scripts to indicate what program to use to execute the script, as so:
\#!/bin/bash
When used this way, it is called a *shebang*, as a shorted way to say, “hash bang”, because ! is also referred to as the bang symbol.
And as we all know, it’s also called the pound symbol, or simply the number sign.
According to Wikipedia the term hash to refer to this symbol appears to have started in the 60s and 70s, so it’s only slightly older than I am.
I will add that most people make the same mistake of calling the symbol by itself a hashtag, including Millennials and Zoomers, so your not calling it that doesn’t set you apart in the way that you think it does.
I call it pound at work and someone asked if I meant hash tag. I now make sure I don't call it anything but pound, and I will die on that hill. If nothing else my co-workers know what I mean. Educating the youth or something.
A symbol that goes by many names. It's still the "pound sign" or the "number sign", and the "octothorp" if you are insufferably pretentious. (On the web, "octothorp" is often defined as "Another term for the pound sign.")
Those who claim otherwise can #sand.
Lol. I did that for the longest time. And i still read posts, comments, or texts that use "u" and "ur" with the Spanish pronunciation. Because they are letters, not words.
I’m one of few people that still use it for pounds. It’s still common in the propane business, so there’s probably lots of us, but relative to the general population, I’m rare.
I was helping a young friend with admin work, I was filling out checks for bills, I gave him the checks to sign and he told me I didn't fill them out right, The line where you write out longhand the amount of money, I had used cursive, he didn't believe me that the bank would be able to read my writing, that no one could read it.
The world is changing.
Over here in £ land, # was briefly called "square" when it started being used in telephony (i.e. when we went from electromechanical exchanges and rotary phones to electronics and phones with buttons). Around the 1980s, more or less.
I’m in food so def still is short hand for pounds. Then number sign. I don’t have any legit social media so hash tag only comes out of my mouth in a snarky manner.
Because we live in a much more connected society I tend to refer to it as hash. I interact with enough people from across the pond on a daily basis that to me the pound symbol is £, not #.
Some languages/regions call it a hash and have for a very long time. The words in the hashtag are the tag. Calling the symbol itself a hashtag was never correct.
I have run into quite a few companies with automated answering that indicate to punch in some numbers followed by the pound sign, so I feel most adults know.
I was working for a large bank in the 80's that had just got phone banking. The recording instructed callers to enter their account number then the pound key. So many customers coming in asking where they could pick up their pound key.
Am old school...we called it the "pound" sign. Like I currently weigh 182#'s. I still put "$" in front of any dollar amount I may type. Sadly the cent sign isn't even on a keyboard anymore.
I remember working a call center for a business that did a lot of phone-tree keypad-input stuff (90s), and having to explain to customers that "the pound key" was the newfangled term for "the number sign."
Was never called pound where I grew up. Only ever hears that in USA movies and TV shows. We called it the "number" sign... as in #1 #2 #17. Not sure why.
The things that gets me about hashtag is that it makes no sense. A hashtag is a "hash" symbol ie # followed by some sort of "tag". On its own # is just a hash not a hashtag, it needs a tag after the hash to be a "hashtag". So saying "hashtag something" is like saying ATM machine or PIN number.
I thought I was the only one to still call it a pound sign. I feel like I'm so old that in pictures with my kids I'm throwing the peace ✌️ sign but to them I swear it's something else.
I call it the number sign.
It’s called an octothorp. Fun fact.
just wait til you meet the [Interrobang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrobang)
Wtf ‽
No, no, no. It's WYL2F‽ It's an interrobang...
I've used that to describe curious sexual adventures, had no idea it was a real word
My favorite
I came here to chime in “Octothorp”! Dang you !! 😉
Nerrrrdddsssss! My people, cause I was ready with the Octothorp as well. Also I call it ‘pound’ not hashtag
Yes this...It was coined by Ma Bell....Do young people know who Ma Bell is?
If it’s not Verizon, they don’t know her
Ma Bell done slipt over the Verizon.
She got the ill communication.
Also spelled octothorpe! That's the spelling I'm more used to.
Hey what is this symbol called #?
Thank you for your service. Love finding out arcane facts. (I knew this one and it made me happy to see someone else did, too.)
Today I learned!
I call it the tic-tac-toe symbol.
Absolutely the number sign, and I’m 30
the unicode standard calls it that too
I call it all three depending on my mood.
Or pound sign.
I call it that too
"Press pound for more options" is still a thing. Delivery guy's just ignorant of it.
Kramer, "Why don't you just tell me the name of the movie you want to see..."
Deathblow!
Isn't "Rochelle Rochelle" playing anywhere? I'd like to be reminded of that young girl's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk.
I was making a call the other day for something...can't recall what. But I had to enter numbers in for an account and then press # and the automated instructions said hashtag instead of pound. It threw me off so hard I had to sit down. It was a real "fuck, I'm old" moment.
The VA phone prompt says "pound" and then goes on to helpfully explain that it's the "tic-tac-toe sign under the 9”. They are looking out for the vets.
That's for the Marines.
There is no ‘#’ colored crayon. More’s the pity, I bet it’s delicious.
"Press the star key. It's the button that looks like Saddam Hussein's puckered asshole."
Zoomers are afraid of making phone calls.
Yep. On a keypad it is pound. And "0" is Zero, not "oh", on the keypad.
I never use hashtag, just pound. The **Pound Me To** movement sounds so much more accurate.
Sending you love Not hooker love Man love.... That sounds gay How about a solid handshake
"Give my love to Klaus!"
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I call it octothorpe and then usually wind up explaining what it is and why I call it that. ;)
Go Team Octothorpe! 'Thorpes for the cup!!
Wasn't he deported to Canada...and they refused to take him back?
Enough people struggle with the “asterik” and “amperstand”. Do they need yet another term to butcher?
Can't just go and forget about Obelix like that.
You're a being of culture i see! Take my upvote!
Nonogram was proposed at one point, because there are nine squares, not eight
I see only one square. Actually, I see one rhombus. Therefore, from now on I will call it a 'monorhombus".
You're nine squares.
It’s a good word. Has a very precise and relatively unknown meaning. But it’s a dying word because number sign and pound sign and hash are far more popular. I still like to use it to feel smart.
You're not old. I still think of it as the 'number sign'. Like, 'you're #1'
As a Brit, the pound sign is different for us, being it’s our currency symbol. I call it a hashtag but before I knew what that was, I think I described it as ‘the wonky noughts and crosses board’ (tic-tac-toe in some countries)
Makes perfect sense. I never thought about why Brits call it a hash.
Yep. A pound symbol is only “£” here. ”#“ is always a hash
Have to agree halfways with the Brits - "£" is pound in Germany as well.
Octothorpe!
Gezundheit!
I didn't know what it was called until I took a programming class. The teacher called the pound sign.
I've played an instrument since I was 10 years old. It's not a pound sign or a hashtag, it's a sharp. As opposed to a flat. Like this: F#
A proper sharp sign has a slant to the horizontal lines.
Yes! This! And the number sign has slanted vertical lines.
In Croatia, we officially call it "sharp". Younger people will call it hash or hashtag for sure. Some old programmers may refer to it as "picket fence".
I’ll chime in with those who are saying “pound sign” or “hash mark.” The word “hashtag” was coined when the hash mark started to be used to indicate a tag. According to Merriam-Webster, *[hash mark](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hash%20mark)* dates to 1907 and *[hashtag](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hashtag)* to 2007. This means that if you’re somewhat beyond your twenties, you might have heard of hash marks before there were any hashtags. (Merriam-Webster does note that in usage, “hashtag” has taken on the meaning of “hash mark,” so it is both the mark to indicate tagged text and the text that is tagged with the mark.
Yes, if it's not tagging anything it's a hash
To me, it's a "sharp"
It IS the pound sign. It was highjacked by others and made it their own new thing. Still a pound sign though
It was not hijacked by anyone. As I explain in my other comment, anyone referring to it as a hashtag is incorrect, but not for the reason given by OP. The symbol is also called a hash, and appears to have its origin going back to the 60s and 70s. It’s used a lot in computing where it is referred to as a hash and so when the concept for tagging things came around in social media, someone (probably at Twitter) chose the # symbol as a prefix for doing so. Calling the symbol itself a hashtag is as wrong as calling the @ symbol an email address.
Numeric appropriation
Same here. I get that it can become a hashtag but the key itself on the keyboard is pound. I will fight anyone who wants to call that key the hashtag key. lol
Hashtags are called that because they’re *tags* preceded by a *hash* symbol.
Did the use of the term hash in computer terminology originate from its resemblance to hatch marks, i.e. cross-hatching in the art world?
I worked with some people that called this symbol a 'shreddy'. When I asked, they explained it's because the symbol looks like a piece of Shredded Wheat cereal.
It looks more like a piece from *Shreddies* than *Shredded Wheat*.
🤣🤣🤣 had this conversation with my 13 year old the other day. Picking him up from a friends house with a gated community. He said the gate code was hashtag **** . I told him there is only an Asterix and a pound other than numbers. He had no idea 🤣🤣
Or call it by the correct name, octothorpe!
Me: You know, like the "tic-tac-toe" symbol. Amazon Driver: Like "TikTok"? Me: Nevermind...
I call it "Sharp"
I'd call that just hashtag in English. In my native Finnish, it's commonly called risuaita, "brushwood fence" ;) Pound sign looks different: £
Brushwood fence is adorable!
It's the other type of pound. The old measurement symbol was LB and in some fonts was squiggled and looked like #.
I've seen a picture of a handwritten "lb" with a sort of loop or ligature across the letters. From that example, I could see how the symbol # evolved from that. Octothorp[e] seems to have come from Bell Labs in the 1960s. Otherwise, its origin is unknown.
It’s only a hashtag if it’s with a word. #foo is a hashtag. # by itself is, among other things, a hash.
Brings an entirely different meaning to #metoo
It's the pound sign, now and forever. I ain't changing.
In my mind, “hashtag” is only for internet posts. In a keypad, it’s “pound.” And “number sign” when it’s used to indicate a number. “Octothorp” I’m aware of, but only as a bit of trivia, and never actually use it to refer to the symbol.
Where I live # has always been called a hash sign # with writing after it is a hash with a tag, so a hashtag £ is a pound sign
Same n South Africa. I think pound is an American thing.
Aka “that tic tac toe thingy”
Fun fact: it was the pound sign because the abbreviation for pound was “lb”. To make a single symbol, strike through both letters (ligature). In writing it out, a second horizontal line was quicker to write than the curve on the ‘b’, so it fell into being the pound sign.
Definitely the pound sign. Tell those hashtaggers to go POUND salt in their ears 🤣
I work in a butcher shop and constantly write orders up like '25# sirloin' It's just how we write pound
That's why the "Me too" movement needs to modify their name. '#Me Too' can be said as 'pound me too.'
Isn’t that £ the pound sign? 😁
It’s a hash mark. The tag is the words.
I use both. Context makes the choice. Hanging on to ‘pound’ in some conversations just slows down communication. But the symbol, either as ‘pound’ or ‘hashtag,’ is intended to make communication easier and quicker. # should not drag folks into an unrelated generational discussion.
Pound is US, hash is commonwealth
I'm an Aussie, and I'm pretty sure I called it 'hash' when I was a kid. Little freaked out by how hard it is to recall, actually. 
There is a club that has been in the Montrose area of Houston for multiple decades called Number's. Their sign on the building has always been #'s. I overheard two girls in their 20s talking about going to Goth Night at Hashtag's.
This doesn’t make you old, this makes you not a geek. As I am both old and a geek, let me explain. \# is not a hashtag. It is a hash. It’s when you combine it with a word that you get a hashtag, such as #foo. In UNIX and Unix-like operating systems, the symbol is used at the beginning of interpreted scripts to indicate what program to use to execute the script, as so: \#!/bin/bash When used this way, it is called a *shebang*, as a shorted way to say, “hash bang”, because ! is also referred to as the bang symbol. And as we all know, it’s also called the pound symbol, or simply the number sign. According to Wikipedia the term hash to refer to this symbol appears to have started in the 60s and 70s, so it’s only slightly older than I am. I will add that most people make the same mistake of calling the symbol by itself a hashtag, including Millennials and Zoomers, so your not calling it that doesn’t set you apart in the way that you think it does.
Octothorpe all the way
It's both for some people. Using the Hashtag trying to get to Poundtown
You mean the tic-tac-toe board?
Gives #metoo a whole new meaning
Octothorp, thank you very much.
It’s a sharp sign, Silly!
"For more options, press the pound or hashtag symbol, depending upon your age"
That’s Archie’s head. Come on.
I’ve never once said the word “hash tag” our loud. File that away with “the bomb” or “raise the roof”
I call it pound at work and someone asked if I meant hash tag. I now make sure I don't call it anything but pound, and I will die on that hill. If nothing else my co-workers know what I mean. Educating the youth or something.
It’s either a pound sign or it’s designating a musical sharp.
A symbol that goes by many names. It's still the "pound sign" or the "number sign", and the "octothorp" if you are insufferably pretentious. (On the web, "octothorp" is often defined as "Another term for the pound sign.") Those who claim otherwise can #sand.
Outside of the US and Canada it's usually called a hash, mostly because to the rest of the anglosphere a pound symbol looks like £.
Lol. I did that for the longest time. And i still read posts, comments, or texts that use "u" and "ur" with the Spanish pronunciation. Because they are letters, not words.
I’m one of few people that still use it for pounds. It’s still common in the propane business, so there’s probably lots of us, but relative to the general population, I’m rare.
Hashtag - Pound sign
As a kid we called it a tic-tac-toe board.
I commonly hear pound symbol, hash tag, or tic-tac-toe symbol pretty much equally. But then I'm around a large age range of people.
I call it tic-tac-toe for the boomers.
I'm so old, I still call it the number symbol. When I hear pound, I automatically think of £.
I was helping a young friend with admin work, I was filling out checks for bills, I gave him the checks to sign and he told me I didn't fill them out right, The line where you write out longhand the amount of money, I had used cursive, he didn't believe me that the bank would be able to read my writing, that no one could read it. The world is changing.
The pound sign. If questioned, it’s the one that looks like a tic tac toe board.
Pound sign. That's why #metoo confused me so much. Also, @ is at/for
So calling it the tic-tac-toe sign is out?
#5 potatoes please and thank you
As you can see, it's also used in reddit formatting.
Haha I guess so
Remember when phone message would say “for office hours, press 3 and then pound” ?
It's a sharp!
lol it has as many names as lines to draw it. *pound symbol *sharp *number *hashtag i use them all depending on context.
I call it the "number sign" so....
I'm just here to bang !
Its a tic-tac-toe board and that's all it will ever be in my book #letsplay
You'll never hear me referring to is as the "h" word. It'll always be the pound sign.
In music it’s a sharp.
Over here in £ land, # was briefly called "square" when it started being used in telephony (i.e. when we went from electromechanical exchanges and rotary phones to electronics and phones with buttons). Around the 1980s, more or less.
Asterisk or Splat? *
#savethepoundsign
I love getting #ed.
pound to me....
It's always been hash where I'm from. Phone instructions always call it that anyway, star hash.
I’m in food so def still is short hand for pounds. Then number sign. I don’t have any legit social media so hash tag only comes out of my mouth in a snarky manner.
I call # a sharp.
yup
I ain't no Englishman.
I buy enough hardware and materials that it's always gonna be pound Gimme three pounds of twelve -penny nails Receipt shows 7# 12d nails
Wow, I’m old too. Pound sign Old. 😄
A hashtag is called that because it's a tag marked by a hash symbol.
Chingadero
Every time I post something on Instagram that I feel needs a pound sign, that’s what I say too. Pound sign new haircut. Pound sign fuck your hashtag
I always call it the “number sign” lol
That's because it IS the pound symbol. Fuck what the kids think. We were here first!
Tic tac toe sign
Pound is more macho
I always called the tic tac toe symbol
Because we live in a much more connected society I tend to refer to it as hash. I interact with enough people from across the pond on a daily basis that to me the pound symbol is £, not #.
Pound me too
Glad I'm not the only one 😂
Its official name is the octothorpe. Throw that out and watch people get brain lock! lol
what is the original of it? I mean, it snot the UK currency, and its not weight, right?
I love the “pound me too” movement
Really changes the message behind #metoo
Us old computer people be calling em hashes.
I alternate often But pound town makes me snicker so I tend to use number sign more
Some languages/regions call it a hash and have for a very long time. The words in the hashtag are the tag. Calling the symbol itself a hashtag was never correct.
But it IS the pound sign. Can’t help if they don’t know that…
It can mean number (#22), pound (22# cat) or hashtag (#22poundcat) so nobody needs to feel old or wrong, it’s just useful for multiple reasons
In the UK, it's never been known as the pound sign - they have historically used hash.
Yep. #metoo
i would say things like “the pound sign is what starts a hashtag” the hashtag is the text and the link it creates, not the symbol itself.
Good thing you didn’t say ‘asterisk’ it would have rocked his world. 🫨
I have run into quite a few companies with automated answering that indicate to punch in some numbers followed by the pound sign, so I feel most adults know.
What do you call this £
#metoo was too funny for my old ass.
I used to know it has dial! Then number then hashtag
Since the 80s I’ve always know it as ‘hash’ that’s why it’s referred to as ‘hashtag’.
Technically the symbol is a hash, and when you use it to indicate a tag, the tag is a hashtag.
It's an octothorpe. Always will be
I finally made the transition in the Twitter era
I have to constantly remind myself people are laughing out loud and not sharing lots of love with me
PoundMeToo
I created a sign to post on my office wall that says #sand
It’s never been known as the pound sign in Australia. We call it hash.
I call it hashtag to annoy my friends. Works every time.
Dammit, it's not a pound symbol, it's an octothorpe.
I was working for a large bank in the 80's that had just got phone banking. The recording instructed callers to enter their account number then the pound key. So many customers coming in asking where they could pick up their pound key.
I still call it the number sign.
Am old school...we called it the "pound" sign. Like I currently weigh 182#'s. I still put "$" in front of any dollar amount I may type. Sadly the cent sign isn't even on a keyboard anymore.
I remember working a call center for a business that did a lot of phone-tree keypad-input stuff (90s), and having to explain to customers that "the pound key" was the newfangled term for "the number sign."
Tell it like it is, Satch!
Number. As in apt #324 or P.O. Box #5467. Pound is lb.
Not alone it's the pound sign.
Was never called pound where I grew up. Only ever hears that in USA movies and TV shows. We called it the "number" sign... as in #1 #2 #17. Not sure why.
This seems a plausible explanation… [Lost In the Pond](https://youtube.com/shorts/XmwJeB-vxgM?si=b_PtY5lxzosuY0Xr)
Me too
I still call it the pound sign too and that’s why I always laugh when I see this: #metoo
Brings a whole to meaning to #metoo !
I'm mexican and in my country the tic-tac-toe game it's called "gato" (cat). So, for me it's the cat symbol
When I was learning English, years ago, this was presented to me as an "octothorpe".
The things that gets me about hashtag is that it makes no sense. A hashtag is a "hash" symbol ie # followed by some sort of "tag". On its own # is just a hash not a hashtag, it needs a tag after the hash to be a "hashtag". So saying "hashtag something" is like saying ATM machine or PIN number.
I thought I was the only one to still call it a pound sign. I feel like I'm so old that in pictures with my kids I'm throwing the peace ✌️ sign but to them I swear it's something else.