Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 13:30:26 +0200 From: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@online.fr> To: Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/sys/alpha/alpha clock.c Message-ID: <20020521133026.L71209@lpt.ens.fr> In-Reply-To: <p05111703b90fc048bd8f@[10.0.1.4]>; from brad.knowles@skynet.be on Tue, May 21, 2002 at 11:19:11AM %2B0200 References: <200205162121.g4GLLGQ43405@freefall.freebsd.org> <20020516220511.A9DBE380A@overcee.wemm.org> <20020517114010.A57127@regency.nsu.ru> <20020519100324.GK44562@daemon.ninth-circle.org> <20020519134348.I67779@blossom.cjclark.org> <p05111722b90de01cc974@[10.9.8.215]> <20020520195703.A79046@dragon.nuxi.com> <p05111701b90fb2744154@[10.9.8.215]> <20020521103710.C71209@lpt.ens.fr> <p05111703b90fc048bd8f@[10.0.1.4]>
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Brad Knowles said on May 21, 2002 at 11:19:11:
> > Even in France, there is an attempt to get people to use
> > "mel" (for "message electronique") or "courriel" (for "courrier
> > electronique") but most people use the English-sounding "email".
>
> What does La Academie Française have to say about this? I'm sure
> that they could invent some French-sounding word that would have the
> official power of law, and could bully most people in the country
> into complying.
I think the officially recommended word is "mél" (it's what the
Hachette dictionary urges), but in fact practically nobody uses it,
probably because it sounds stupid (they themselves think so). I have
noticed some people using "courriel" but that's not because of any
official diktat.
> This is why I say that the French language is the
> only dead language still in common use today -- because languages
> that are alive will mutate and grow in a natural manner, unlike
> French.
You'll be surprised at the number of foreign words in common use in
French. From English, there's "weekend", "stop" (in road signs),
"ok", and other examples I can't recall offhand; and among technical
terms, "CD" (in French it should have been "DC" but isn't -- with
"DVD" there's no problem), internet, web, login, etc. There are also
coinages you won't find in English, like "footing" (soccer), "fooding"
(roughly, the art of eating) and so on. Admittedly the French often
do mutilate foreign words when they import them, but that's the
people, not the academie. I've noticed French people who can
pronounce "Hubbard" quite nicely when speaking English, will say
something like "oobaarh" when speaking French.
Also unsanctioned by l'Academie Française is an incomprehensible
street lingo called "verlan" which inverts words, like "turvoi" for
"voiture" and "teibou" for "bouteille" ("verlan" is itself "l'invers"
inverted).
- Rahul
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