July 20, 2003 6:18 AM

Remind me again: what's French for "flaming jackass"??

France Bans the Term 'E-Mail'

Well, let's see...your economy is heading into the toilet, your international credibility is shot, and your hypocrisy and craven self-interest is evident to everyone but your government and your citizens. What are you going to do for an encore? Hey, I know...how about banning the use of a term that has fallen into universal usage? Or you could piss into the wind; the end result would be about the same.

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.

Hmm...I wonder; aren't "pompous", "supercilious", and "asinine" French words that have creeped into the English language?? Of course, France is the same country that thinks Jerry Lewis sits at the right hand of God. Mon Dieu....

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on July 20, 2003 6:18 AM.

Better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and reveal your intolerance and idiocy was the previous entry in this blog.

Now if he had been talking about France.... is the next entry in this blog.

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