Sunday, November 1, 2020

Comical Language Police Pathetically Out of Touch with Reality

Only the most militant language fanatic can abide by the farcical inspection of a restaurant over some flimsy complaint about an English language sign during these desperate and trying of times for the restaurant business.

While most language militants kept silent out of embarrassment, not so Quebec's most enduring xenophobic and Anglophobe, Gilles Proulx, who in a radio interview with Richard Martineau referred to the owner of Kitchen73, Carmine Anoia by name as a "cursed impudent who just got off the boat" ("Un maudit bel effronté qui debarque du bateau") Link{fr}  

An insulted Proulx made the reference again just for good measure, again complaining about "those who just got off the boat who don't care about Bill 101" He then issued another racist insult invoking the term Tête carrée" a slur against Anglophones which is akin to Anglophones using the term "Pepsi" to insult French Quebecers.

More than a comical blowhard. Proulx is a sickening racist
It goes to underline the level of Proulx's racism that he made his remark about Mr. Anoia based solely on the Italian sound of his name. In fact, Mr. Anoia assures me that he was actually born here. He was also none-to-pleased by Mr. Proulx's racist remarks over immigrants.

I guess Quebec remains the only jurisdiction in Canada or America where one can use this type of language on the radio without complaint or repercussion. I wonder how it would go over  on Montreal radio station CJAD if I as a guest referred to Francophone Quebecers as "Damned Pepsis!" I can imagine the level of rightly-deserved censure that would ensue and this from an outraged Anglophone radio audience. As for Mr. Martineau, he is guilty of racism by allowing these types of remarks on his show with a wink, wink, nod, nod, and nary an objection. Shame on them both.

This in a time when almost all restaurants are on the brink of failure due to the in-house dining room closures as a result of the pandemic. It is indeed a stressful and bewildering time for hitherto successful restaurateurs blindsided by circumstances that can only be described as a "Black Swan" event. Not only is the pandemic a critical financial blow, but it also is wrecking a dastardly psychological toll on everyone in the restaurant business. 

The very last thing these people need is an idiot inspector showing up to add insult to injury.

As you probably heard the OQLF conducted an inspection of this restaurant which was actually closed to indoor customers. The exasperated owner of Kitchen 73 unloaded on the sad-sack inspector sending her scurrying away in the best tradition of the Shawville reception afforded the OQLF  years ago.

"A posse of Shawville, Que., residents, fed up with being harassed about business signs, has run one of Quebec's language police out of town -- and the residents say that if they have to, they'll do it again.

"At this point we are taking a stand, because I'm no longer being made to feel guilty for being English in Quebec," says Lynn Wilson, co-owner of the H&R Block in Shawville, a predominantly English town of 1,500 about 80 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.

"Come and take me away -- I don't care, do what you have to do. I'm not changing (my signs)."    Read the rest of the story

 The saddest part of it all is the mindset of the OQLF, completely out of touch with reality, actually insulted at its treatment of its inspector and the support shown the restaurant in the press and in social media.

So aggrieved was the agency that it felt necessary to defend itself on its website, actually playing the victim instead of the bully.

Here's a translation of what the OQLF had to say about the situation;

The Office québécois de la langue française deplores the fact that certain untrue information is currently circulating about the visit of an inspector from the Office to the Kitchen 73 restaurant. personal on social networks. [-]

The Office therefore wishes to point out that it did not issue a fine to the Kitchen 73 restaurant, nor did it request any corrections during its visit. The Office responded to a complaint that involved indoor signage, not the outdoor signage or company name.

The Office is fully aware of the context of COVID-19 and is making all necessary efforts to minimize its impact on its clientele. In addition, he always makes sure to make an appointment before carrying out an inspection. This is what was attempted in this case. Unable to reach the owner, the inspector went to the Kitchen 73 restaurant on the afternoon of Thursday, October 22 in order to carry out the required checks. Link{fr}

First of all, let me point  out the utter irony of the OQLF in referring to those restaurants inspected as "clients,' a reference as realistic as lambs being led into the slaughterhouse being referred to as 'customers.'

But the above OQLF defence shows how completely oblivious and insensitive the agency is to the reality of the current pandemic, where inspecting closed restaurants on the verge of catastrophe is deemed perfectly normal and where beleaguered owners are expected to offer business as usual cooperation. It is strictly beyond the pale

The QOLF maintains the fiction that it protects the Province not only from the insidious creep of English but other languages as well. This charade offers the agency the fiction that it is not purely an anti-English tool.

Not having learned its lesson from the infamous pastagate affair, the OQLF was at it again, attacking a Montreal Italian bakery for its use of the word "Granita".


 Read the story

The agency is especially fond of harassing Italian owned businesses, their second favourite target, next to  Anglos themselves. Italians are especially despised by the OQLF because although almost all are perfectly bilingual, they like the Jews of Quebec identify with the Anglo community and are staunch federalists.

Ans so the OQLF has a big problem with words like pasta or granita. It's amusing that restaurant words rooted in other languages are considered kosher cacher like egg rolls, dim sum, tacos, tapas, bibimbap, wonton, ceviche, fajitas, queso, chilli con Carne, etc.etc. The OQLF much prefers legitimate French translations of these 'foreign' dishes in the spirit of the  famous "OT CHIKEN" sandwich, a staple in rural Quebec dives.

Perhaps the agency would be more sensitive if half of their staff were furloughed and the other half had to work from home at half pay for the duration of the pandemic.
It might sensitize them to the reality that is the restaurant business across not only Quebec but the entire western world.
 
 
It may be time for opponents of the OQLF to organize and up their game.
Up to now we have been bitching and moaning with the few legal challenges led by Brett Tyler largely unsupported by the community both financially and morally.

I want to congratulate Carmine Anoia for showing a little backbone in kicking out the offensive inspector.
Nothing terrible will happen and if his establishment is fined, it will well be worth the publicity. 
I for one never heard of this restaurant beforehand and now will make it a point to patronize it. A $500 fine is peanuts compared to the publicity.
If all targeted merchants took a stand, the OQLF would be paralyzed. 
If we are not willing to take firmer action we deserve what we get.

Perhaps we should take note of the effect that the Black Lives Matter movement wrecked on American society with a few well-aimed acts of civil disobedience.

The Quebec government is painfully sensitive to being publically humiliated over language, especially internationally. The OQLF inspectors have had an easy time harassing merchants and should be confronted in a more meaningful manner.

In other words, it's time for us to put up or shut up.

13 comments:

  1. Time for a national vote on Quebec. Take it as cast in iron I would vote the parasites out in a heartbeat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You've got my vote, N.M.! Gee...at this rate, who will separate first, the French Quebec Jurisdiction, or the DSA (Divided States of America)?

      Delete
  2. Burn Loot & Murder is not "a Few well-aimed acts of civil disobedience"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Now I have more time to write my response. There goes the OQLF again...like the song by Dead or Alive: ♪You spin me round round baby right round like a record baby right round round round round...♫ Only this is a broken record that never gets past the broken groove...and likely never will.

    Phil, where you wrote "The agency is especially fond of harassing Italian owned businesses...Italians are especially despised by the OQLF...[Italians]like the Jews of Quebec identify with the Anglo community and are staunch federalists." Actually, didn't David Levine run for the PQ in the très juif D'Arcy McGee constituency in the late 70s, and I saw some traitor Moroccan Jew named Cohen run for the PQ, I think, in Outremont. I was in visiting from my happy confines of South Central Ontario at the time I saw this Cohen patsy running where he didn't have a snowball's chance in Guam! Remember Parasite, after losing his one shot of becoming the first king of a new Quebec kingdom, blamed theft of his dream on «l'argent (i.e., les juifs) et la vote éthnique (les italiens et les grècques)...essentiellement!» About seven weeks after being in the cups that brought his subconscious to the fore, he was at some political junket in Calgary where he explicitly blamed the Jews, Italians and Greeks right on radio. Quebec racism is immediately below the surface and it rises very easily and rapidly. Proof: Gilles Proulx. Just another decaying, self-loathing bigot.

    So there was Gilles Proulx on that Quebec station with his «tête carré» and «bloke» and other assorted drivel of racist slurs. Even the radio host wished Crazy Proulx «un bon weekend». Of course, Proulx, to be consistent wished the host «un bon fin de semaine». Semantics semantics!

    Phil, you hit the nail right on the head as you wrote above "Up to now we have been bitching and moaning with the few legal challenges led by Brett Tyler largely unsupported by the community both financially and morally." Same for Howard Galganov and the money he forked out with the penny ante assistance of a few loyalists. This is where the English/minority community gets what it deserves. Where were these communities when their support was needed?

    More semantics: In the Actualité article provided in the link above, the reporter writes «Je ne comprends pas comment ils ont le guts de venir dans un établissement»... Huh? What? Since when did guts enter the French lexicon? Isn't the proper term «cran»? Well...if they're already ordering 'ot dogs or pizza all-dress (whaa...not toute garnie)? Oh, and you forgot the lunch order should have included un milkshake (again, whaa...not lait battu)? If I recall correctly, a «'ot chicken» is shredded leftover chicken covered with a slice of (g-a-a-a-g me-e-e) white bread, mushy canned green peas (that look like they aged 3 weeks) and covered with canned or reconstituted St. Hubert chicken gravy...powder in the case of reconstituted? I remember going for Chinese food at some place in the east end of Montreal that served cut-up hot dogs in a sweet black sauce and macaroni with some cut-up vegetables and also some kind of sweetened soya sauce or molasses? Talk about serving a dog's breakfast, and the dogs who eat it lap it right up...KMN and hold the menu!

    When it comes to language in Quebec, these numbnuts are the ultimate hypocrites!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Huh? What? Since when did guts enter the French lexicon? Isn't the proper term «cran»? (...) When it comes to language in Quebec, these numbnuts are the ultimate hypocrites!"

      as if one needed to never use a word of english to be legit in wanting to secure french as a living language in america. that's a totally stupid reasoning. you probably know it and that would make you an hypocrite. your choice.

      Delete
    2. Actually, MGuy has a point, there's a dose of hypocrisy in it. In my conspiratorial mind I see this hypocrisy as deliberate - used as a tool for creating cognitive dissonance and gaslighting the part of the population who hasn't checked out yet and is still trying to figure things out.

      Delete
    3. LOL! Have anudder 'ot-dog all-dress, troll! Nahh-h-h...make it a week-old 'ot chicken at câsse-croute Geneviève at the edge of town in St-Jean-de-who-knows-where. Your answer to gourmet dining!

      Love ya babe! Gotta move.

      Delete
    4. Not using a word of English would at least be consistent with a host of other views these individuals hold - that would at least be a sign of a stable mind holding compatible opinions.
      Using a word of English by these individuals indicates a fractured mind, a split psyche conveying contradictory messages.
      To protect one's mind from cognitive dissonance, it is almost imperative to one's mental health to shut such individuals out.

      Delete
    5. adski, I'd like to see you elaborate more on your first comment, s.v.p. It's kind of vague. As for student the troll, have another 'ot dog all-dress!

      Delete
    6. Mr. Sauga with an afterthought...Monday, November 9, 2020 at 3:28:00 AM EST

      Perhaps I should elaborate a little more myself. My raison d'être [well, whaddayaknow...I'm using a French term in my English] for what I wrote is because, at least in the French Quebec jurisdiction, its government is doing its darnedest to take English out of the French language every which way possible.

      The most conspicuous example of this are the «ARRÊT» signs. There is no other country, state, province, hamlet, city, town or village that has said signs. I saw a picture taken in Ukraine where they used the "STOP" sign! It's the same in all of Europe, INCLUDING FRANCE, la république! I've seen ALTO in Mexico and PARE in the Dominican Republic. Because I don't know Spanish well, I don't know if those are the correct terms. Arrêt is not an imperative, it is a now such as a bus stop, a spot on a thoroughfare where one waits for a bus.

      The OQLF has tried to replace descriptions with other words like «chien chaud» for hot dog, «hambourgeois» for hamburger (the French say 'amburger since the "H" in French is silent),«viande mariné» for smoked meat, «lait battu» for milkshake, and a host of others. «Viande mariné» can mean any kind of pickled or otherwise cured meat. "Delicatessen" was ruled "too Jewish"! Bring on the «charcuterie»! The term "char-CUTE-ery" is used to represent various cured meats. The only type of sandwich in a deli that can be considered a rough form of charcuterie would be a Reuben sandwich consisting of either corned beef, pastrami, or in the case of Montreal, smoked meat as it contains Swiss cheese. Nobody even seems to say «viande fumée!»

      This (now, not-so-) new vocabulary was concocted by zealots at the OQLF hellbent on eliminating other languages, especially English, from the French Quebec vernacular! Ain't gonna work! For good or for bad, languages evolve and are practically a living, breathing being on their own. We've gone from the personal computer (invented 1977) to phones that do more than those old relics. Now we have LOL, OMG, KMN and a host of other "shorthand" that didn't exist before texting. Putting food on a plate is now known as "plating". I think that term is out of place as I grew up knowing plating as imposing a coating over jewellery, such as "gold plating". The noun "I" is being used excessively where the direct object "me". "All right" has been replaced with "alright". Even TV, newspaper and blog writers, don't use the terms correctly, and constantly. English grammar has gone out the window, so why should French be exempt? If a congregate understands the terminology, I guess it's now part of the vernacular...for good or for bad. GET WITH THE PROGRAM (PROGRAMME?), QUEBEC!

      Delete
  4. Gilles Proulx is nothing but a racist asshole! And this isn't the first time, either. During the Oka Crisis in 1990, he insulted the Mohawks and might have had a hand in the call for the stoning of the cars of natvie families on August 28, 1990. He is nothing but a dark shadow looming on such a beautiful province.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. True dat, my anonymous respondent, but the fact he's still allowed, unchallenged, to spew his vitriolic diatribes on the airwaves is proof in the hearts of the majority that they believe, or choose to believe he speaks the truth...THEIR truth!

      What kills me most is that minority advocates like Howard Galganov, Brent Tyler and that fellow, originally from Vancouver whose name slips my mind, all were for all intents and purposes ignored by the anglophone community. As I wrote in the November 27, 2020 editorial, the minorities in Quebec get what they deserve for being ignoring their advocates and, like sitting ducks, let the likes of Gilles Proulx and separatist governments run roughshod over them.

      Delete
    2. I believe people need to challenge his beliefs more. I believe in freedom of free speech, but there should be more opposition against Mr. Proulx's racist beliefs so that we can prevent White nationalism and xenophobia from encroaching Quebec.

      Delete