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

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