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French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail'
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Kraken
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PostPosted: 18-Jul-2003 16:16    Post subject: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

http://member.compuserve.com/news/story.jsp?floc=MM7-FF-APO-1120&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20030718%2F104416727.htm&sc=1120

According to the article, in order to help slow down the number of foreign words and phrases filtering into the French lexicon, the French government has now announced that the phrase 'e-mail' will be banned from use in all official publications and documents; a hybrid French word meaning 'electronic mail' will be substituted instead.

Anyone other than me wondering why they didn't decide to use this word in the first place?

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[ This Message was edited by: Kraken on 2003-07-18 16:17 ]
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chihawk
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PostPosted: 18-Jul-2003 16:20    Post subject: RE: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

That link is dead for all non-compuserve users.

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Kraken
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PostPosted: 18-Jul-2003 16:41    Post subject: RE: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

Transcript:

France Bans the Term 'E-Mail'
By JAMEY KEATEN

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.

``The word 'courriel' is not at all actively used,'' Marie-Christine Levet, president of French Internet service provider Club Internet, said Friday. ``E-mail has sunk in to our values.''

She said Club Internet wasn't changing the words it uses.

``Protecting the language is normal, but e-mail's so assimilated now that no one thinks of it as American,'' she said. ``Courriel would just be a new word to launch.''


07/18/03 10:44

© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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Slythis
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PostPosted: 18-Jul-2003 16:42    Post subject: RE: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

Hmm... for my fellow history buffs, does this remind you of what was happening in Japan prior to the second world war? The banning of forein phrases to jumpstart nationalism. Who hear feels that France may start a war sometime in the next 10 year?

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chihawk
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PostPosted: 18-Jul-2003 16:43    Post subject: RE: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

I have no opinion of the French...

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Horhiro
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PostPosted: 18-Jul-2003 18:00    Post subject: RE: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

in response I think the US gov should ban the use of the word "Brie". It should be replaces with "That lame-ass French cheese"



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PostPosted: 18-Jul-2003 18:40    Post subject: RE: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

Quote:

On 2003-07-18 16:42, Slythis wrote:
Who hear feels that France may start a war sometime in the next 10 year?




Has France got some hot shot foreign general so they'd actually win a few battles?

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PostPosted: 18-Jul-2003 19:09    Post subject: RE: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

Maybe they cloned Napolean... or he got away from Bill and Ted again
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Slythis
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PostPosted: 18-Jul-2003 21:51    Post subject: RE: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

Quote:

On 2003-07-18 18:40, Ruger wrote:

Has France got some hot shot foreign general so they'd actually win a few battles?

Ruger



lol, get this I didn't have any opinion about the French until I was called an ignorant American for telling them (15 of them, 3 of those History buffs) that Napolean wasn't French.

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PostPosted: 19-Jul-2003 02:19    Post subject: RE: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

Doesnt this remind you of FREEDOM Toast and FREEDOM fries.



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PostPosted: 19-Jul-2003 12:06    Post subject: RE: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

hey we did BAN calling them french fries or french toast in all official government documents, besides how often do thoughs things get mentioned?

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Talen
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PostPosted: 19-Jul-2003 12:25    Post subject: RE: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

I bet it cost like $450,000 to get it all changed too.

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PostPosted: 19-Jul-2003 14:46    Post subject: RE: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

It's not exactly news that the French government wants to protect the language. They've long had this thing for making France look like they never spoke anything else. Perhaps something to do with losing most of the old empire?

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PostPosted: 21-Jul-2003 07:45    Post subject: RE: French Government to Ban the Phrase 'E-mail' Reply to topic Reply with quote

They don't stand up when it's a life and death situation, but raise holy hell over a world in their Lexicon?????

I'm getting a headache....:\



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