Quebec, the French Language, and Quebecois Identity

[kool maudit]

Not the same thing, as it's an acronym, but I always thought "OVNI" had a better sound and feel than the very American military-spec "UFO"

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Root beer

No clue what that is either. I'm a member of the Anti Beer League anyway. Never understood how people could drink that piss-looking liquid (other than the fact it's dirt cheap, which is why many young students drink it I suppose)...

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Not the same thing, as it's an acronym, but I always thought "OVNI" had a better sound and feel than the very American military-spec "UFO"

Alas you see more and more 'UFO' rearing its ugly head in France nowadays, under US/Hollywood influence... I suppose it's "un UFO" (and not "une UFO"). Go figure!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

No clue what that is either. I'm a member of the Anti Beer League anyway. Never understood how people could drink that piss-looking liquid (other than the fact it's dirt cheap, which is why many young students drink it I suppose)...

Not really a beer. A non-alcoholic soft drink made with salsepareille.

[Acajack]

The greatest IT neologism ever in French has to be pourriel for spam.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Not really a beer. A non-alcoholic soft drink made with salsepareille.

Isn't salsepareille used by the Schtroumpfs?

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The greatest IT neologism ever in French has to be pourriel for spam.

Unused in France. Spam it is. "La boite spam". With the immortal "Avez-vous pensé à vérifier dans votre boite spam ?"

[New Brisavoine]

By the way, how do you guys in Québec call... this?

[kool maudit]

That looks something like what we in Sweden call Swish

[New Brisavoine]

I was referring to the device.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

I was referring to the device.

That's called a smartphone (some kind of pocket computer) because no French company was the first to produce it en masse.
So we can't claim any French name for it. That's the way it goes.

[mousquet]

I might add that the problem with the French is they've always despised consumer electronics.
Smartphones are meaningless gadgets to them and they don't care.
They like grand scale industrial projects instead. Stuff like Thales, embedded systems to larger processes like designing trains and airplanes and such things.

I find it to be a strategic or communication mistake too, because the general public mainly sees the little smartphones in their pockets.
So many are clueless about technology made in France.

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

By the way, how do you guys in Québec call... this?

On appelle ça un cell. from téléphone cellulaire, whether it's smart or not it's called the same thing. On TV they often say téléphone intelligent, but in real life ''cell''

[New Brisavoine]

In France the full name is "téléphone portable", often shortened as "portable" (which can ambiguously also refer to a laptop), but in recent years I've noticed that, probably because few people use landline phones anymore, cell phones are just called "téléphone" now, or "tél" in short form (used especially when writing messages). If you forget your cell phone on the table at the restaurant, these days the waiter will most likely say : "Vous avez oubliez votre téléphone sur la table".

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

No clue what that is either. I'm a member of the Anti Beer League anyway. Never understood how people could drink that piss-looking liquid (other than the fact it's dirt cheap, which is why many young students drink it I suppose)...

This tells me a lot.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

In France the full name is "téléphone portable", often shortened as "portable" (which can ambiguously also refer to a laptop), but in recent years I've noticed that, probably because few people use landline phones anymore, cell phones are just called "téléphone" now, or "tél" in short form (used especially when writing messages). If you forget your cell phone on the table at the restaurant, these days the waiter will most likely say : "Vous avez oubliez votre téléphone sur la table".

Most anglophones in my part of the world just call it a “phone”.

[harls]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

On appelle ça un cell. from téléphone cellulaire, whether it's smart or not it's called the same thing. On TV they often say téléphone intelligent, but in real life ''cell''

This is the right answer.

[New Brisavoine]

What's the wrong answer?

[Acajack]

People in Quebec are familiar with the French term “portable” but it sounds out of place here like “mobile (phone)” sounds out of place and Britishy in Anglo North America.

[New Brisavoine]

With all those inflows of people from France and the Maghreb, maybe it's more used in Montréal now.