I know that ‘#’ is used by many people on a daily basis, whether it be on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram for example. But for it to actually be the children’s word of the year? What do you think?

I can see how using a hashtag can help emphasise words/meanings, as well as show sarcasm. Their use has been praised by some poets, arguing that it is just a change in the way we use punctuation. I guess that they are right, English is a mash-up of loads of languages and vocabulary has changed dramatically over time. If you pick up a classic book, one that springs to mind is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte which I studied for GCSE, you will often find sentences which are half a page long, or even a whole page! That is just how they used punctuation in the 1800s. So why resist the use of modern punctuation?

Context. That is what is important. You shouldn’t write up a science experiment and in your results put ‘…the mixture burnt into flames #wherehavemyeyebrowsgone’. Not really appropriate.

I like it. But # isn’t a word. Is it?

Newsround report on hastag being children’s word of the year.