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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| French Mind Police At It Again |
| 2003-07-18 |
| Goodbye "e-mail," the French government says, and hello "courriel" — the term that linguistically sensitive France is now using to refer to electronic mail in official documents. Who says the French are arrogant and pushy? The Culture Ministry has announced a ban on the use of "e-mail" in all government ministries, documents, publications or Web sites, the latest step to stem an incursion of English words into the French lexicon. Small cameras will be installed in every home within France that is connected to the internet, in order to enforce the ban... The ministry’s General Commission on Terminology and You will think and write our way, or you will be assimilated. "Evocative, with a very French sound, the word ’courriel’ is broadly used in the press and competes advantageously with the borrowed ’mail’ in English," the commission has ruled. Sheesh. I shall projectile vomit now. The move to ban "e-mail" was announced last week after the decision was published in the official government register on June 20. Courriel is a term that has often been used in French-speaking Quebec, the commission said. The 7-year-old commission has links to the Academie Francaise, the prestigious institution that has been one of the top opponents of allowing English terms to seep into French. Hmmm. I guess that projectile vomiting is better than explosive diarrhea, which is what the French government is spewing. Some Internet industry experts say the decision is artificial and doesn’t reflect reality. Oh really? "The word ’courriel’ is not at all actively used," Marie-Christine Levet, president of French Internet service provider Club Internet, said Friday. "E-mail has sunk in to our values." Thank you. She said Club Internet wasn’t changing the words it uses. "Protecting the language is normal, but e-mail’s so assimilated now that no one thinks of it as American," she said. "Courriel would just be a new Ahh, the French. Sometimes I think fondly of the days when the Nazis crushed them in two weeks. Let me say it before the Rantburg mind police do: ‘Peshawar’ |
| Posted by:TJ |
| #10 Mel, I was about to scratch this new-found link from my bookmarks when I came across your comments. Thanks for posting thoughtful remarks instead of adding more senseless xenophobic bashing to the scroll. |
| Posted by: Wilkins Micawber 2003-7-29 12:40:20 PM |
| #9 Actually I think the adoption of the word "courriel" is a good thing. I don't agree at all with the Academie française's xenophobia and purism - definitely the prime reason for keeping English out of la langue soignée. I do, however, think that the French should follow the English model of accepting innovation from other English-speaking countries, and let the francophonie have more of a say - rather than insisting that all new words come from the Hexagone. The French language needs a big shake-up and the Belgians and Quebecois are doing a lot of the frontline work without much thanks (or even acknowledgement)from France. I'm thinking, for instance, of the Belgian effort -- openenly scoffed at by the French -- to reform the extremely long way of expressing ninety-nine . That's "quatre-vingt-dix-neuf" or "four (times) twenty (plus) ten (plus) nine" for people with limited nineteenth-century math skills. I think the main problem with the Academie these days is not the refusal to keep English words in, but the total lack of connection between the young people and the older generation of Acamediciens (who may only vaguely know what e-mail is and probably need no word for it). And the young people aren't always right. It's also important to remember that the venacular for e-mail isn't "e-mail" but "mel" - much the same way that "foot" is English football and a "lashing" is the application of mascara rather than a beating (or a "walkie-talkie" is a "talkie-walkie" for that matter). I'm all for language drift and variation but some of these changes might need to be slowed - either by creating French words or by sticking a little closer to the English. And, as a person sometimes called "Mel," I'm all for "courriel" instead of "mel" - however gratifiying it is to see my name in print all of the time. |
| Posted by: Melanie 2003-7-23 7:50:49 PM |
| #8 Two words: "Freedom Fries." |
| Posted by: vaara 2003-7-19 2:00:53 PM |
| #7 Actually, it is worse than you think. "courriel" is what Quebeckers have been forced to use for years in official documents. The French have always laughed at the Quebec "farmer francais". Now the French Linguistic bigwigs are saying that it is better than the word (e-mail) that the French have always used. To use the other word, the true froggies would have to admit that there are good points to the Quebec froggie's grasp of the French language. Fat chance! This word is doomed. |
| Posted by: Yukon Bill 2003-7-19 2:55:36 AM |
| #6 The Germans have some name restrictions as well. I guess they don't want many 'Moonunits Zappas' type names in Europe. Wonder if they'd have a problem is someone wanted to name their kid Osama. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-7-18 6:31:10 PM |
| #5 Ptah: You have got to be fucking kidding me. Really? Could you send me a link to a government website or something.... uh, but in English? |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2003-7-18 5:31:11 PM |
| #4 A language that doesn't grow and change is dead, dead, dead. I think I heard that in a resturaunt... |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-7-18 3:35:00 PM |
| #3 They call it merde over there, tu. L'Academie Francaise has always been anal retentive, but quite french: The Oxford English dictionary has been published and probably revised twice, while I do believe they've been at the job longer and still haven't finished the definitive French language dictionary. Oh, and if you're a white, native Frenchman, you are not permitted to give your kids "unfrench" names. If you do, then a proper "french" name will be assigned, which is why there are so many "Jeannes" and "Marie-Frances" over there... |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-7-18 2:43:51 PM |
| #2 Why don't they call it "boolshitte" like everything else over there... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-7-18 2:05:06 PM |
| #1 I am amazed that the French have not created their own, segregated internet. It's gotta be cheaper than the alternate GPS satellite system they're building and it will make it easier to control unauthorized thoughts. If they do a good job they could expand and sell it to Cuba and Iran and Saudi Arabia. Customized to make monitering easier.. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-7-18 1:54:29 PM |