How did the word âHashtagâ evolve and emerge as the word âHashtaâ (about, in regard to) in trigedasleng if the people using the word donât have cellular devices. Specifically because hashtag in its modern use is a noun used in front of other words to denote a trending social topic.
Them not having cellular devices is exactly how it evolved into something else. If they still had a use for itâif everyone still knew what hashtags wereâthe meaning wouldnât change. It changed because there was a group of speakers who had access to them, knew what they were, and used it in casual speakers with a group of new speakers who had no idea what it was or meant, and who developed their own meaning for itâand then that meaning passed down to a knew generation who pushed it even further, etc. Thatâs how this thing works. Itâs why younger people know that this means save:
Even though theyâve never interacted with one of these:
It doesnât matter to them that the icon is obviously wrong (why are all four corners notched? Where is the lock on the side that allows you to change the disk from writeable to unwriteable? And where exactly is the metal slide supposed to slide to if thereâs no groove for it? And why is the window on the metal slide black? Itâs not slid, so it should be blue!), because itâs close enough to what they think of as as a save button, and thatâs really all that matters. It doesnât matter that it stands for something that was once real and had a specific functionâjust as it doesnât matter if younger folks have interacted with one of those, or ever will. The icon itself has a function, a meaning, and a series of characteristics to differentiate it from other iconsâjust like a word.
Itâs the same way we learned that those things were called floppy disks, even though they are not at all floppyâand despite the fact that we also had disks that actually were floppy!
I never figured out why, but it didnât matter, because I knew what floppy disks were called, and how they worked. I no longer need to know why they were called floppy disks, because itâs not relevant to my lifeâand if I cared, I could just look it up, because we have the internet.
If we had to understand what words or expressions originally referred to in order to use them, we wouldnât use half the words or expressions we doâlike cut to the chase, or holds water, or not worth their salt, etc. Thatâs never been important for language. The ones who use it just use it, and if it works, then itâs correct. The language itself doesnât care: Itâs not a thing. You ever wonder how we got the expression âused toâ? Ever imagined how unbelievably weird it would sound to an English speaker circa 1000 CE to hear how we use âused toâ? Weâd probably sound pretty dumb. Thatâs just the way of it, though. Thatâs language.
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