Quebec, the French Language, and Quebecois Identity

[New Brisavoine]

It's been going on for more than 70 years, and it's accelerating. The idea that somehow the trend is going to be reversed is as deluded as believing that formerly Francophone communities in North America are going to become Francophone again in the future.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

It's been going on for more than 70 years, and it's accelerating. The idea that somehow the trend is going to be reversed is as deluded as believing that formerly Francophone communities in North America are going to become Francophone again in the future.

Mais pourquoi t'es toujours plein d'ondes négatives ? C'est chiant, hein.

It's just like people complaining about kebab restaurants at every street corner, except that bashing what's American is more politically correct (i.e. leaning to the Marxist left wing that I dislike).

If people on here knew about what they call "French tacos", they'd probably be shocked or laugh out loud.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_tacos

I don't like it. It's sickening and an outrage, an insult to Mexican food that I like a lot.
I guess it's a trick that kebab restaurants found to somehow renew their items when people started to get tired of the regular kebab thing.

The French eat tons of pizza (more than they do in Italy herself, second to the US only). We've had loads of Italian and North African (couscous) restaurants for ages and no one ever found it disturbing.

There's plenty of various Asian and Indian options too these days... Thai, Japanese and Chinese restaurants are thriving around my neighborhood in Val-de-Marne, but it's true that we've had a long-time established Asian community over this side of Paris.
I mean, it's just globalization at work on our food habits.

French cuisine is often an upper, fancier and pricier niche nowadays, while traditional bistros and bakeries have been under the pressure of tough competition indeed.
I don't see anything wrong about it. This is a free market, eh.

[Nashe]

"Ugh, Romans."
"I know... so annoying."
"You can't go anywhere without seeing their stupid legionnaires all over the place."
"Did you see what they did to our roads?"
"I know! I mean... that part's not terrible, I suppose... I can get to Phillipi in half the time now."
"True. Hey, did you hear we're getting a circus?"
"No way?"
"I mean... they just race in a circle, basically, they can't even turn right."
"Still... it's pretty cool... My kids will love it."

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by mousquet

Mais pourquoi t'es toujours plein d'ondes négatives ? C'est chiant, hein.

It's just like people complaining about kebab restaurants at every street corner, except that bashing what's American is more politically correct (i.e. leaning to the Marxist left wing that I dislike).

If people on here knew about what they call "French tacos", they'd probably be shocked or laugh out loud.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_tacos

I don't like it. It's sickening and an outrage, an insult to Mexican food that I like a lot.
I guess it's a trick that kebab restaurants found to somehow renew their items when people started to get tired of the regular kebab thing.

The French eat tons of pizza (more than they do in Italy herself, second to the US only). We've had loads of Italian and North African (couscous) restaurants for ages and no one ever found it disturbing.

There's plenty of various Asian and Indian options too these days... Thai, Japanese and Chinese restaurants are thriving around my neighborhood in Val-de-Marne, but it's true that we've had a long-time established Asian community over this side of Paris.
I mean, it's just globalization at work on our food habits.

French cuisine is often an upper, fancier and pricier niche nowadays, while traditional bistros and bakeries have been under the pressure of tough competition indeed.
I don't see anything wrong about it. This is a free market, eh.

There is a Mont Tacos which does French tacos near my kid’s place in Montreal.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There is a Mont Tacos which does French tacos near my kid’s place in Montreal.

Boycott it, then.

Support legit Mex food instead. And I don't mean Taco Bell, eh.

The Mexicans who need to migrate should cross the ocean instead of moving to the US where they are insulted.
We would welcome them here in France. We like Latin Americans over here.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by mousquet

Boycott it, then.

Support legit Mex food instead. And I don't mean Taco Bell, eh.

The Mexicans who need to migrate should cross the ocean instead of moving to the US where they are insulted.
We would welcome them here in France. We like Latin Americans over here.

I’ve never had Mont Tacos and I don’t go to Taco Bell which is surprisingly not that present in Quebec.

Mexicans and Latinos are also considered almost like model immigrants in Quebec.

[MolsonExport]

Taco Hell is called that for a reason.

This is not a taco. It is an abomination.

[kwoldtimer]

French tacos seem like a cross between poutine and a hand pie ...

Wait!

[AverageMonctonEnjoyr]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

As a native English speaker, I find the term "Anglo-Saxon" to be an anachronism, and speaks more towards racial origins rather than English language or culture. Probably the last prominent English speaking leader who commonly employed the term was Winston Churchill about 75 years ago.

Anglo-Saxon speaks particularly to a couple of Germanic tribes that invaded southeast Britannia after the fall of the Roman Empire. In a broader sense, the "British peoples" include native Brythonic tribes, the Celts, anglo-Roman remnants and subsequent Norman invaders. Anglo-Saxon therefore is not an inclusive term and is racially tainted, not being culturally sensitive to the British peoples as a whole.

Perhaps as a person of at least 80% Scottish origin, I am sensitive to this point. I happily refer to myself as British in origin, but, not Anglo-Saxon. To me, NB constantly referring to all English speakers anywhere in the world as "Anglo-Saxon" is culturally and racially insensitive, but, perhaps this is a nuance lost on people of French origin.

Yes, I’m aware that the Angles and Saxons were tribes in England. We use the term ‘Anglo-Saxon’ to describe any white, native English speaker. It’s just an easily memorable umbrella-term that’s now embedded in everyday language, even if it’s not entirely precise.What harm does it do at the end of the day?

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

There has always been something a bit puritan regarding drugs among the French. In this area as in many other, the Québécois share something with the French despite more than 250 years of separation (you can see it too in the approach to Islam, the veil). I don't know why it's just impossible to talk about the legalization of cannabis in France. We're as puritan as the Americans during the alcohol prohibition, with the same awful consequences! And yet the French population is the largest consumer of cannabis in Europe. So it's a complete failure in all respects.

I wouldn't say that Quebec and France are similar when it comes to cannabis. The federal Liberals made legalization a key promise of their platform and many Liberal MPs were elected in 2015 in Quebec. It don't think that the promise helped the Liberals but it certainly didn't hurt them.

I don't remember any protesting or the Quebec provincial government fighting legalization. And the same goes for opposition parities there. Yes, the province went with only government-run stores but so did all of the Maritime provinces. Raising the minimum age from 18 to 21 was actually done in the best interests of health and science-based due to the brain development of young adults, although I have no idea if it actually has meant fewer people aged 18-20 consuming it.

[AverageMonctonEnjoyr]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

You're the one with such a poor attitude towards your English cousins.

I see my ‘’English cousins’’ more like ‘’English brothers’’. Our ancestors were only separated by the English Channel and were practically neighbours. After centuries of battles, we still have more in common with each other than we have with let’s say asians or Africans.

[AverageMonctonEnjoyr]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Yeah. The biggest pain in the ass is automobile parts. You have to learn everything again (bonnet vs hood, windscreen vs windshield, etc).

Spanish has a lot of that too (conducir el coche vs manejar el carro, ordenador vs computador, etc.).

French has very little of that, except for a few purist neologisms in Québec like "pourriel".

Currently taking a spanish class. I had learned all the summer beforehand Mexican spanish to prepare myself, but it’s a class on Castellan spanish ( from Spain ) and this has costed me points on my exams. Did not expect that even the verbs would change from a country to another.

[AverageMonctonEnjoyr]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Yeah. The biggest pain in the ass is automobile parts. You have to learn everything again (bonnet vs hood, windscreen vs windshield, etc).

Spanish has a lot of that too (conducir el coche vs manejar el carro, ordenador vs computador, etc.).

French has very little of that, except for a few purist neologisms in Québec like "pourriel".

Or spoiling a movie to someone, divulgâcher ( and the french would just say spoil ).

[AverageMonctonEnjoyr]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Don't Anglophone keyboards in Canada have French accents? The lack of accents on US keyboards was one of the biggest pain in the ass I found. It would cost almost nothing to add them!!

Latin American keyboards are the best, because you can put accents on any vowel, not just é or è. There's a trick to turn a US keyboard into a Spanish Latin American keyboard with accents, but it's tiresome.

Most keyboards should be bilingual but I sometimes come across some that aren’t. The keyboard I am currently typing on which I bought here in Canada doesn’t have french accents.

[AverageMonctonEnjoyr]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

If Louisiana hadn't done their best to crush the French language there, they could be a major center of French learning in North America with their weather. They've lost a big market.

To think that only roughly 70 000 french speakers remain in Louisiana. Such a shame.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

French tacos seem like a cross between poutine and a hand pie ...

Wait!

In truth few people eat that fake Mexican food here. The big scourge here is McDonald's, which is now present even in the smallest townlet in France, and is often the only "restaurant" present (if you can call that a restaurant). You go to Spain or Italy, and suddenly there are almost no McDonald's visible. Even in the UK, I don't recall seeing that many McDonald's. There's something uniquely French in this obsession with McDonald's. It says something about the collapse of French education since the 1970s.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by AverageMonctonEnjoyr

I see my ‘’English cousins’’ more like ‘’English brothers’’. Our ancestors were only separated by the English Channel and were practically neighbours. After centuries of battles, we still have more in common with each other than we have with let’s say asians or Africans.

Stockholm syndrome I would call it. In France we tend to see the English as very very different from us. Which is not to say that we dislike them (most French people have no special feelings about the English), but we certainly don't see them as very close to us.

In general the French tend to see themselves as closest to the Italians, but the Italians do not, so it's rather unrequited love.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by AverageMonctonEnjoyr

Currently taking a spanish class. I had learned all the summer beforehand Mexican spanish to prepare myself, but it’s a class on Castellan spanish ( from Spain ) and this has costed me points on my exams. Did not expect that even the verbs would change from a country to another.

Of course. In Mexico "checkar" was very handy (lo voy a checkar), but in Spain nobody understands it, and I'm always uncertain how to say it in Spain's Spanish.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Of course. In Mexico "checkar" was very handy (lo voy a checkar), but in Spain nobody understands it, and I'm always uncertain how to say it in Spain's Spanish.

Comprobar, verificar. South of Mexico, it is more often "chequear", which is an anglicism that is now accepted in formal Spanish.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Stockholm syndrome I would call it.

Stockholm syndrome??? Really!!!!



I would think even Acajack would have problems with this (mis)characterization.

Francophone Canadians have full autonomy, and are completely equal to their anglophone brothers in Canada. They are as fully Canadian as any other Canadian is.

Sure there are places in Canada where francophones cannot get service in their own language, but, there are areas in Canada where anglophones have difficulty getting service as well, even here in New Brunswick (a majority anglophone province). There can be a little disharmony at times, but, I doubt that anyone thinks of the relationship between francophone and anglophone Canadians in the manner of a captive race developing an unhealthy fixation with their captors.

give your head a shake man.......