France bans term 'e-mail'

MIKE BURN · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2003 5:40 pm Post subject: France bans term 'e-mail'

Quote:
France bans term 'e-mail'

PARIS (AP) — Goodbye "e-mail", the French government says, and hello "courriel" — the term that linguistically sensitive France is now using to refer to electronic mail in official documents.

The Culture Ministry has announced a ban on the use of "e-mail" in all government ministries, documents, publications or Web sites, the latest step to stem an incursion of English words into the French lexicon.

The ministry's General Commission on Terminology and Neology insists Internet surfers in France are broadly using the term "courrier electronique" (electronic mail) instead of e-mail — a claim some industry experts dispute. "Courriel" is a fusion of the two words.

"Evocative, with a very French sound, the word 'courriel' is broadly used in the press and competes advantageously with the borrowed 'mail' in English," the commission has ruled.

The move to ban "e-mail" was announced last week after the decision was published in the official government register on June 20. Courriel is a term that has often been used in French-speaking Quebec, the commission said.

The 7-year-old commission has links to the Academie Francaise, the prestigious institution that has been one of the top opponents of allowing English terms to seep into French.

Some Internet industry experts say the decision is artificial and doesn't reflect reality.

DreamTone7 · Joined: 20 Sep 2002 Posts: 2571

France.

I can think of no other country that is more self-absorbed.

Galmin · The King has spoken! Joined: 30 Dec 2001 Posts: 1711

I can.

LarreeMP3 · Joined: 12 Apr 2002 Posts: 1935

The French are retarded.

LarreeMP3 · Joined: 12 Apr 2002 Posts: 1935

Hey. It's one thing to call French fries freedom fries in protest, but we haven't made the term illegal! The French are RETARDS!

Galmin · The King has spoken! Joined: 30 Dec 2001 Posts: 1711

ILLEGAL??

LarreeMP3 · Joined: 12 Apr 2002 Posts: 1935

Yes. Illegal. That's what I read. As I said. The French are RETARDS!

Galmin · The King has spoken! Joined: 30 Dec 2001 Posts: 1711

Why? Because they protect their language from overly influence of foreign terms (in this case an English term adapted from the the French "a loop of knitting" with a E for electronic in front of it [Middle English, from Old French, of Germanic origin.Source: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.

Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

])? They have been doing this for a long time. It is nothing new.

You want to know what's really retarded?

To block the "french" out of french fries only because it says french

(the french fries origins from Belgium, btw, not France).

What's next? "freedom toast" and FREEDOM TICKLERS?? :laugh

How about changing Hamburger, since the name origins from the German city Hamburg, into "Freedomers"? :laugh

"Would you like Freedom Fries with your Freedomer?"

Edited by: Galmin at: 7/19/03 12:56 pm

Galmin · The King has spoken! Joined: 30 Dec 2001 Posts: 1711

Ok, so what's the penalty for using the word in france??? :laugh

MIKE BURN · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2003 1:06 pm Post subject: Re: Retarded?

I don't know the actual money catalogue for using "e-mail" instead of "courriel"

However, there exists since more than a year a banning

of english terms in advertising.

So if you advertise for example "Cool Drinks" in your restaurant

in the newspaper... that's a EURO 20,000 fine then

DreamTone7 · Joined: 20 Sep 2002 Posts: 2571

When a country tries to block out influence from all other countries, I would say that they have a pretty high view of themselves....almost to the point of being zenophobes (isolationists). This is the opposite of America, where we ask for your tired and huddled masses, and invite all kinds of differing cultures into our country. French fries, Belgian waffles, German chocolate, etc., etc., etc. America has always been the melting pot....the opposite of France.

No comparison, Galmin. None at all.

debbie mannas · Joined: 30 Sep 2002 Posts: 1352

those were the principles America was founded on DT, its true, and I know that from personal experience, I have immediate family living and working there. But its changing. It feels like the population is polarised and there are those who would wish to have the world change itself to suit the US.

And if rummy and cheney and the rest of the gang have their way, thats how it will be.

www.newamericancentury.org/

and here's some commentary about the PNAC:

www.prisonplanet.com/anal..._pnac.html

"We are witnessing the Trance-Formation of our great Country from one that stood for freedom, justice, refuge from oppression, and an opportunity for a better life based on principles worth dying for (as many did), to the new emerging American Empire reminiscent of the Roman Empire. The movies "The Fall of the Roman Empire" and "Quo Vadis" with Robert Taylor and Peter Ustinov are definitely worth watching. It is difficult for the average, decent person to imagine or believe what unscrupulous and ruthless people do and how they think. Americans need to ask the hard questions that the press usually avoid, and connect the dots for themselves. If we are told to jump off a cliff, should we do it? Of course not. But if we do not stand up for what is good, lovely, and true we will surely be dragged along down the long and dark, shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight. We must diligently question and resist the immorality of this new policy of endless war with an endless budget, provided for by putting the squeeze on hardworking taxpayers who are also expected to sacrifice their own cherished offspring as toy soldiers in their end wargame, on the altar of bloody sacrifices. World politics are a chessboard upon which tyrants insanely intoxicated with power, play people like pawns of the game."

**************************

I know of no other administration trying to impose its views on the rest of the world, while over half the country is so insular, it believes the rubbish fed to them by its pro-govt media without question, do you?

DreamTone7 · Joined: 20 Sep 2002 Posts: 2571

"World politics are a chessboard upon which tyrants insanely intoxicated with power, play people like pawns of the game."

A bit "colorful" in an unnecessary way, but essentially correct. But if you really want to see what is going on, take a step back further. (Are you familiar with Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"?) It is happening all over the world (not just in America), and nothing is going to stop it from reaching its logical conclusion. The future is being traded away for greed in the present. Economics, ecology, morals, you name it. It's all going down the tubes. This all could not happen if the entire world were not involved. I pick on France because they don't seem to consider "the world" as anything outside the borders of their own country. They are a classic example of what NOT to do. (And this is also why the Germans have, historically, ripped them to peices every time.)

So, you have a choice. Rail against it, and be trod under the wheels of its progress......or, REFUSE TO PLAY THE GAME! Do what is right yourself, and it will catch on just as sure as the flu would. Concentrate on your own sphere of influence.....not on guys like Bush, or Putin (who deserves to be railed at as the first president of a major power with direct connections to the resident mafia.....how many times have we seen AK-47s and other popular Russian designs turn up in many countries.....not just Iraq?) These "big-wigs" are laughing at those who rail against them......the ones they are worried about are the ones who don't "play the game".

And now, here's where I mention that big politically incorrect word, Christianity. You wanna know how not the play the game? It's all there in the Bible.

BTW, hasn't a self-proclaimed intellectual such as yourself ever wondered why Christianity is politically incorrect? And where the concept of "political correctness" came from, and why it was put amongst us? Many "politically incorrect" issues are such because "somebody" is afraid of these subjects and what they might lead to, methinks!

debbie mannas · Joined: 30 Sep 2002 Posts: 1352

Quote:
BTW, hasn't a self-proclaimed intellectual such as yourself ever wondered why Christianity is politically incorrect?

Self-proclaimed??? where, when? proof please.

I would think YOU'RE the self-proclaimed intellectual. I never claimed to be an intellectual, period.

As to your question - is Christianity politically incorrect? If it is, the news hadn't reached me, sorry. I'm a Christian/Catholic, and what it means to me is two things "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you" and "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you". If we follow these we'll be OK, cause it covers everything you can think of, unless of course you're a masochist.

I DO NOT believe that people of other faiths are doomed, or that MY faith is the only one give to us by God. I believe in the other faiths as well. They all were handed down in different ages, by different messengers. They all say the same thing: love and peace. Its MEN that have bastardized them, putting in "God said this and God said that" in order to get people to tow the line in those societies.

Anyway, lets not get me started on religion and how it has be used for the greedy and selfish purposes of man.

Rev9Volts · Joined: 10 Jul 2003 Posts: 1327

debbie you could easily describe yourself as a pagan/catholic or better pagan/christian or judiasm/pagan. catholocism is a combination paganism and judaism.