Hashtag goes Gallic in French lawbooks
2013-01-25 22:09
Paris - The French government is redefining hashtag with
a Gallic touch.
The country that has an academy devoted solely to the use
of the French language has given its official seal of approval to a new word
for the Twittersphere: mot-diese.
Pronounced “Mo-Dee-YEZ”’, it doesn't exactly trip off the
tongue. But that's not the point.
French law requires that government agencies use French
terms - and teachers are required to spread the word.
New words are approved by the Academie Francaise and
written into the lawbooks.
The French word for hashtag, published in the official
journal on Wednesday, follows the government's somewhat successful redefinition
of e-mail - courriel - and its less successful attempt to persuade people to
avoid the word "weekend”.
- AP
