Three quarters of signs have mistakes: OQLF
The OQLF says three quarters of written signs businesses in Quebec make language mistakes, with the highest rate being in Montreal. Almost half, the OQLF admits, would be “difficiles à détecter sans une connaissance avancée des règles du français écrit.”
Nicholas 19:57 on 2023-03-01 Permalink
I think it notes that three quarters of businesses have (at least) one sign with an error, not that three quarters of signs have errors. And, of course, it says that 99% of errors wouldn’t realistically cause any reduction in clarity of meaning. But I suppose if you really wanted to grow up to become the grammar police, Quebec is the place to be!
jeather 20:22 on 2023-03-01 Permalink
Ok but some of those are badly formatted telephone numbers or times (I don’t know what the only correct ways for those are anyhow), redundant words, mistaken capitalization rules, spelling mistakes — I’d love to see a comparison of hand written signs elsewhere because honestly this doesn’t feel like a shockingly high number.
Kate 20:26 on 2023-03-01 Permalink
Nicholas, you rightly amend what I wrote. Thank you.
Nicholas 20:37 on 2023-03-01 Permalink
I had to read it three times to make sure I understood. But, you know, for a story about nitpicking…. 🙂
Kevin 23:40 on 2023-03-01 Permalink
One of the main errors is using “quotation marks” instead of <>
MarcG 07:17 on 2023-03-02 Permalink
«I think you mean these bad boys»
MarcG 07:18 on 2023-03-02 Permalink
« Oops, I forgot the publishing-headache-inducing spaces »
jeather 07:50 on 2023-03-02 Permalink
They give a bunch of examples of the errors in the actual report. A big category is using an ampersand where you should use the word et, but I didn’t quite figure out where it’s actually allowed.
If you wondered, the correct setup for a phone number is 514 999-1234, no brackets.
Ian 08:43 on 2023-03-02 Permalink
I was recently told that in French the ampersand can only be used if it is names. So for instance you couldn’t have a firm named « Laurier architecture & design » but you could have « Laurier & Tremblay »
carswell 10:18 on 2023-03-02 Permalink
@Ian That may be true in French — and it’s a rule I tend to follow in English — but I see francophones indiscriminately using the ampersand as short for et all the time, including at crown corporations like the SAQ. And whenever I’ve raised the issue of ampersands in English texts with francophones, including communications professionals, I’ve been met with surprise: it’s news to them.
Ian 10:37 on 2023-03-02 Permalink
I only know this because I know an architect who was informed they couldn’t have the ampersand in their official business name and they asked for some precision around its usage. Of course « & cie » is pretty common. As in most things it’s really only a problem for the kind of person that thinks « steamé » or « hamburger » isn’t real French … it’s not really about the language at that point, it’s about a snobbery flex.
jeather 10:48 on 2023-03-02 Permalink
In casual texts, I don’t think there’s any ban on using the ampersand instead of the word and in English, is there?
Clic Santé uses the wrong telephone number format if you try to make an appointment in French, for what it’s worth.
Kevin 10:56 on 2023-03-02 Permalink
@MarcG
Yeah, the word guillemets got obliterated by formatting.
@jeather
That’s a silly set-up for a phone number. Only a bureaucrat would come up with formatting like that.
@Ian
I have never heard anyone objecting to an ampersand.
Ye flipping gods. If I had to write a report like this to justify the existence of my job, I’d be embarrassed.
CE 11:37 on 2023-03-02 Permalink
@MarcG, are you sure you used the right spaces between the letter and your guillemets? Make sure to run it through Antidote to cut off that half pixel!
John B 12:41 on 2023-03-02 Permalink
I did had to make some telephone formatting decisions, (albeit for a majority anglophone audience), recently and settled on 555-555-5555, as the right combination of commonly-accepted and easy to read. I found the page describing the correct formatting but it doesn’t explain why there shouldn’t be a dash after the area code.
John B 12:52 on 2023-03-02 Permalink
I also wonder how many of the address errors, (which along with phone numbers seem to be a large portion of the errors), have the province or territory formatted the way Canada Post wants them as opposed to the way the OQLF wants them.
Having the “right” way to format an address be something different from what the postal service asks for seems like a way to guarantee “errors” in communication, as businesses want their mail to arrive.