France commits idiotic act to try to show it is superior to America... bans "e-mail"

[Starchild]

Originally posted by DarthVeda
This is the way of the French. Strict anti-foreign culture. Got to preserve the French culture.

That is distinctly anti-american since we try to absorb anything and everything. The great melting pot.

But France will never be anything but a nation of xenophobes.

When was the last time you were in France? I've seen diversity and merging of cultures in Paris that rivals any American city.

Chez Zhong is the coolest name for a Franco-Chinese resturant ever.

[Sava]

Originally posted by The diplomat
I think the French government should worry about more important things like the state of the French economy, instead of stupid things like banning words you don't like.

I think a Democratic nation has the right to worry about whatever they like. Some people have a cultural identity that they value. This is hard to understand for Americans who don't really have a culture. The French value their culture. And they take measures to preserve it. There's nothing wrong with that. It's not as if they are invading other countries trying to spread their VALUES! You don't see French missionaries trying to convert "heathens" to become French. Why are people so combative towards the French, but seem to think Christian missionaries are good. I don't get it.

[Velociryx]

Are you kiddin'? That IS the answer to the country's economic woes! A few expanded (or entirely new) government programs to create some jobs, and voila!

And free speech is for wusses....just listen to the head honcho over there, and never miss a good opportunity to shut up....

-=Vel=-

[Drake Tungsten]

I agree this is stupid, but it has little to do with America. The French are snobbish when it comes to their language.

Sava is ... exactly right?

[st_swithin]

Do you know why we have an April Fool's Day?

The French refused to use the same calendar as the rest of the world, so up until a few centuries ago, they'd have been complaining of this crappy Thermidore weather (instead of July).

How many Americans have heard of Bastille Day? How many Americans have heard of April Fool's Day?

I rest my qedA55.

[Boris Godunov]

I suggest we remove all words of French origin from the English language.

Of course, now we will be speaking German, but still...

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Of course, now we will be speaking German, but still...

Deustch!

This is a pretty stupid move But I commend them for successfully trolling the Americans on this board

[Zulu Elephant]

If the majority of the French people (the article doesn't mention numbers) want to protect their language then how dare anyone sit here and call the decision stupid?

If they feel their language - part of their culture - is being eroded then why shouldn't the government attempt to reverse it if the people feel strongly about the subject - It's not like they're banning the word from common usage. They are simply insructing their own civil service to use French rather than English. What could be wrong with that?

As Brits, Americans, Canadians, Australians and the like, it is easy for us to act as if we are morally superior for excepting a VERY FEW foreign terms into our language (can anyone think of more than a handfull over the last decade). Non-English speaking nations are living in an age when virtually ALL new technological developments come with a new English addition to their vocabulary - every day a higher percentage of their language is of english origin.

We may say "What difference does it make where a word comes from" but that is an easy view to take when, unlike the english speaking world, the main pull on their cultural direction is from a single source (American or, more broadly, Anglo-Saxon nations) and not from a hundred different, diverse, new and interesting small sources as in America.

[Sandman]

Doesn't take much to set off the raving French-bashers these days. They're the real xenophobes.

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by Sandman
Doesn't take much to set off the raving French-bashers these days. They're the real xenophobes.

DarthVeda (2)
Vesayen
Vel (2)
Sava
Oerdin
Japher
Plato

[Velociryx]

I'm not sure my posts can be construed as "French-bashing" but...okay....

-=Vel=-

[Velociryx]

Non-English speaking nations are living in an age when virtually ALL new technological developments come with a new English addition to their vocabulary

Hmmm....what does this suggest about where those technological developments come from? I don't really think the English-speaking world should apologize for their innovation, nor for using the English language to term said innovation.

-=Vel=-

[GePap]

The sillyness of the decisions is that it is highly unlikely the French people will actually use this word, and the government won't do much to enforce it from private groups, thought they will change public records, which is ther right to do.

Why not just the French words for mail after E-? That would be just as French, no? That is the other problem, that the academy has to find some way to make the new word exciting or sexy, or at least, not just a direct French translation, but what is wrong with just a direct French translation?

[Zulu Elephant]

Originally posted by Velociryx
Hmmm....what does this suggest about where those technological developments come from?

I think i implied in my post that the new technological innovations had english names because they were being developed in english speaking countries. i would hope that was obvious to most people here.

I don't really think the English-speaking world should apologize for their innovation, nor for using the English language to term said innovation

i never said and never meant that "the English-speaking world should apologize for their innovation".
They should be proud of their innovation but not seek to impose their language upon the rest of their world bacause of it.
"Telephone", "Television" and the like all have different words around the world despite being invented in the English-speaking world. To become angry or offended (as many here seem to be) at the fact that their might be a difference word for "e-mail" somewhere in the world is as ridiculous as becoming angry at a non-English version of television or telephone.

[Velociryx]

Ummm....I'm not angry about it....I just think it's absurd that the French (or anyone else) feels the need to legislate what the "proper" word should be.

That's....even better than the stories of the thousand dollar hammers our own government purchases....

-=Vel=-