Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Comical Reaction to OQLF French Sign Initiative

In reaction to the OQLF's announcement that it will renew its fight to get businesses to adopt French names, Quebeckers are divided into two camps. First are the language hardliners who agree with the language cops and then there are those who are against the initiative, the overwhelming majority, who quite frankly don't give a crap.

I make this statement based on the hundreds of reader comments published under media stories in French online news sites, the vast majority, highly negative towards the OQLF initiative.

Some of the reactions are downright funny, others scathingly sarcastic, with most readers offering the opinion that they don't see a need for a name change for Future Shop or Best Buy, as long as service is offered in French and as long as prices are reasonable.

The very first comment under a news story about the OQLF announcement on the Radio-Canada website probably said it all;
"There is a difference between protection and promotion of a language and the chronic antagonism towards Anglophones. The  paranoids see assimilation everywhere and hide their desire for revenge behind the great virtue of the survival of French in North America."- Joseph Arthur  LINK
Gilles Proulx, the insufferable bigot, is representative of these language paranoids, who once again ranted against the English on television, telling the whopper that 70% of stores in the Champlain Mall in south shore Brossard have English names. He was so confident that he promised that  he'd cast his soul into a fire, if it wasn't true.

Of course it isn't true, not even close. Of Champlain Mall's 138 stores, only 19 store names (about 14%) can be categorized as English. Lucky for Mr. Proulx, that he doesn't have a soul to lose!
Monaco • Naturalizer OnlyDavids TeaPresident StoneSpring  • StylexchangeJugo JuiceU.S.A.Urban Planet • SirensPayless ShoesourcePolar IceBellVirgin MobileTrade Secrets • Subway Forever XXIThe Children's Place.
By the way, I did a little research in trying to ascertain if A&W or H&M and other store names that include an ampersand (&) are exclusively English. It seems that the 'esperluette' is proper French, but rarely used because it isn't much of a saving over the word it replaces- 'et',  However, perfectly acceptable French!

Of course there are some stores that sport proper names that are clearly English, like Laura Secord or Bentley,  but if Mr. Proulx chooses to include these as offensively English, he displays the same mentality as those enthusiastic attendees at the Wanasee Conference, where the Nazis met, way back when,  to establish the definition of who was a Jew, in anticipation of designating those eligible for the Final Solution.
And by the way, even if he included the English proper names, it would only bring the total up to about 25%, a far cry from THE 70% figure he quotes.

As for the comments here's a taste of what is being said.

Note to readers;
All these comments were originally written in French and while I have translated them myself, it occurs to me that the finished product is far from perfect. Translation is not just about speaking the other language, it is an art form, of which I admit to being imperfect. Those of you who are bilingual know the pitfalls.
I humbly apologize for any imperfection. I promise readers that I didn't use Google Translate.
"....By the way, what will you do with IKEA? Van Houtte? Volkswagen? CIBC? HSBC? Aviva? With nonsense like this, one day Ontario will require Bombardier to change its name. Not too impressive!" -Jacques Famery from Joliette
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"As someone wrote earlier, what would we think of a country that would require the Cirque du Soleil, a brand known throughout the world, to change its name to The Circus of the Sun?
.... There are far more important topics, such as the French language of immigrants, and the fact that   50% of
Quebeckers are functionally illiterate.
Another surreal debate, created over nothing on a completely non-existent problem..."
- Michel Sylvestre de Mont-Royal

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"More small potatoes to discuss, offered to make us forget the immense traffic problems and the embarrassment that is the Ministry of Transport. Meant to lead us to believe that the government is doing something when the truth is that it is doing nothing as in the case of collusion/corruption in the construction industry. It's nothing more than a diversion."
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"This is  for those Québécois who don't speak a word of English, just in case they go to Best Buy to buy groceries. I do not know one Québécois who doesn't know what Best Buy, Future Shop, or Canadian Tire sells? All this is just smoke and mirrors!"  -Mitchell Begin, Montreal
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"Mr. Rioux, you write "It is not about the protection of the French language, but a plot to exterminate of all that is English."
What a relevant comment! Indeed, an Italian name, Portuguese or another is never targeted, only the English names. Paranoia against the English? Absolutely."- Marianne Longfield South Shore
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"This is nonsense. You can go to China, Germany, France or Mogadishu, companies do not change their name. Only in Quebec is there a mass anti-English hysteria. Hysteria based on the unfounded fear of assimilation. This assimilation is not real, French in Quebec is increasing. In Montreal, it's just a shift of French population to the suburbs. Elsewhere in Quebec, English is losing ground. Montreal is not Quebec.
Should Bombardier be called "Bomber" "bombardeo" or "bombefly" depending on where the products are exported?

Only in Quebec does an ex-FLQer bomb a Second-Cup store, just because it has an English name .... -Christian Rioux, --------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Does the restaurant "los tres amigos" need to be changed to "les trois amis", or is this rule exclusively  for English names and not for other languages?" - Edgardo Nunez de Montreal
And finally, for those who read French, these comments can't really be translated;
"On pourrait changer le prénom des gens un coup parti... quelqu'un dont le prénom est Dan devrait automatiquement s'appeler Daniel, Micheal -->Michel, Andrew --> André, John James --> Jean.... Ah! Dans ce cas si c'est déja fait."- Louis Lachance de Québec City
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"Donc, si on récapitule:

Dunkin' Donuts = Beignets de Dunkin
Canadian Tire = Pneu Canadien
Loblaws = Lois de Lob
Home Depot = Dépôt de maison
Home Hardware = Gugusses de maison
Second Cup = Deuxième Tasse
Sunlife = Vie de soleil
Walmart = Marché de Wal
Bell Canada = Cloche Canadienne
Nickels = Cinq cennes
Future Shop = Usine du futur
Best Buy = Meilleur achat
Ikea = Débrouilles-toi !
Brick = La brique
Scores = Et compte!
Red Lobster = Homard rouge
General Motor = Moteur général

Et finalement,
iPad de Apple = iTablette de Pomme (mon favoris) :oD Patricya Lacerte, Laval
The OQLF does of course have its fans and Impératif français is one of its biggest boosters. The French language lobby recently complained that:
"Despite the decline of French over the last 20 years, which has actually  accelerated in recent years, Impératif français observed a decline in the number of complaints filed with the OQLF as well as a decline in the number of complaints transferred to the  Attorney General of Quebec for prosecution, to denounce disrespect of the fundamental language rights of Quebecers." LINK{FR}
The organization went on to beseech Quebecers to deposit more complaints at the OQLF and gave instructions on how to do so, including where to go online to get a complaint form.

Being a civic-minded sort of person, I decided to help out and so I filed my own complaint!!!






Argggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!..............


62 comments:

  1. Dunkin' Donuts = Pâtisserie ou restaurant Dunkin' donuts

    Canadian Tire = Quincaillerie Canadian tire

    Loblaws = Alimentation ou supermarché Loblaws

    Home Depot = Quincaillerie Home depot

    Home Hardware = Quincaillerie Home hardware

    Second Cup = Les Cafés Second Cup

    Sunlife = Assurances ou services financiers Sunlife

    Walmart = Magasins Wal-Marde

    Bell Canada = Bell Canada

    Nickels = Restaurant Nickels

    Future Shop = Élestronique Futur shop

    Best Buy = Élestronique Best Buy

    Ikea = Ameublement Ikéa

    Brick = Ameublement Brick

    Scores = Rôtisserie Scores

    Red Lobster = Restaurant Red lobster

    General Motor = General motor

    Apple iPad = Tablette électronique Apple

    Est-ce que cela vous éclaire un peu plus ou vous voulez continuer a répandre des faussetés?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Editor:

    Another good piece. What I find most interesting is that Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest has Anglo blood in him yet does sweet f---all to counteract this; in fact, he appoints a zealous old, ugly, bulldog-faced hateful bitch from the linguistically ugly past as head of the language gestappo.

    If the so-called majority is getting fed up with the B.S., WTF is this chimpanzee of a premier trying to prove by antagonizing the so-called majority of the population, French-speaking and otherwise?

    I've been hearing it's a MINORITY who are language superzealots for lack of a better term, yet nobody, BUT NOBODY, fights these francofascist bastards. Yes, BASTARDS! Howard Galganov got the title of his late 90s book right on the nose. BASTARDS!

    If Francophones are as belevolent as some people want to believe, why do the politicians time after time after time after time give into these bastards each and every time? Passive resistance sure as hell hasn't worked! Divide and conquer hasn't worked!

    The only reason the cukoo birds who destroy property (Second Cup) and bodily threaten the likes of Hugo Shabbeare and his family get arrested is because these are federal offenses. If it wasn't within federal jurisdiction to enforce these laws, I'm sure the perpetrators would get away with what they do.

    Has the SQ arrested ANYONE who committed arsen and sabotage to those summer homes owned by Jews in Val David? Hell, a random resident interviewed on the news practically condoned the actions taken by the racists who committed these cowardly acts because they were perceived as too anti-social. It's an individual's free right to say "hello" to another person or remain silent. A person placed under arrest has the right to remain silent.

    As long as successive Quebec governments allow this nonsense to continue, as long as they perpetuate such policies, this type of action and supporting a language police that indeed does target English far more than other lanugages, but also including those other languages, will never end. NEV-VER!

    BTW, Editor, does the OQLF provide the complaint forms in English. My guess is you'll be shooting for bacon and créton meat out of the sky before they do!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Patricya Lacerte 1 «Appuyez le 9» 0.

    Patricia's analogy gave me a good laugh. «Appuyez le 9», get yourself a life and lighten up! Too, go get yourself a snack at Pâtisserie ou restaurant Dunkin' donuts! (I beat ya to the doughnut jokes this time!)

    Also «Appuyez le 9», what is "Élestronique"? I've heard of éléctronique, but not your version. Too, it's still Future Shop. That's the incorporated brand name, not Futur Shop.

    Then again, what am I bothering for. I work deep in the heart of Ontario in a bank serving Québécois «pur laine» who write without ever using upper case letters and accents. I asked a colleague if this is acceptable, and she said it has become that way. Well, I like to think she was hypothesizing.

    Hell, when I studied French in high school, our teachers would practically crucify us if we so much as forgot an accent, let alone spell a word wrong. When did accents go out the window?

    Anyway, without further digression, the score remains Patricya Lacerte 1 «Appuyez le 9» 0. Patricya Lacerte, whoever you are, merci pour le bon rit; «Appuyez le 9», lighten up once in a while. Maybe you should go to Pâtisserie ou restaurant Dunkin' donuts and give yourself a break! Oh-oh...now I feel another doughnut joke coming back!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Why is Monaco listed as an English name? It's not English at all.
    Monaco as in the tiny country of Monaco which has French as its official language?
    It's not a French name either, though. It sounds Italian but I looked it up and it turns out it's a Greek word.
    "The Phocaeans of Massalia founded the colony of Monoikos, named for its Ligurian inhabitants, in the 6th century B.C."
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Monaco
    A little off-topic but still.

    ReplyDelete
  5. a) How is Monaco an English name

    b) Am I the only one that thinks Press 9's suggestions for names are a fair compromise?

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Also «Appuyez le 9», what is "Élestronique"? I've heard of éléctronique, but not your version. Too, it's still Future Shop. That's the incorporated brand name, not Futur Shop"

    Erreur de frappe(12:54 am):

    Électronique - Future shop.

    Bravo!Je vois que vous lisez attentivement mes commentaires.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Editor: "Gilles Proulx, the insufferable bigot, is representative of these language paranoids, who once again ranted against the English on television, telling the whopper that 70% of stores in the Champlain Mall in south shore Brossard have English names."

    But what if it was really 70%? So what? Is it their fault that most major chains come from the US, and the US happens to use English as the national language? Do they have to apologize for that?

    When I hear people like Emmanuel Bilodeau rant about English chains (e.g. 5:34 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RXVxdlC5Dk&feature=related ), the only thing that comes to my mind is to ask: why don't you raise some capital and open your own chain, and name it the way you want? Why don't you so that, instead of hounding other more entrepreneurial and resourceful people?

    ------

    Editor: "but if Mr. Proulx chooses to include these as offensively English, he displays the same mentality as those enthusiastic attendees at the Wanasee Conference, where the Nazis met, way back when, to establish the definition of who was a Jew, in anticipation of designating those eligible for the Final Solution."

    For those interested in history, there is a BBC drama about the Wanasee Conference, starring Kenneth Branagh as Reinhard Heydrich and Stanley Tucci as Adolf Eichmann. It's been posted to youtube without interruptions:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsn1x9ekEeE

    The film is basically an hour and a half of men sitting around the table and talking, discussing the final solution, and trying to bend the law to accommodate their crazed ideas (Bill 101 anyone?). Just like 12 Angry Men, the movie doesn't get boring for a second.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think all these companies should simply close up shop in Quebec.
    Not only do we ask them to entirely change how they do business, including all their packaging, just to accommodate us (a tiny percentage of the north american population), but we also want them to change their brand names?

    Do they need our money that much?

    If it were me, I'd tell quebec to go shove it. I guess that explains why so many businesses just don't exist in this province: the smart ones I guess.

    The ironic part is that a separatist BS will be the first to shop at "Les Magasins Wal-Marde".

    ReplyDelete
  9. "Am I the only one that thinks Press 9's suggestions for names are a fair compromise? "

    Jason, trademark names are a property of the business. Noone should have the right to encroach on this, however reasonable he/she may be. So his suggestions may be reasonable, but he's sticking his nose into matters that aren't his business to begin with (Why doesn't he open his own chain, make it prosperous, and spread the name - a French name I suppose - across the continent? Why does he go after other people and trying to Frenchify their success?).

    Imagine someone coming into your backyard and pressuring you into arranging your stuff a certain way. Even if the proposed arrangement were reasonable, you'd still treat it as no more than a polite suggestion. You wouldn't appreciate any pressure, and you'd expect to be left alone for the final decision. And you'd expect that your "no" WOULD be accepted for an answer, that it wouldn't lead to a negative reaction from the proposing party, and that it would close the case once and for all.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Another thing about Press 9's "compromise" is whether or not it would close the case, or whether it'd lead to more demands. I.e. would Press 9 and his cohort just shut up, or would they come up with another "grievance" the next day...

    What do you think Jason?

    Don't you think that 35 years of compromising might be enough?

    How much more compromise is required for the people that always feel insecure to feel secure?

    Maybe francising half the continent would make them feel more secure? So let's francise about 100 million Americans to make the En-Fr ration more even, and then maybe Press 9 will fade into the background...Maybe.

    Or maybe 350 years ago they shouldn't have bungled up the colonial war in which they wholeheartedly participated and came all the way here to fight. Maybe they've only got themselves to blame....

    ReplyDelete
  11. "Another thing about Press 9's "compromise" is whether or not it would close the case, or whether it'd lead to more demands."

    Entirely true. They can say what they want, but I'm convinced that the irrational hatred of english comes from their sense of insecurity and inferiority. After all, I'd feel threatened if I was surrounded by people I couldn't even understand.

    That sense of inferiority isn't just going to disappear if you remove everything english from the province. They are still going to be surrounded by people they can't understand, and there would just be even less jobs - things would essentially be worse for them.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Another thing about this "compromise" is why would you even want to compromise with people who are no more than bullies, and whose objective is not finding a compromise, but compensating for their insecurities?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks Alfred Adler:
    "Exaggerated sensitiveness is an expression of the feeling of inferiority"

    Thanks Elbert Hubbard:
    "Fear is the thought of admitted inferiority"

    You might be reading and studying about them, REpressED9.

    WESTALLOPHONE++

    ReplyDelete
  14. "Imagine someone coming into your backyard and pressuring you into arranging your stuff a certain way..."

    Mais c'est exactement ce que ces chaînes font adski.Ils s'imposent dans notre cours et a leur façon.Ils n'iront pas ailleurs pour de telles considérations.Trop de potentiel commercial en sol Québécois.De plus,les mises a niveau linguistiques lorsque réalisées par des entreprises locale et compétantes en matière de marketing,peuvent même rehaussées leur image corporative au Québec.La majorité des publicités de ses multinationales destinées au marché Québécois sont déja repensées et adaptées aux couleurs locales.Pensez a Pepsi,Walmart et a McDonald par exemple.

    Le nom (ou le front) n'est pas le seul élément a considérer mais bien toute l'image corporative.Une entreprise qui se montre respectueuse et ouverte dans son approche commerciale,augmente ses chances de succès.

    Newlook,Staple,KFC et des dizaines d'autres se sont ajustés sans pertes de profits...Alors.

    ReplyDelete
  15. @Mr. Sauga

    Je vous avais oublié...Tim Horton adapte sa mise en marché pour les francophones et aux dernières nouvelles,cette entreprise est en pleine expansion au Québec :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I dunno. I don't think it's that big a deal. Adding a single world without actually changing the companie's name seems reasonnable to me. I don't think either side would be satisfied with this solution and that probably means it's a good solution.

    ReplyDelete
  17. "Ils s'imposent dans notre cours et a leur façon."

    They come here to make a profit, but they still pay corporate tax, so the govt of QC also profits from their presence (that the money stays with the govt and you don't see a dime of it is the fault of your govt).

    These corporations then provide employment to Quebeckers (often at third world wages, agreed), but you are neither forced to work for them, nor use their services.

    But what in the world gives you a right to assault the integrity of these privately owned organizations? To modify their names for them, to check if they operate in French internally? Where do you get these illusions?

    You do not have the right to interfere with these organizations because they are not yours. They are a product of investment and creativity of OTHER people. And yes, some chains did give in to bullying, but the more self-respecting ones didn't, and they won't. And they'd sooner move out of Quebec than modify their trademarked name.

    Assaulting their right to bear whatever name they chose for themselves is equivalent to infringing on someone else's right to name their child the way he/she wants. If your neighbor named his kid Kevin or James, would you also interfere and accuse him of disrespecting your language?

    ------------


    "Une entreprise qui se montre respectueuse et ouverte dans son approche commerciale,augmente ses chances de succès."

    Yes. So let the public decide if the business is offensive or not, not you and your cohort of zealots. If a business opens under a name X and people do frequent it, that means that they are NOT offended by the name.

    If you are offended, you don't shop there.

    If the business starts to register losses, they will act accordingly and maybe even modify their name, but it would be a business decision at that point.

    It's very simple, except that you prefer to elevate your deluded self to the status of a guardian angel of the souls who you think couldn't survive without your intervention.

    ReplyDelete
  18. "If you are offended, you don't shop there"

    Le mot d'ordre est lancé contre "UPS store".
    Mon entreprise ne sollicite que les services de Puro (Très francisée) pour nos colis.Un client de moins!Et pas le moindre en plus...

    ReplyDelete
  19. @ Press9

    Puro is an incompetent (Toronto-based) company. I'll never use them again.

    ReplyDelete
  20. @press 9

    Which enterprise is yours?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Press 9 works for the STM, he's an angry bus driver.

    ReplyDelete
  22. ...to PHIL: LOL (angry bus driver)!

    ...to «Appuyez le 9»: Yes, I always read the comments, unless they get too ridiculous; if Tim Horton's is finding ways to do effective business in Quebec or anywhere for that matter, more power to them!

    ...to adski: You forgot to mention that in addition to paying corporate tax, they provide lots 'n' lots 'n' lots 'n' lots 'n' lots 'n' lots 'n' lots 'n' lots 'n' lots 'n' lots 'n' lots 'n' lots 'n' lots 'n' lotsa jobs!

    ReplyDelete
  23. My biggest pet peeve: why do you mention Red Lobster? It is one of my favorite restaurants, and it is NOT AVAILABLE in Quebec! As well, many good chains are available almost everywhere in North America but this province.

    The closest Red Lobster is in Ottawa, off Highway 417, still 02h 30m from here. While the Editor likes to praise Montreal restaurants, in many times I do miss familiar big chains. Case in point, I do not see a Montreal restaurant comparable to Red Lobster.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi Editor,

    Three consecutive posts on this issue already. Time to move to other topic? Nathalie Normandeau just resigned. Any insider information? Is it an indication of a rift in the PLQ?

    ReplyDelete
  25. @Press 9:

    Je crois comprendre tes exemples, quoique je ne suis pas d'accord avec l'ajout forcé d'un générique. (le mot clé etant "forcé" et/ou se sentir contraint à respecter la volonté d'un organe étatique politisé et/ou d'une proportion relativement petite de citoyens qui militent déjà sur d'autres thématiques politiques semblables).

    Si une compagnie/raison sociale s'adapte en se dotant d'un nom à saveur locale de son propre chef (comme le font d'ailleurs plusieurs compagnies au monde), ça ne me dérange pas du tout. Par contre, contraindre des compagnies à faire ainsi par considération politico-médiatique plutot que par $ me semble déraisonnable.

    À contresens, est-ce qu'il faudrait que le Cirque du Soleil devienne ABSOLUMENT "Sun Circus" ou même "Cirque du Soleil Circus" ailleurs au pays/continent? Casavant Frères deviendraient Casavant Bros.? Agropur/Agropure? Québon/Quegood (ONgood? CanGood)? Red Stick Restaurants? Gardens Credit Union?

    Oui à la protection du français. Mais s'immiscer en exerçant une pression populaire à base militante, ça ne me semble pas être le bon chemin à prendre...

    ReplyDelete
  26. "À contresens, est-ce qu'il faudrait que le Cirque du Soleil devienne ABSOLUMENT "Sun Circus""

    Céline Dion est pourtant devenue Celine Dion.
    Bombardier est devenu BRP.

    ReplyDelete
  27. ---The closest Red Lobster is in Ottawa, off Highway 417, still 02h 30m from here."---

    Moi je pars de Montréal pour aller manger des "Taco Bell" a toronto.MenumMenum!

    ReplyDelete
  28. @Press_9:

    "Céline Dion est pourtant devenue Celine Dion.
    Bombardier est devenu BRP. "

    C'était une joke, ou t'es sérieux??


    In 2003, Bombardier Inc. sold its Recreational Products Division to a group of investors: Bain Capital (35%), Bombardier Family (45%) and Caisse de Dépôt & Placements du Québec (20%).

    The newly formed company was named Bombardier Recreational Products [...]

    ReplyDelete
  29. You stupid idiots…and you wonder why kebec is the laughing stock of the country? You wonder why the French are hated? You wonder why we boycott the province…keep it up language Nazis, keep up your hatred, the bigotry…you will get what you deserve one day, hopefully soon.

    Rot in hell Kebec, rot in hell.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous at 10:08,

    If you are serious, there is a Taco Bell / KFC restaurant next to Cote-Vertu Metro station.

    I was actually talking about mid-end chains of family restaurant that are not available in Quebec and do not have local equivalent in terms of cuisine, ambient or price. Examples are:

    Red Lobster
    Applebee's
    Olive Garden
    IHOP

    ReplyDelete
  31. ---and you wonder why kebec is the laughing stock of the country?"---

    Parceque nous avons le plus gros festival de l'humour en amérique?

    Juste pour rire/Just for laughs?

    ---you will get what you deserve one day---

    Un pays?

    ReplyDelete
  32. "I was actually talking about mid-end chains of family restaurant that are not available in Quebec and do not have local equivalent in terms of cuisine, ambient or price. Examples are:"

    These are probably the smart businesses who figured that the cost of changing all their packaging / literature / staff, plus the ever constant risk of a union taking over would greatly outweigh the small profits generated by this province.

    The CSN and it's french BS "On veut pas travailler mais on veut être payé cher" people have tried to unionize cashier jobs in convenience stores (Couche Tard)... I wouldn't want to setup shop in this province.

    Anyways, anything (including businesses) that aren't "québécois" aren't welcome here.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Press 9: "Céline Dion est pourtant devenue Celine Dion. Bombardier est devenu BRP. "

    Yes, but the question is: did C.Dion and Bombardier do it out of free will, or did they do it because of legislative coercion or pressure from a government?

    And since it was a personal decision by Celine Dion and a business decision by Bombardier, it doesn't compare to what's going on in Quebec with this latest OQLF initiative.

    Just because someone or some business decides to do something somewhere, it does not mean that it has to be replicated by force in Quebec. What kind of logic is that anyways?

    ReplyDelete
  34. "What kind of logic is that anyways?"

    Come on now, you're asking a separatist to use logic? Really?

    These are people who think Quebec would be financially viable without the huge sums we receive from the federal government...

    These are people who think that they will advance as a society by isolating themselves from everyone around them.

    These are people who think that learning about different cultures and different languages is a BAD thing, to the point that they need to make laws against it.

    Come on now, logic is pointless.

    ReplyDelete
  35. @ Troy,

    I live in Ottawa and there are several other restaurant chains here that will not venture across the river into Gatineau or anywhere else in Quebec:

    East Side Mario's
    Kelsey's
    Montana's
    The Royal Oak
    The Barley Mow

    There are also other businesses that wisely avoid Quebec, such as Petsmart and Direct Buy. Multiple products here have only English on the packaging, so they are not available in Quebec.

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  36. Bilingual packaging is a requirement in Canada, not just Quebec.

    "Multiple products here have only English on the packaging, so they are not available in Quebec. "

    ReplyDelete
  37. @ Phil,

    "Bilingual packaging is a requirement in Canada, not just Quebec."

    That's true, but there are still a fair number of products in Ontario that have English packaging only. Some slip through the regulations (mostly products from the U.S.).

    ReplyDelete
  38. "I live in Ottawa and there are several other restaurant chains here that will not venture across the river into Gatineau or anywhere else in Quebec:"

    East Side Mario's

    2660 King O
    Sherbrooke,Québec

    320, boulevard Saint-Joseph
    Drummondville, Québec

    ReplyDelete
  39. ---And since it was a personal decision by Celine Dion and a business decision by Bombardier, it doesn't compare to what's going on in Quebec with this latest OQLF initiative---

    Alors,cela prouverait peut-être que nous avons plus de savoir vivre que les anglos.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Speaking of restaurant chains that have left Quebec over excessive language restrictions and harassment, any remember Swiss Chalet?

    Cara Operations pulled the entire chain from the province of Quebec a decade ago. Now we're stuck with the bland and extremely mediocre St-Hubert instead. Thanks Quebec. At least there's still the Chalet BBQ in NDG, however it is only a single restaurant, not a chain.

    Cara also pulled Kelsey's and Montana's from Quebec. Harvey's has been retreating too, very few of them are left in Quebec (I'm sure they'll be leaving next). Anyone want to take a guess why?

    ReplyDelete
  41. "...any remember Swiss Chalet?"

    Quelle perte pour notre gastronomie,nous sommes tous encore sous le choc.

    ReplyDelete
  42. "...These are people who think that learning about different cultures and different languages is a BAD thing..."

    Ce n'est pas parceque la "culture canadienne" nous laisse totalement indifférents que nous sommes fermés aux autres vraies cultures.Combien de langues parlez-vous dèja?

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  43. It'd be interesting to dig into the records and find out more information about the companies that did cave in to the OQLF (e.g. New Look which added Lunetterie to their name). I bet a lot of dirt can be exposed from the backdoor machinations of OQLF, like their apparatchiks raiding the place, pressuring the head office, hounding store keepers and disrupting day-to-day operations, scaring away the clientele...

    What led New Look to finally cave and say: "ok, enough, we'll change the name"? There must have been a lot of shit going on in the background.

    ReplyDelete
  44. ---I bet a lot of dirt can be exposed from the backdoor machinations of OQLF---

    Selon un journaliste anonyme du journal The Gachette :

    Afin d'augmenter la pression,L'O.Q.L.F auraient pris des poulets en otage chez PFK.Le colonel Sanders serait intervenu lui-même afin de calmer le jeu.

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  45. "Alors,cela prouverait peut-être que nous avons plus de savoir vivre que les anglos. "

    The fact that it was a personal decision by Celine Dion and a business decision by Bombardier (and not an action forced by the government) proves that the language purists have more savoir vivre? This doesn't even make any logical sense. If anything, the actions of the OQLF are opposite of savoir vivre. The actions are maladaptive and antisocial as they cause a lot of strain and unnecessary frustration in the population, encourage denunciations and are accompanied by disproportionate punitive action.

    Anon 11:58am was right. Logic is not the strong point of these people.

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  46. @ Press 9
    "...anyone remember Swiss Chalet?"

    Quelle perte pour notre gastronomie,nous sommes tous encore sous le choc.

    You're entitled not to like them, I have no problem with that. Though having different businesses means CHOICE.

    It's because of all these language restrictions we've lost a lot of freedom of choice, including you.

    Imagine if the only chicken restaurant were Laurier Gordon Ramsay. I think I'd give up eating BBQ chicken. :)

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  47. "You're entitled not to like them, I have no problem with that. Though having different businesses means CHOICE."

    Again, you're talking to people who entirely agree with and support laws that restrict their choices.

    I'm fairly sure the way they see it is that there SHOULDN'T be any other chicken places aside from St-Hubert, because the others would be unfair competition towards a Quebec St-Hubert (the others being english/not from quebec).
    Then you'd hear about how the St-Huberts are surrounded by Swiss Chalets on the entire continent, and thus need to be protected or else they will be forever lost.

    ReplyDelete
  48. ---St-Huberts are surrounded by Swiss Chalets on the entire continent, and thus need to be protected or else they will be forever lost---

    Je crois plutôt que St-Hubert a littéralement bouffer leur clientèle.

    Marketing mon ami,marketing...

    http://lapresseaffaires.cyberpresse.ca/economie/commerce-de-detail/201101/14/01-4360281-visees-internationales-pour-les-rotisseries-st-hubert.php

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  49. Here is one mans opinion, with regards to French. I think the rebuttal may be a bit biased from obvious "advocats du francais"

    http://www.newgeography.com/content/002387-the-decline-and-fall-french-language

    There is no doubt that the seppies and language zealots have cost Quebec a great deal over the years. Montreal was at one time a center of business...Now, just a crumbling semblance of what it was before the "revolutione tranquille".

    Never fails to amaze me how the Quebecois don't only shoot themselves in the foot, but actually, shoot themselves in both feet.

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  50. Contrary to popular belief: this occasionally happens in Quebec.

    "That's true, but there are still a fair number of products in Ontario that have English packaging only. Some slip through the regulations (mostly products from the U.S.)."

    ReplyDelete
  51. "Here is one mans opinion, with regards to French. I think the rebuttal may be a bit biased from obvious "advocats du francais""

    This article is so loaded with false information, bogus theories and slanted assumptions that we decided to write a point-by-point rebuttal. (We also invite Mr. Girod to read our book The Story of French, which he will find instructive.)

    1.English speakers are right to be proud of the global success of their language, but that success does is not coming at the expense of other international languages, including French. Languages are not a zero-sum game. The progression of English as a second language does not meant anyone unlearns his or her mother tongue.

    2.More people now speak French than any time in history. A conservative estimate is about 220 million people. This number has tripled since World War II and is still progressing. After English, French is the world’s most international and globalized language. Only one third of its speakers are native to the language – about 80-85 million. All the others learn it at school. In that respect, there has been no cataclysmic collapse of French. The number of native speakers is growing at roughly the same rate as English speakers (we cite British linguist David Graddol on this). In the 15 years that we researched the topic, estimates of the number of French speakers in the world have increased from 175 to 220 million.
    -
    -
    -
    Mr. Gidol evokes Darwinian theory, of all things, to conclude that the survival of the French language is at stake. It’s a pretty silly conclusion to an article piling up false evidence to support a baseless assumption.
    -
    -
    -

    Lire le reste de ce commentaire sur le lien:

    http://www.newgeography.com/content/002387-the-decline-and-fall-french-language


    Yours truly,

    Jean-Benoit Nadeau,
    Julie Barlow,
    authors of The Story of French

    ReplyDelete
  52. "Here is one mans opinion, with regards to French. I think the rebuttal may be a bit biased from obvious "advocats du francais""

    http://www.newgeography.com/content/002387-the-decline-and-fall-french-language

    N'oubliez pas de lire les commentaires des spécialistes qui suivent cet "article".

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  53. http://m.ledevoir.com/societe/education/330606/l-analphabetisme-au-quebec-un-fleau-pour-toute-la-societe

    Burb 9 : amusez-vous bien avec les larmes très amères aux yeux...

    WESTALLOPHONE++

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  54. @WESTALLOPHONE++

    "les États-Unis comptent 53 % de niveau 1 ou 2"

    125,000,000 d'américains pratiquement analphabètes!Ouch!

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  55. "N'oubliez pas de lire les commentaires des spécialistes qui suivent cet "article"."

    Bien sur, mon petite l'homme du Quebec. Mais, je penser des specialistes que vous appelez, en fait, leur sont pleine de merde. Pas du concrete raison avec leur commentaire.

    What would you expect, they are French language zealots and would of course defend the position of the language which both of us know, is declining in importance and relevance. It is only the Canadian and Quebec governments whom ignore the facts of our failed language programs such as the OLA. In the case of Quebec they continue to alienate the anglo minority with laws such as 101 which in the end, will not stop the atrophy of the French language.

    Votre Francais, il sera mort comme le commentaire en cet article suggestes. Desole.

    Excusemois pour mon pauvre Francais...Pas de probleme pour moi comme votre langue francais est pas de pourtant a l'avenir.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Getting tired of old farts jacking off over the fact that languages are disappearing in the world. Here's some porn for you, enculé:

    http://www.unesco.org/culture/languages-atlas/

    ReplyDelete
  57. ---Excusemois pour mon pauvre Francais...Pas de probleme pour moi comme votre langue francais est pas de pourtant a l'avenir.---

    Avec l'âge que vous semblez avoir (selon vos propos),le mot Avenir devient très relatif :)

    ReplyDelete
  58. Press 9: "Mon entreprise ne sollicite que les services de Puro (Très francisée) pour nos colis."

    And that's ok. You have a beef with UPS (for whatever reason, even as petty as an exaggerated linguistic nuance or the color of their wallpaper), you then switch to Purolator. Perfectly fine.

    What's not fine is you trying to badger UPS (or other businesses) into renaming as per your specifications. And it's totally irrelevant that your suggestion may be, as Jason said, "reasonable". What's relevant is that you have no business picking a name for an organization that does not belong to you.

    ----

    Anon Sept 8 4:37PM: "I think the rebuttal may be a bit biased from obvious "advocats du francais"

    Yes, the rebuttal is the same old stuff. Whereas the piece gives specific and concrete examples, the rebuttal is a bunch of generalizations and recycled cliches.

    As for the article, it's very interesting. On the same note, this blog is really good too. It documents the decline of French worldwide:

    http://theworldwidedeclineoffrench.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  59. The rebuttal to the New Geography article has been written by Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow, the authors of a book called The Story of French. I looked it up on Amazon and read the readers' comments.

    The comments are very good and pretty much expose Nadeau and Barlow as propagandists pretending to be scholars.


    http://www.amazon.com/Story-French-Jean-Beno%C3%AEt-Nadeau/product-reviews/0676977340/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar

    http://www.amazon.com/Story-French-Jean-Beno%C3%AEt-Nadeau/product-reviews/0676977340/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_2?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addTwoStar

    http://www.amazon.com/Story-French-Jean-Beno%C3%AEt-Nadeau/product-reviews/0676977340/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_3?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addThreeStar

    ReplyDelete
  60. "Avec l'âge que vous semblez avoir (selon vos propos),le mot Avenir devient très relatif :) "

    Pas de probleme pour moi,,,mon age n'est importante pas avec les decline de votre langue ;)
    Le Francais est un langue "folk " et votre joual est tres mauvais comme tout le monde sur cet blogue sont savez.

    ReplyDelete
  61. "The comments are very good and pretty much expose Nadeau and Barlow as propagandists pretending to be scholars."

    I figured as much when I read the rather weak rebuttal.

    ReplyDelete
  62. @ adski

    I disagree with both of you. I think G. Rosa must have encountered a few positive comments about Quebec in the early chapters and then abandoned the book entirely, because the rest of the book certainly is not dominated by discussions of Quebec. To call it "nonsensical propaganda to Quebec" is very misleading. The authors are Quebecois and therefore have some personal insights to offer, but it seems to me that they keep that tendency in check, and they don't at all overemphasize the importance of that part of the French-speaking world. It seems strangely anti-Quebec to dismiss all the valuable information in this book just because the authors occasionally express some Quebecois pride. Their larger pride, it seems to me, is to French as a whole.
    -------------
    Un commentaire de Jepetto suite a la lecture entière de ce livre.

    ReplyDelete