clarke@csri.toronto.edu (Jim Clarke) (01/16/89)
Here's an excerpt from an editorial in the Manchester Guardian Weekly,
taken without permission (as the burglar said) from the January 8 edition.
[A preliminary paragraph discussing official efforts in France to expunge
Anglicisms from the French language is omitted.]
This concern with linguistic purity is clearly inspired by France's envy
of Anglo-Saxon practice which, as is well known, sets its face like flint
against all overseas importations. Regular visitors to London report
with awe on the capacity of the English of all social classes for keeping
the language clean. From the blase' habitue's of the London clubs --
raconteurs, bon viveurs, hommes d'affaires -- with their penchant for
bonhomie and camaraderie, through the soi-disant bien-pensants of the
passe' liberal press to the demi-monde of the jeunesse dore'e, where
inge'nues in risque' de'colletages dine a` deux, te^te a` te^te
[sorry if I'm getting the accents wrong; I'm not used to them in English]
and a` la carte with their louche nouveau riche fiance's in brasseries
and estaminets, pure English is de rigueur, and the mildest infusion of
French considered de trop, de'ja vu, cliche', devoid of all cachet; a
linguistic me'lange or bouillabaisse, a cultural cul-de-sac.
[another paragraph in the same style omitted]
You may reasonably take this as mockery -- presumably gentle -- of the
French, and I think probably that's how the newspaper meant it. But I'm
only repeating it here because it's amusing to see just how much undigested
French we actually accept as English, not because I think the French are
being silly, much less the Quebecois.
As I typed the passage, it occurred to me also that a few of the words are
not ones we in Canada would ordinarily accept as English. Clearly the
British are still adopting French words, and presumably we here are doing
the same. "Francophone", for a nearly self-referential example.
--
Jim Clarke -- Dept. of Computer Science, Univ. of Toronto, Canada M5S 1A4
(416) 978-4058
BITNET,CSNET: clarke@csri.toronto.edu CDNNET: clarke@csri.toronto.cdn
UUCP: {allegra,cornell,decvax,linus,utzoo}!utcsri!clarkelamy@ai.utoronto.ca (Jean-Francois Lamy) (01/16/89)
For the curious, Montre'al's "La Presse" of January 9 (or thereabouts) has a letter in the same style, using about 100 English words added to the Larousse Illustre' 1989, most of which would not be considered French around here. Jean-Francois Lamy lamy@ai.utoronto.ca, uunet!ai.utoronto.ca!lamy AI Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Canada M5S 1A4
rbutterworth@watmath.waterloo.edu (Ray Butterworth) (01/17/89)
In fact, for many years there was a trend towards replacing the original English words with French (or Latinized) forms. A recent example (in the last 100 years) would be the use of "-ise" endings instead of the formerly and still correct "-ize". Most English nouns that have both a common and a fancy name (e.g. cattle vs. beef, fowl vs. poultry, build vs. construct, tap vs. faucet, graveyard vs. cemetery, womb vs. uterus, god vs. deity, drunk vs. intoxicated, room vs. chamber), are usually examples of English vs. Latin forms. For many years the public use of many of the original English words has been completely banned. e.g. most of the "4-letter" words. Polite people use only the Latinized forms since the other words indicate that one is "common" or "vulgar". How many other languages have been made illegal and had their use in public punishable under law? Better yet, in how many places are the people so brain-washed that they are ashamed to use their native language in countries that claim that same language as their official language? The Norman Conquest was definitely that.