Quebec, the French Language, and Quebecois Identity

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Interesting, this made the news here a few weeks ago:
https://tvagatineau.ca/un-sondage-su...i-fait-reagir/

"Il ne peut pas être ailleurs parce que ça prend une concentration de transports, concentration d’entreprises et une économie. C’est ça, un noyau urbain."

Steve Moran, conseiller municipal du district de Hull-Wright

"Ca prend" sounds very Québec French. I don't even know what that's supposed to mean (although I get the general idea). Here in Europe "ça prend" is, for example, when you lay some concrete, and the concrete starts to harden, that's "ça prend".

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

"Ca prend" sounds very Québec French. I don't even know what that's supposed to mean (although I get the general idea). Here in Europe "ça prend" is, for example, when you lay some concrete, and the concrete starts to harden, that's "ça prend".

"On a besoin de..."

"On doit y retrouver..."

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Acajack

"On a besoin de..."

"On doit y retrouver..."

Odd. 'Anglicisme' I suppose ("it takes").

Originally Posted by Acajack

The area, which is quite close to my house, is going OK. But it's not very urban, and looks like this:

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4839...8192?entry=ttu

This ressembles some areas of the Silicon Valley that I know well, like around Sunnyvale or Mountain View.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I know. Anglos are really thin skinned people. We should never complain about anything. We have it so good, and we should just shut the f*ck up or get out. If we dare complain, well, heck, we are enemies of Quebec! We are the most spoiled minority in the history of the world. Le Québec aux Québécois!!

Did an anglo ever get $12,000 for getting served a Sprite in French on Air Canada or Via Rail? Damn, I could give up my day job!



https://nationalpost.com/news/canada...-7up-in-french

It reminds me of the attacks and accusations that people face when they criticize Israel in any way. You got to be 100% with them, because if you are opposed to 2% of what is happening, you are against them!

I am out of this thread again. Enjoy getting selective, revised history lessons from Nouveau Brisavoine!

It's worth noting that Michel Thibodeau's name was dragged through the mud by the media for months and years and he became reviled and even threatened in the community he lives in (Ottawa). Part of the witchhunt against him even took place on this forum, in addition to many others.

All because he tried to compel Air Canada to respect the law.

And the flight attendant was not at all apologetic and was clearly being a bitch while pretending to not understand what "un seven-up, s'il-vous-plaît" means.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

This ressembles some areas of the Silicon Valley that I know well, like around Sunnyvale or Mountain View.

Almost sounds like a compliment!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Odd. 'Anglicisme' I suppose ("it takes").
.

Funny, because in English I would probably say "You need XYZ... to make a downtown".

That said, I am not sure that Steve Moran is 100% purely francophone. He does speak French all the time for his job but it might not be his background.

Moran is pronounced the French way in his case, but spelled that way it's more of an Irish surname. Whereas the French surname here is spelled Morand.

[P'tit Renard]

Originally Posted by Acajack

In all honesty and fairness the francophone population in Toronto is very small, especially compared to the anglophone community of Montreal.

Bottom line is as you say: the boasting about Ontario being so great for francophones compared to Quebec for anglophones is totally ridiculous.

True, though you would think the provincial capital and the home of Ontario's first official french language university would hold itself to a higher standard.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by P'tit Renard

True, though you would think the provincial capital and the home of Ontario's only official public francophone university would hold itself to a higher standard.

Especially if they want to get preachy and holier-than-thou on us.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Almost sounds like a compliment!

Yeah, it's not too bad, although it's just one stretch of an avenue, and I haven't seen what's beyond.

One big difference though, is... weather! Given me Mountain View over Gatineau anytime. 60 degrees in the afternoon in winter, never above mid-70s in summer (except rare heat waves, when the nights are anyway always fresh due to the desert climate of California).

Also, great cultural diversity in the Silicon Valley, people from everywhere, and very bright minds. Silicon Valley is really a great, great place (lots of possibilities for outdoors too, mountains, ocean only 40 minutes away).

The one 'plus' that Gatineau has over Silicon Valley is it's only 2 and half hour from Montréal. Silicon Valley is 45 minutes from SF, but except for the weather, I would deem Montréal a greater urban experience than SF, and also more fun.

[P'tit Renard]

Originally Posted by ToxiK

When an Anglo demands services in French in Québec, he is proudly fighting for his rights. When a Franco demands services in French in the ROC (including an airplane), or even in Québec, he is whining...

Whenever my SO's brother visits us in Toronto, he insists to order only in French at Timmies. His way to reciprocate the love, even though he's bilingual.

If Canada is really so gung-ho on official bilingualism, then at least one Timmies in Toronto should be dignified enough to serve him in French. In reality, none of them can serve in French. Toronto is incredibly hostile and inaccessible to monolingual French speakers.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Yeah, it's not too bad, although it's just one stretch of an avenue, and I haven't seen what's beyond.

One big difference though, is... weather! Given me Mountain View over Gatineau anytime. 60 degrees in the afternoon in winter, never above mid-70s in summer (except rare heat waves, when the nights are anyway always fresh due to the desert climate of California).

Also, great cultural diversity in the Silicon Valley, people from everywhere, and very bright minds. Silicon Valley is really a great, great place (lots of possibilities for outdoors too, mountains, ocean only 40 minutes away).

The one 'plus' that Gatineau has over Silicon Valley is it's only 2 and half hour from Montréal. Silicon Valley is 45 minutes from SF, but except for the weather, I would deem Montréal a greater urban experience than SF, and also more fun.

I don't doubt that Mountain View is a lot nicer than Gatineau. Plus it's very close to San Jose which is a city the size of our next-door-neighbour Ottawa.

Mountain View average in July: 25C

Gatineau average in July: 27C

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Acajack

It's worth noting that Michel Thibodeau's name was dragged through the mud by the media for months and years and he became reviled and even threatened in the community he lives in (Ottawa). Part of the witchhunt against him even took place on this forum, in addition to many others.

All because he tried to compel Air Canada to respect the law.

And the flight attendant was not at all apologetic and was clearly being a bitch while pretending to not understand what "un seven-up, s'il-vous-plaît" means.

They even talked about it in the French media of France.

[Zeej]

Originally Posted by P'tit Renard

Whenever my SO's brother visits us in Toronto, he insists to order only in French at Timmies. His way to reciprocate the love, even though he's bilingual.

If Canada is really so gung-ho on official bilingualism, then at least one Timmies in Toronto should be dignified enough to serve him in French. In reality, none of them can serve in French. Toronto is incredibly hostile and inaccessible to monolingual French speakers.

Well... none of the Timmies in central Montreal can provide passable service in French either... symptom of a whole other thing these days.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Funny, because in English I would probably say "You need XYZ... to make a downtown".

No, my understanding is it's a calque of English "it takes", as in "it takes a concentration of public transports, businesses, etc to make a downtown". Can't see any other explanation.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

No, my understanding is it's a calque of English "it takes", as in "it takes a concentration of public transports, businesses, etc to make a downtown". Can't see any other explanation.

Surely, but that's not how I would say it personally.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Zeej

Well... none of the Timmies in central Montreal can provide passable service in French either... symptom of a whole other thing these days.

Yes, but none of this is the fault of old stock Quebec anglophones.

I presume this is because all Timmies employees are recent immigrants to the country with poor language skills.

I can assure you that I too have difficulty receiving service in English at most drive-thrus in Moncton, as well as frequently with counter service too. My go to beverage from Timmies is a large steeped tea with double milk. There have been two occasions in the last 4-5 weeks that I recieved a coffee rather than a steeped tea from the well meaning recent Canadian immigrant with an extremely thick accent at the counter.

Don't blame this one on the anglos!!!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Yes, but none of this is the fault of old stock Quebec anglophones.

I presume this is because all Timmies employees are recent immigrants to the country with poor language skills.

I can assure you that I too have difficulty at most drive-thrus in Moncton as well as with counter service. My go to beverage from Timmies is a large steeped tea with double milk. There have been two occasions in the last 4-5 weeks that I recieved a coffee rather than a steeped tea from the well meaning recent Canadian immigrant with an extremely thick accent at the counter.

Don't blame this one on the anglos!!!

Perhaps not, but one can still quite fairly "Blame Canada"!

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Perhaps not, but one can still quite fairly "Blame Canada"!

Don't go all South Park on us now.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Don't go all South Park on us now.

Never even watched it, but I know a few references.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFJO8gW83BE

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I don't doubt that Mountain View is a lot nicer than Gatineau. Plus it's very close to San Jose which is a city the size of our next-door-neighbour Ottawa.

San Jose is not really a city. Lol. You'd find it rather similar to "Hull", just with palm trees and better maintained streets (yes, streets in downtown San Jose are surprisingly well maintained).

The only city in the Bay Area is SF, but even SF is not a grand urban city the way large European cities can be. It's rather small, and quickly becomes a suburb, even inside the municipal limits of the City of San Francisco.

Originally Posted by Acajack

Mountain View average in July: 25C

Gatineau average in July: 27C

Yes, but one big thing you forget to enter into the equation is... humidity. The air in California is very dry. 25 in Mountain is 25 with very dry weather, so you never feel hot, you don't need AC. We even had a brief heatwave that reached 100, and it was so dry (and fresh at night, temperature dropping from 100 in the afternoon to 70 at night) that it was perfectly bearable without AC. Most people in the Silicon Valley don't have AC, even rich people. You do need central heating though, because winter nights can be cold due to the desert climate (0 degrees Celsius at dawn is frequent in winter, rising to 15 degrees C in the afternoon, then dropping again to 0 at night). The very large "amplitude thermique", which is typical of deserts, can be a bit tiring (tiring as in it tires the body, and makes you feel tired). I never completely got used to it. I prefer when the temperature doesn't change too much between day and night.

Gatineau, on the other hand, I'm quite certain that it must be rather humid in summer, so 27 would probably start to feel a little sticky and uncomfortable, and require AC at home.

Also, don't know how it is in Gatineau, but in the Silicon there are.... no mosquitoes in summer. This must go along with the dry weather. It's so great to live in a place that has no mosquitoes in summer... On the 'minus' side, because of the desert climate, summer nights are always a bit coolish, so you always need a light jacket, and you cannot walk in T-shirt at night in summer, which is one thing I missed a lot about summer there. I'm quite sure that you can walk in T-shirt at night in Gatineau in summer.

But dry desert nights make for incredible night skies. I have never seen the Moon so beautiful and "crisp" as in the Silicon Valley. Really stunning. Much more stars are also visible in the sky than in more humid climates.