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

[johndmuller]

Here's a for the for their efforts to maintain their mellifluous language and delicious cuisine over the years in the face of the substantially lesser alternatives offered by their neighbors. If it comes across a little silly sometimes, we should be all the more grateful that they are willing to pay that price of ridicule too.

[D' Artagnan]

Ridiculous I must agree, however some ppl here have short memory since some of their statemen did such silly actions by renaming French fries to Freedom fries.

and to u have to bash AN ENTIRE NATION JUST because a freak decided to do this ???

BTW, the term is banned on governmental official documents only.
99.99 % of the population probably won't never hear of it.
Anyway, everyone uses e-mail so stop making ado about nothing FFS

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by D' Artagnan
Ridiculous I must agree, however some ppl here have short memory since some of their statemen did such silly actions by renaming French fries to Freedom fries.

and to u have to bash AN ENTIRE NATION JUST because a freak decided to do this ???

BTW, the term is banned on governmental official documents only.
99.99 % of the population probably won't never hear of it.
Anyway, everyone uses e-mail so stop making ado about nothing FFS

DL! DL! DL!

[GePap]

Telephone and Television are barely english words, anymore than Telegraph and Automobile are. The basis for such words are Latin and Greek, and thus are about as French as they are English.
It is different for the innovations of the computer age, since they are much less likely to be named using Geek and Latin roots, and more likely to get idosyncratic English names, like Spam.

But e-mail is not that hard to understand without English. Most people who speak Spanish probalby use e-mail, but if you said correo electronico, they would know what you were talking about. I don't know that if you went to the basic Frenchman they would know what courriel was meant to mean.

Plus, what is the problem with the French using more English words? All thast means is that they end up bilingual, as opposed to Anglo-Saxon monolingualism (if they know even that many..)

[Velociryx]

Good point....however renaming French Fries to Freedom Fries didn't come from a government mandate....

-=Vel=-

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by Velociryx
Good point....however renaming French Fries to Freedom Fries didn't come from a government mandate....

-=Vel=-

Your right. Only in congress cafeterias do "Freedom Fries" live

[Velociryx]

Too right, Tass....which is stupid enough on its own....as if the Congress didn't have better and more important stuff to do.

-=Vel=-

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by Velociryx
Too right, Tass....which is stupid enough on its own....as if the Congress didn't have better and more important stuff to do.

-=Vel=-

Well as they say: If con is the opposite of pro, then the opposite of progress is......

[Zulu Elephant]

Originally posted by 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.

With emotive declarations on this thread that the plan is "a stupid move anyway" and "distinctly anti-american" and that " France will never be anything but a nation of xenophobes" the topic had obviously made some people deeply pissed off for some reason.

Telephone and Television are barely english words, anymore than Telegraph and Automobile are. The basis for such words are Latin and Greek, and thus are about as French as they are English.

I dont understand the point you're trying to make. There are differences in words for (relatively) new technology and so surely that proves my point that we dont have to all have the same words for them.
And I dont see how words having the same root in Latin or Greek has anything to do with this debate.

It is different for the innovations of the computer age, since they are much less likely to be named using Geek and Latin roots, and more likely to get idosyncratic English names, like Spam.

How can idiosyncracy be used as a defence when you just used similarity/a common root as a defence?

[General Ludd]

Heaven forbid that a government uses it's own language.

[Drake Tungsten]

This isn't a government using its own language. This is a government artificially altering the development of said language, in the interests of cultural chauvinism.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
This isn't a government using its own language. This is a government artificially altering the development of said language, in the interests of cultural chauvinism.

How so? All they are doing is telling Goverment workers to use the state language.

[Drake Tungsten]

How so? All they are doing is telling Goverment workers to use the state language.

Did you even read the article? "E-mail" is the most common term in France, but the government decided that it was diluting the language and ordered the new term "courriel" (taken from Quebec, it seems) to be used instead. The government is obviously attempting to stop the incorporation of English terms into the French language, to preserve the "purity" of the French language. Not unexpected behavior from the French, but stupid nonetheless.

[Zulu Elephant]

Originally posted by Osweld
Heaven forbid that a government uses it's own language.

This is the whole argument summed up in one sentence.

The French government isn't forcing it's citizens to change the way they speak

The French government isn't forcing it's citizens to change the way they write

The French government isn't telling the world that the French language is the 'correct' one

The French government isn't trying to force other nations to follow it's lead

THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT HAD DECIDED TO SPEAK FRENCH!

and all anyone can do tell them how arrogant they are.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

How so? All they are doing is telling Goverment workers to use the state language.

Did you even read the article?

I didn't bother reading all of it, since it's more bias then news.

"E-mail" is the most common term in France, but the government decided that it was diluting the language and ordered the new term "courriel" (taken from Quebec, it seems) to be used instead. The government is obviously attempting to stop the incorporation of English terms into the French language, to preserve the "purity" of the French language. Not unexpected behavior from the French, but stupid nonetheless.

They haven't banned the general use of the word email, all they have done is begun using a litteral french translation of the word in all government documents and publications.