Sunday, March 23, 2014 by Hamdani, Laurie | Terminology

If you are older than 20, how would you define the meaning of this symbol: #

You probably thought:

Number, as in #10 (when read out loud: "Number ten"), or maybe

Pound, as in a 5# bag of flour (when read out loud: a "A five pound bag of flour"), or maybe

Sharp, as in the raising of a musical tone by a half step, such as F# (when read out loud: an "F sharp")

A friend of mine recently told me a story which another music teacher friend shared with her. A student came to the teacher and inquired, "Miss Smith, what does hashtag G mean?" Well, if you're younger than 20 (or if you have on-line social networking savvy), the first meaning you will likely attribute to # is "hashtag", a Twitter reference. Needless to say this story made me burst out with laughter. And, simultaneously made me feel very old. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, no worries. It just means that on-line social media references aren't your native tongue.