Peter:
>Perhaps we should also look at French in Canada. There's not much
>evidence that English is becoming preferable in Quebec, even though
>the opportunity to adapt to English has existed for some time.
That's news to me. Oh of course you won't here French-hugging
Quebeckers saying that they prefer English. You have to read between
the lines to get a clearer picture. I keep on hearing Franglais everytime
I here a Quebecois speak. If "English" isn't preferable, incorporating an
inordinate amount of English words in French sentences certainly appear
to be. The same goes for French in European countries. Where do we
draw that line on what is French and what is English? It seems almost
like French is *merging* into English, rather than the usual route of
language displacement.
There have been attempts to find proper French terms for computer
items for example like the cute word "logiciel" for "windows"... but
people have a sneaky urge to use the English word... "Ouvres le window,
la, et imprimes-le au printer." Sometimes I've heard far worse patois than
that. An ear-jarring example of Franglais in practice might be: "Fetch moi
la biere au fridge. J'dois caller mon chum. Un sec." AAAAAAHHH!!!!
So, Peter, c'mon. English is everywhere. Even if the population pretends
in its collective mind to resist the common trend, it's merely a
nationalistic
deception.
= gLeN
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