Despite France's best attempts to find alternatives, the English words "selfie" and "hashtag" are now officially part of the French language according to Le Petit Robert, the renowned dictionary, whose new edition will be published next week.
The entry of the English terms was unveiled on the day that the first ever Briton was officially sworn in as a member of the hallowed Académie francaise, the official guardians of the French language which does battle against "Anglo-Saxon" invasions of French, offering Gallic equivalents such as "courriel" instead of "email".
Every year, Le Petit Robert incorporates a host of new words after months of debate and a rigorous selection procedure. Of the 600 candidates, only a quarter made the grade for the 2015 edition.
These include "selfie", described as a "digital self-portrait, general taken with a smart phone and published on social media".
The term "hashtag" is defined as a "keyword preceded by the hash signal enabling people to find all messages from a micro blog containing them". Henry Samuels writing in the Telegraph
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