governments can legislate all they like but it won't stop the French public having le weekend going camping and parking their voitures while they have le toast or le five o'clock ....
I dunno. I remain pretty proud (and envious) of the French. Are their sins and eccentricities worse than ours? No. I Don't Think So...!
Tartarin
What is there to be proud and envious of??
au
The BPL catalog shows nearly 350 entries for "France, history".
Certainly one will be there, when you ask for it.
au - would you seriously consider people's responses about what France and the French have to be proud of?
You have posted several times that you don't like France or the French, that you visited France once, didn't like it and ended your trip early. It seems unlikely that you would reconsider your position in regard to France and the French under any circumstance. I would love to be proven wrong about this, but I feel like it would be a waste of time to pursue this.
Vivien: we've talked about this on the thread before. The reference is about the use of specific terminology in government publications. The U.S. government also has guidelines for language use in its publications. This is standard practice for companies and governments. It is not specific to France.
It is something that caught the attention of some media who want to make France look petty and silly. For many, it just reminds us of the silliness of the U.S. congress and their insistence on Freedom Fries.
Have the "freedom fries" gone back to normal?
ehBeth
You are correct there is no soft spot in my heart for the French and for many more reasons than my trip there. To pursue it would indeed be a waste of time.
What amazes me about this tempest in a teapot is that the term courriel has been in use for years at francophone websites. I would suspect that younger French people entering government service are using the "slang" term, and the government is simply attempting standardization. One cannot enter the civil service in France after age thirty, so any new crop of employees will be young, and this may explain all of this.
In fact, l'Académie Française arose shortly after the event known to linguists as the "Great Vowell Shift." Prior to that event, the adjective which is now français was françois, which acounts for the given name François. The word, from Greek, which was formerly franétique entered English before that event, giving us our word frantic; after the vowel shift, this became frénétique and entered our language again, giving us frenetic. The foundation of the Academy was a sensible move to regularize their language for purposes of better communication, and to bring all francophones closer together--and it largely succeeded.
Really folks, this is tempest in a teapot material here.
As for an official language, allow me to repeat myself--quibble, quibble, quibble. Every word of public law, of executive order, of federal court judgment and opinion is in the English language. Claim all you wish that no official language was ever adopted, the official language of the United States government has always been and remains English.
au
The Christian Science Monitor (you know, the paper you just read for religious reasons ... or carricatures :wink: ) made a nice commentary on French/American English in March
English Sans French
heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee . . .
good one Valter, and they haven't even taken into account the great deal of Latin and Greek which entered English via French.
You may still call me Waltér, Setanta
Actually I'm always wondereing, what the poor Joseph French (born 1724 in New York) would think, when he knew that his invention "French Toast" became "Freedom Toast" now.
Which brings me to the question, if all Mrs. and Mr. French are re-named to Mrs. and Mr. Freedom now?
Walter
We must be having a communication problem If you uderstood me to say I read the Christian Science Monitor for religious reasons.
au
Well, it was supposed to be a humurous response re your answer here:
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=289286&highlight=#289286
Walter
Sorry, my sense of humor seems to have deserted me.
Like the Monitor piece, a lot!
Could the Christian Science Monitor reporter please supply "true English" synonims" for the italisized words. He left his work half-way.
The Franco-American falling out over the best way to take away Iraq's weapons has resulted in perhaps the highest anti-French feeling in the United Lands since 1763.
A French-owned innkeeping firm, Accor, has taken down the three-hued flag. In the House of Burghers, the leader of the Body on Administration Running Things has named anew French fries "freedom fries" and French toast "freedom toast" in House eating rooms.
To which the asking arises: Why stop with Evian, Total gasoline, and the Concorde (only the Air France flights)? Let's get to the heart of the thing: A big percentage of the words in modern today's English are of - gasp! - French beginnings. What if, as a result of the today's falling out between lands, the French ask for their words back? We could all be linguistic captives.
It is time for English-speaking folk to throw off this cultural lording-it-over-others and say our linguistic freedom. It is time to clean the English tongue. It will take some hardship on everyone's part to get used to the new speech. But think of the warm feeling inside on the day we can all stare the Académie Française in the eye and say without fear of injury: "Sumer is icumen in...."
