Quebec, the French Language, and Quebecois Identity

[harls]

Are you trying to say that only Creole speaking Haitians are hookers, NB?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Haitian French

So did you quickly learn what bouboune means?

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by harls

Are you trying to say that only Creole speaking Haitians are hookers, NB?

From a sociological point of view, those speaking Haitian French (i.e. the upper class) are unlikely to be hookers.

I find Haitian French quite pleasant to listen to actually (same as Louisianese French of the upper classes, which is not surprising as both share a common history, many White French planters of St Domingue having brought their slaves to Louisiana after the Haitian Revolution). They sound noticeably more distinguished than the French spoken in Canada. Perhaps it has to do with the patrician origin of the language in St Domingue.

Here for example the former prime minister of Haiti interviewed on Moroccan television. It sounds so different from the French spoken in Canada. More European, but with distinct Caribbean traits.

• Video Link

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I have heard these things about Paris. I heard Dublin has become quite a bit worse as well.

I am not a woman and it is not as though Stockholm has none of this sort of thing either, although our situation is much more biased towards crime than street-disorder (very American in this sense), so it'll probably be fine.

I'll likely share my impressions here, although I am only in town for three days and I'll be in a nice Rive-Droite location, so we'll see.

To be fair, one has always been at risk of having one's lights punched out after last call in Dublin.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Liberal platform on housing:

New agency will be called "Bâtir Maisons Canada" in French.

https://liberal.ca/fr/plan-sur-le-logement/

oh wow. I sense a name change sometime soon.

They need to come up with a really weird name that kind of but not really works in both French and English. Like Ottawa's OC Transpo or Greater Sudbury's goVa.

I'll think of something but if anyone else had any ideas?

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by Loco101

oh wow. I sense a name change sometime soon.

They need to come up with a really weird name that kind of but not really works in both French and English. Like Ottawa's OC Transpo or Greater Sudbury's goVa.

I'll think of something but if anyone else had any ideas?

Logis Canada
Canada Home

???

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Hopefully you're not a woman. It's become rather unsafe for women to use taxis in Paris. Earlier this month for example one British woman who took a taxi in the (supposedly more civilized) western part of the city was driven to the Bois de Boulogne by the taxi driver where he severally raped her. She managed to escape and seek refuge in the garden of some people.

It's more and more like that with all these young immigrants from Muslim countries, who come from countries where their sexuality is repressed and who prey on women here, with no morality whasoever. If I were a woman in Paris, I would trust neither taxis, nor Uber deliveries (quite a few cases of Uber deliveries at night where the guy delivering the food raped the female client). Metro can be dangerous too (it's not uncommon for these guys to rub against women in overcrowded metro trains in order to masturbate). Also avoid walking around the Eiffel Tower after dusk, as the police notoriously fails to police the area (and even during the day, you'll see what a 'cour des miracles' this area has become).

PS: My dictionary somehow translates "cour des miracles" as "Skid Row". I know no other European country where all these African and Eastern European gypsies are allowed to totally occupy and destroy the most iconic tourist monument of the city. The level of laxness in France is beyond belief. We're the caricature that conforms to all the clichés the MAGA crowd can have about leftist polities.

PPS: Oh, I forgot to say that you should at all cost avoid taking a taxi between CDG (if that's where you arrive) and the city center, as they will either overcharge you, or rob you (I mean literally drive you somewhere and rob you). There are also lots of 'fake' taxis at CDG these days. The best is to simply take the RER (even if it's dirty due to the lack of maintenance by our public transport authority).

You're making me rethink about going to France although I've really wanted to see rural France more than the large cities. I haven't been to Paris since I was a child and I was too young to remember. Is it really as bad as you say it is? I've read things but really had a hard time determining how much worse things have gotten because sometimes media loves to over-exaggerate. I've been to a number of large American cities and survived.

A big difference in Canada is that areas with lots of Muslim immigrants tend to be some of the safest areas and also wealthiest. But of course the vast majority weren't refugees.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Loco101

They need to come up with a really weird name that kind of but not really works in both French and English. Like Ottawa's OC Transpo or Greater Sudbury's goVa.

I'll think of something but if anyone else had any ideas?

Construction Canada, tout simplement.

The number of French words present in the English language with identical spelling is very high.

Habitat Canada can be another one.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Loco101

You're making me rethink about going to France although I've really wanted to see rural France more than the large cities. I haven't been to Paris since I was a child and I was too young to remember. Is it really as bad as you say it is? I've read things but really had a hard time determining how much worse things have gotten because sometimes media loves to over-exaggerate. I've been to a number of large American cities and survived.

A big difference in Canada is that areas with lots of Muslim immigrants tend to be some of the safest areas and also wealthiest. But of course the vast majority weren't refugees.

Depends if you're a woman and/or an Asian person. These two categories tend to be more often victim of crime, especially if they are tourists. If you're a Black man, you should be fine. White man should be fine too if you don't look too much like a tourist. Also preferably younger than 70, as older people are easy targets.

Last week, in one of the wealthiest parts of the city (rue de Sèvres in the 7th arrondissement) some thugs climbed a Haussmannian building (on the street side) at night, broke the window on the 2nd floor (on the street side; Parisians stupidly never close their shutters at night), and entered the apartment where they threatened parents and teenage children with the sharp broken glasses, dragged the teenagers (pulling their hair) into the parents' bedroom, and extorted more than 25,000 euros from the family: https://www.lefigaro.fr/faits-divers/par...n-domicile-du-6e-arrondissement-20250328

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

What is a "nice Rive Droite location"? I know no nice Rive Droite location anymore (unless we call the 16th arrondissement "Rive Droite"). If you mean the Marais, you're in for a VERY BIG shock, as Le Marais has gone down the hill at a fast rate since Covid. The neighborhood is unrecognizable, with struggling stores (due to blocked streets, thanks to our anti-automobile municipality), African tramps (and tents) everywhere, destroyed streets, etc. Last year for the entire year (even during the Olympic Games) there was an Indian-looking guy who lived on a tiny section of the sidewalk in one of the most ancient and prestigious streets of the Marais, it was disgusting (he often pooed on the sidewalk, in view of everybody, and his big brown feces remained there in full view of everybody on the tiny sidewalk for the entire day, forcing you to walk in the middle of the street along with cars). For an entire year, no public authority or NGO took him out of there. Now he's gone (did he die? was he finally placed somewhere? dunno). That was only 3 minutes walk from the Paris city hall, and just 300 yards from the prestigious BHV department store.

So nice Rive Droite location?

I spent a week in the Marais last year and saw nothing remotely like what you mention.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

I spent a week in the Marais last year and saw nothing remotely like what you mention.

Which confirms my observation that some people choose to ignore what's around them.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Which confirms my observation that some people choose to ignore what's around them.

Why would I choose to ignore that? I have already discussed how shabby Marseille was.

Gare du Nord was the only area I visited in Paris that felt a bit sketchy and smelt like urine.

We have drama queens like you here too who constantly cry that the sky is falling over any speck of evidence confirming their partisan leanings. I’m sure every city has that kind of perspective.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

I spent a week in the Marais last year and saw nothing remotely like what you mention.

Le Marais - so many wonderful, unmentionable memories.

[Acajack]

New name announced: Maisons Canada

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Construction Canada, tout simplement.

The number of French words present in the English language with identical spelling is very high.

Habitat Canada can be another one.

In GofC blingspeak, that would probably be Construction Canada Construction. Or, in Quebec, Construction Canada Construction.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

We have drama queens like you here too who constantly cry that the sky is falling over any speck of evidence confirming their partisan leanings. I’m sure every city has that kind of perspective.

Yes... Who knows why Brisavoine is so butthurt that he would try to deter everyone from visiting Paris at the moment?
Maybe due to the decision by a court to convict nationalist leader Marine Le Pen, who's likely to be barred from running for president in 2027 as a result.
I don't know, but right now, for whatever reason, he sounds like a fierce anti-French weirdo that would spend hours of his spare time spreading all stereotypes on here and maybe everywhere on social media to ruin the reputation of the city he lives in, out of a couple of unfortunate anecdotes.

There are pickpockets and scammers/cons that might try to deceive you on touristy spots like the surroundings of the Eiffel tower or the Sacré-Cœur. Most tourists must've been aware by now, cause lots of warnings have been issued by various sources for years and years, including by tour operators themselves. Beware of Gypsies and unlicensed street sellers in particular. All you have to do is to gently turn down anything a crook or suspect individual/stranger may suggest to you and walk away from them. They will leave you alone, cause they don't want to literally mug anybody in the midst of a crowd with the police often watching.

Serious crime such as raping or severe mugging only seldom occurs. Quite unlikely to happen to anybody when they wisely avoid no-go areas at night.
Anyway, at this point, Brisavoine is about to tell you that Haiti is better run and safer than Paris, lol.
Just don't pay any attention to his rants. Anytime he feels frustrated, he goes obnoxious and disparages entire society.

[le calmar]

Brisavoine's depiction of Paris sounds quite extreme, but I haven't been there in years so I can't really judge. That said, I thought about this yesterday when I saw a video of a large group of young men robbing suitcases straight out of a bus.

They were somehow able to open the baggage compartment from a tourist bus full of people and were stealing the suitcases while the bus was moving. As Acajack said, our cities are rougher and grittier than they used to be, but there was something "French" about this whole situation. You see something like this, and you just know there's a good chance it's in France.

[MolsonExport]

I will be in Paris (for the fifth time) this summer, and I plan on checking out the main places where the tourists tend to go...I will be able to see for myself how bad the city has decayed, or not.

[P'tit Renard]

Originally Posted by le calmar

Brisavoine's depiction of Paris sounds quite extreme, but I haven't been there in years so I can't really judge. That said, I thought about this yesterday when I saw a video of a large group of young men robbing suitcases straight out of a bus.

They were somehow able to open the baggage compartment from a tourist bus full of people and were stealing the suitcases while the bus was moving. As Acajack said, our cities are rougher and grittier than they used to be, but there was something "French" about this whole situation. You see something like this, and you just know there's a good chance it's in France.

I've been in Paris with SO at least 5 times in the last 3 years, and central Paris isn't bad if you're not purposely venturing into the problematic arrondissements, and we were out past midnight every night. Feels safer than Toronto and London (UK) at times, though Montreal is still the safest of the 4 cities.

[P'tit Renard]

Now it makes sense why Trump's preferred candidate Carney wants to contest loi 96 in court:

La loi 96 du Québec et la gestion de l’offre dans la mire de Donald Trump
https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2025/0...n-de-loffre-dans-la-mire-de-donald-trump


versus the PCC and NPD position:

Le NPD et le Parti conservateur n’interviendraient pas contre la loi 96 du Québec
https://www.journaldequebec.com/2025/03/...ntre-la-loi-96-du-quebec-en-cour-supreme