The hashtag (#) has made its way from Twitter into normal speech, and it just doesn't sound cool, writes Eric Mack at CNET. Example: The "Twitter-dicted" say things like, "Hashtag are you kidding me?" Sure, sometimes you have an observation that begs to be tweeted, but "the word hashtag simply does not translate into nondigital nomenclature," complains Mack. His suggestion: Let's try using the word "pound" to represent the symbol instead—you know, the way it was when phones were for "actual talking rather than texting."
People have also been using a hand gesture to represent the hashtag with their fingers; that's also awkward, but using "pound" improves it. Instead of gesturing, just literally pound a nearby surface while saying, for instance, "Pound, patent war insanity!" And "when something really deserves a hashtag— er, a pound—you could just do what normal people do. Ignore whoever you're with, pull out your phone, and tweet it." Click through for Mack's full piece. (More hashtag stories.)
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