Not Sarkozy
The French language: a subject about which I feel passionate about. Too late I caught the latest ministerial attempt to shore it up against foreign intervention (patriotisme linguistique), and the excellent Charles Bremner got there first. I strongly recommend a visit. Having read Charles’ well-argued reasons for wanting to keep foreign words out of France, do read the lengthy and fascinating comments which follow. Every shade of opinion is there, and it’s clearly a subject which many people (English as well as French) care about deeply: a woman signing herself “an angry teacher”(presumably French), who berates linguists such as the venerable Alain Rey for not giving “a dam shxxt about poor kids not being able to express themselves properly and who lack words”; a reader arguing that, far from being in decline, French is the growing language of Africa (proof, cynics might say, that it is doomed); a reader who rightly (and elegantly) says “To care about language is to care about thought….”
I have only two tiny contributions to this very rich argument: I have long wondered why the French abhor the comparatively simple word “email” and try (rather unsuccessfully) to replace it officially with the deeply ugly “courriel”. “Mail” has impeccably French credentials since it is quite possibly (OED) derived from the French word “malle”, the leather satchel in which the “mail” was carried (think of the Pony Express motto: the malle must get through). Second thing is that, as I understand it, Britain has some claim to fame and thanks as the only country where French is taught as the first foreign language. Previous correspondents have replied to this claim by reminding me that French is taught in Canada as a second language, but since French is an official language in Canada (bi-lingual road-signs etc), I can’t see how it can be taught as a second language.
Finally, since I apparently cannot write a post without mentioning a certain NS, let me recommend a book about language. Well, a certain use of language. Written by two linguists, Louis-Jean Calvet and Jean Véronis, the book analyses in great, exhaustive and exhausting detail the French language as used and manipulated by the President: “Les Mots de Nicolas Sarkozy”. More about that later.