Those French! First they want Twitter to bend the rules for them and now they refuse to use a perfectly good word just because it isn’t au français. Bah!

The French word for hashtag, mot-dièse, means “sharp word” according to Fast Company. And the French apparently believe this word is just as good – better even (because it’s French).

“The decision was made by a government office, the Commission Générale de Terminologie et de Néologie, which is tasked with inventing French-language equivalents to foreign-language terms found popping up in France.”

The word is pronounced ‘Mo-Dee-YEZ’, according to Yahoo News. And the change comes because “French law requires that government agencies use French terms — and teachers are required to spread the word.”

The French word for hashtag, published in the official journal on Wednesday, follows the government’s somewhat successful redefinition of email — courriel — and its less successful attempt to persuade people to avoid the word “weekend.”

Do you think this will catch on? And do you think they’re ticked they can’t redesign the symbol as well?

(Eiffel Tower image from Shutterstock)