Prepare yourself readers, for your new favorite word. It will change your modern day existence. The word is octothorp. Now, before you go rushing to Google or your dictionary, be honest. Do you know this word? I did not. In fact, it’s even missing from my Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary: nothing between octosyllable and ocul-. Now that I know this word, I love it.
What is an octothorp? It’s a pound sign. A #. A symbol that has taken on such an important role. Imagine with me, if you will, calling into any automated phone system. Maybe you are refilling a prescription, joining a conference call, or calling your bank. Inevitably you are requested to:
enter in your something followed by the pound sign
I bet reading that you can hear the computer’s voice in your head, and feel the anxiousness. Was that the right number? Should I have pressed the 2 menu instead of the 4 menu? Now just replace that computerized request for a pound sign with the word octothorp. It’s still accurate, but what would people do if such a request was made? Imagine the chaos.
Octothorp confused. Octothorp hatemybank.
Right? People would race to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and write about their bad customer experience using the newest, most succinct way to convey emotion, sarcasm and cynicism. The hashtag, which are denoted by the preceding octothorp.
Do it now, go to your favorite social media site and just enjoy reading all those octothorps. My Twitter feed has Octothorp persist. Octothorp champs. Octothorp amwriting.
Oh yeah. I’m writing. About Octothorps.
Octothorp awesome.
#NewFavoriteWord #Octothorp
Afthead 
I learned something new today! Octothorp, octothorp, octothorp!
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Octothorp learning!
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After learning this amazing word from coding class, I did a little digging and learned that it was most likely created in the 1960s by Bell telephone company employees as a joke and that the original spelling was octotherp. It then changed to octothorp and became popular elsewhere. I also learned the first appearance of the word in a U.S. patent was in 1970 where…wait for it….they also used the word “sextile” as a name for the asterisk symbol. I’m not sure I like that one nearly as much. Could get a little misconstrued for time to time. Octothorps rule!
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Octothorp OctothorpBetterThanSextile
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Well what do ya know…I like the new word of the day! 🙂
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Octothorp YayNewWord
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Yessss! This is a word my husband didn’t know 😂💖
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Octothorp SmarterThanHubby
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Octothorp coolerthanhashtag
Octothorp learningisfun
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Octothorp BestComment
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Octothorp thankyou
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Octothorp YouSoGetMe
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I’d never heard of it either, but I love it too!
Octothorp confused…
Why octo? There aren’t eight lines (unless you multiply them by 2,) and it forms 9 little compartments rather than 8.
Octothorp yesimanerd
🙂
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Uh, maybe for the eight line endings? Octothorp nerdtoo
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Octothorp ofcourse!
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I feel like I might need to take sides though.
Octothorp TeamOctothorp or
Octothorp TeamInterrobang
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Okay, I had to look up interrobang. That seems made up! More investigation is needed….
octothorp TeamOctothorpForNow
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Who knew? Give me the “pound sign” any day, you Octothorp 🙂
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For most of my life, this was a sharp! #TeamMusic
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Oh good one! You are totally right! Octothorp MusicalKatie
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