What the Hashtag Symbol is Actually Called

Before we were calling it a hashtag, many of us knew it as the pound symbol on our phones. Before that? Well the # symbol is actually called the Octothorpe.

From Merriam-Webster:

Stories abound about who first called the # sign an “octothorpe” (which can also be spelled “octothorp”). Most of those tales link the name to various telephone workers in the 1960s, and all claim the “octo-” part refers to the eight points on the symbol, but the “thorpe” remains a mystery. One story links it to a telephone company employee who happened to burp while talking about the symbol with co-workers. Another relates it to the athlete Jim Thorpe, and a third claims it derives from an Old English word for “village.” If the plethora of theories leaves your head spinning, you might want to take the advice of the wag who asked (poetically), “Can we simply just say, / Ere it spoils your day, / It’s the thorp between seven and nine?”

It sounds like dentist to me, but I prefer what the DICTIONARY says.

Read more HERE!