French ban the word e-mail

UH,OH!

The French have invaded Seattle.....hmm, uh, nevermind.

Originally posted by Freddie

The French have been trying to get rid of foreign words for some time now. I believe they are they only country that is doing that.

You never met and spoke with a german, isn't it ?

Most cultures on this planet are xenophobic...

Originally posted by Salem
Most cultures on this planet are xenophobic...

Most or ALL ?

Originally posted by Freddie
The French are so arrogant. I wish they would get it through their thick skulls that they nolonger have any power, militarilly, economically, or culturally.

If you meant the French government, then you should have said so in the first place. Besides, the three points you made are all false. The French are militarily and economically one of the strongest nations in Europe and the world.

Militarily - French law requires all young men to do several years of national service, either in work of national importance or military service. This ensures that they have a strong army. They also possess a large stockpile of nuclear weapons.

Economically - The French eonomy is one of the strongest in the world. Industry is widespread and thriving, and France exports more than most other European nations. France is one of the worlds richest nations, and subsequently it's citizens have in general an excellent standard of living.

Culturally - French culture has huge influence across the globe. Their language is the official language of many nations, particularly in North and West Africa. It is spoken in Quebec, parts of Belgium, Switzerland and in Luxembourg. French words and phrases like "Cul-de-sac", "entrepreneur" and "Je ne sais qu'oi" are internationally recognised. French cuisine is eaten around the globe and regarded by many as the best in the world. And above all the French way of life is a wonderful one. If you actually took the time to visit the country and experience their culture, you would understand why they want to maintain and protect it. I doubt you really know anything at all about the county you're insulting.

To qoute your glorious leader, George Dubya Bush,
"The French don't have a word for entrepreneur".

That about sums up what I'm saying. Americans know very little about France, but the judge the Frecnh and hate them with a horrible prejudice.

[Edited on 20-7-2003 by CiderGood_HeadacheBad]

Trust the French to do this , what wrong with saying "e-mail"?

Originally posted by ultra_phoenix

Originally posted by Salem
Most cultures on this planet are xenophobic...

Most or ALL ?

Most, it is a human nature.

how exactly do you ban a word?

This has been going on for more than thirty years as aprt of the French governmental fight against "franglais" the gradual overtaking of French by English loans. France is not alone in this ; but France does it most energetically. Efforts include "official" vocabulary -such as the players on a football pitch, limits on English language pop music and TV programmes in the media, massive subsidies for the Frenc language film industry, heavy expenditure on "francophonie" (the French speaking world: largely former colonies) and on promoting French language and culture abroad such as the Alliance Fran�aise.
English is lucky: its grammar doesn't make it worry too much about genders or about endings of verbs and so on, and English can pretty much absorb any word and it becomes "English".
At the time fo the Renaissance when there was a massive influx of Latinate and Greek words into English there was a short-lived effort to do the same with English e.g. using "-craft" rather than "-ology" but it had no success and English happily lives with thousands of "doublets" e.g. "brotherly" and "fraternal"; "egg-shaped" beside "oval.
Other languages can have problems. One way around them is by what linguists call "calques": you take the native meaning of a word and turn the parts into your own equivalents: German is very fond of this e.g. "television" = "far(Gk) + see (Latin) and German gets "Fernseh-" (=German "far see") or "capital (city)" (from Latin for "head" becomes "Hauptstadt", or "submaine" becomes "Unterseebot".
French generally follows this path and "le goalie" becomes a "gardien-but" etc. or "le weekend" "fin de semaine".
As an true Englishman, born of fifty generations of Englishmen, Estragon is, of course, genetically predisposed to ridicule if not violently attack all things Froggish and Frogsome. However, I do have some sympathy here. I'd guess that -without immodesty -I may know more about the international spread of English than most, if not all, on the board (it's been my career for quite some time) and I can assure posters that the impact of English is simply colossal: it destroys other languages as it effectively destroyed Welsh, Gaelic and Erse (Irish) before.. Ideally, people would know two languages: their own and English (English is vital) but one can sympathise with the French whose language was the international language of diplomacy until 1918 and is now under threat in its own land. It's probably a losing battle; but I do hope they put up a decent fight. The loss of a language is a genuine human disaster.

I did not realize Germany was doing this as well. That is even more silly since English, French, and Spanish are the most widely used languages on the globe. Nobody speaks German except for the Germans, as far as I know. And yes, I do know German, speakers, including my mother. Unfortunately, all I remember from the language is what she would say to me when she was angry. Oh, and the German spoken in WWII movies.

I attended one semester of school in Aix-en-Provence, France. It was the most miserable month of my life. French food is good but totally over-rated, the French stink, traffic is loud, they are arrogant far beyond what you can conceive, there is urine and feces all over the sidewalks (and not all of it from dogs) and finally French women (contrary to popular belief) are butt-ugly.

In music stores, I noticed signs stating "K-7". I assumed it to be a new band but no. It French seven is pronounced "Ka set". To keep from anglosizing the word Cassette, they use K7.

The real irony is, casssette is a French word!

If I could pull a Sam Peckinpaw(sp?) in Dr. Strangelove and the target were Paris, I would gladly volunteer.

P.S. I've been to 65 countries and love them all, except France, so is it me or is it them?

Here in Spain we use the term 'correo-e', that is 'Correo electr�nico', the exact translation of 'Electronic mail'.

�It's a crime to translate things to your own language?

Then think about this. Destroyers are coined after the ancient Spanish Armada vessel 'Destructor'.

[Edited on 2003-7-20 by MakodFilu]

I am German so maybe I can clarify a few things. First the French factor. THe French have indeed for sometime, a sub-Cabinet level committee in the goverment to keep French "pure". Edicts from this committee MUST be complied to by all governmental agencies. The public does not HAVE to go along, but they ususally do.

By the way, French Fries are Belgian in origin. The French refer to Belgians as "Frites Mayonaise" or French Fries with mayonaise.

On the German Side, Duden is the equivilant to the Oxford Un-Abridged Dictionary and is considered the ultimate authority in German words.

The newest gimmick to sell textbooks is called Rechtsscreibreform. This is an official attempt to "make German easier" for foreigners. My opinion, it's crap, German would be super easy without the Der, Die, Das Atirkles.

Germ-English as I call it, is overall, new English words creep in every day. There is to my knowledge no movement or legislation to stop it. My theory is German will become a polyglot language like English.

...are you Americans all arrogant ignorant war-mongers who think nothing about killing thousands to further your own world domination?? Are you ALL heart-less killers, are you ALL merely focussed on immediate gratification... 'give it to me now! Bigger! Faster! More more more'...are you without substance if you are without some obnoxiously large SUV...
[Edited on 20-7-2003 by alien]

Just the republicans.

Thanks, JER, I thought I would of heard of a movement by Germany to keep out foreign words if it existed.

Then everyone agrees the French can do whatever they want regarding how they use their language, isn't it?

All in all, it's their language. Period.

Originally posted by MakodFilu
Then everyone agrees the French can do whatever they want regarding how they use their language, isn't it?

All in all, it's their language. Period.

Yeah, totally agree.

Originally posted by MakodFilu
Then everyone agrees the French can do whatever they want regarding how they use their language, isn't it?

All in all, it's their language. Period.

Sure, why not? If they have no military, economic, or cultural power, why not let them have pure French?

Originally posted by Freddie
Sure, why not? If they have no military, economic, or cultural power, why not let them have pure French?

French is the only country besides USA that have a CVN, being it a good vessel or not. They have an impressive Navy and military independence, that is, no foreign components needed.

It is one of the leading economies.

It's cultural influence is worldwide.

You know you have no sense, but this is off-topic anyways...

P.S.: 'Destructor', 'siesta', LA, 'caldera', 'Vulcano', the aforementioned 'cassette', 'diskette', 'patatas', 'tomates',... Remembers you of something?

[Edited on 2003-7-20 by MakodFilu]

Why are so many Americans getting so shook up about it? I find "Freedom Fries" to be a FAR more pathetic idea than the e-mail one. If Italy were to disagree with America about something, would you call Pasta Freedom-asta? GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR