the french ban term "e-mail"..

[scalf]

[img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] can always count on fi-fi's to take a stand....

it is no longer allowed to use term e-mail in france...

the preferred term is.."courriel"

gl [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/club.gif[/img]

[Mark Heide]

scalf,

I think it is just a matter of the French not wanting any English words to become part of their language. But, I wonder what the French would think if we started calling it courriel too.

Good Luck

Mark

[Ray Zee]

yea lets take out the french words from english. how about changing the french word we use when kids go to the bathroom. wee wee.

[HDPM]

I was at a state Republican convention one year and some idiots had a big push for one of those "English Only" deals. they wanted to make sure only English could be used in state government. I pointed out to a particularly dull-witted one that we were having our conference in Coeur d'Alene. He didn't get it.

Later I was called a subversive liberal by a guy from Coeur d'Alene. I think it was over something else tho.

[Cyrus]

The issue of language as something "fixed" or "unchanging", were it not for those damn "illiterates" (eg peasants) and those "subversive forces" (eg rappers), is as old as language itself. But this is about French and not about the purity of all languages.

French have been trying to stem the tide of the English language in everything, art, science, politics, etc. And they have been more than moderately successful! The moment an English word becomes widely used, (especially among the young) they try to give birth to an appropriate French term. Sometimes they will use an already existing word, other times a completely new one will be invented that will have strong lingustic or at least signifier connections to the original English term.

And I'm sure you all know that all English-speaking movies are shown with overdubs in the French cinemas. ("Version Originale" is also available in some.) As is the case in Itay, Germany, and elsewhere.

It's all a case of proportion and of balance of (political) power. The English language has its own "foreign" words and its own worries about being "invaded". But things are taken much, much more casually in the English-speaking countries. I won't bore you elaborating on the obvious reason why.

[Dr Wogga]

....like I do. The good Dr continues to say boycott the bastard frogs.

[Cyrus]

and the Canadians and the Germans and the Chinese and the Belgians and the Turks and the Russians and the Austrians and the Danes and the Greeks and . . .

[M.B.E.]

<font color="purple">I think it is just a matter of the French not wanting any English words to become part of their language. But, I wonder what the French would think if we started calling it courriel too.</font color>

I'm sure they wouldn't mind. There already is a huge amount of English vocabulary with a French etymology.

[M.B.E.]

The French government has simply set a standard for language usage by government institutions. There's nothing wrong with that. I imagine that the U.S. government has some sort of usage manual for U.S. government institutions.

Individuals and businesses in France are still free to use any word they like for "e-mail".

[Bill Murphy]

"Later I was called a subversive liberal by a guy from Coeur d'Alene. I think it was over something else tho."

Was it your position on gun control? [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]