Stickers with random French words have been appearing around Park Ex, part of a city campaign to make more of the residents speak French. Residents are not thrilled with a patronizing campaign that they see as a waste of resources, but the city had to promise Quebec it would promote French in the area.
Reddit found the sticker shown here and comments were immediate. Not only are the words the same in French as in English, they’re actually Greek, Dutch and Portuguese words, the Portuguese originating from a now extinct Indigenous language. No French here.
I love the idea of the government trying to make Park Ex people say “feta” instead of “feta”….
(Can this one be a fake prank?)
thomas 13:46 on 2023-07-27 Permalink
So the purpose of the campaign is to promote the notion that transitioning from learning English to French is not a difficult task?
Arie 15:05 on 2023-07-27 Permalink
Doesn’t look like a prank. The QR code links to this: https://montreal.ca/articles/activites-et-ateliers-de-pratique-du-francais-dans-parc-extension-52542
It looks pretty targeted at immigrants which is bordering on racism.
mare 16:24 on 2023-07-27 Permalink
Also, in Europe there’s a law on ‘Geographical indications and traditional specialities’. Feta like cheese made in Denmark can’t be sold as feta, only feta made in Greece can, just as bubbly wine from Italy can’t be sold as Champagne. Gouda is a bit vague, because even in the Netherlands most Gouda cheese isn’t made in Gouda. Tapioca isn’t from a certain region afaik.
I thought Canada was going to acknowledge those geographical indicators as part of some international treaty but I guess I thought wrong, because I still see all kind of cheeses being sold that are made in Canada and not in their original region.
Nicholas 16:51 on 2023-07-27 Permalink
mare, there are exceptions for “Asiago”, “Feta”, “Φέτα” (Feta), “Fontina”, “Gorgonzola” and “Munster” if they were used by a company here before Oct 18, 2013, or if they clearly display both a qualifying term such as “kind”, “type”, “style” or “imitation” and a geographic descriptor such as Canadian or Quebec. See 11.17(3) and (4): https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/bill/C-30/royal-assent (you can see the full list of the 172 protected indications at the bottom, in schedule 6)
mb 11:24 on 2023-07-28 Permalink
This is nuts. And if it proves anything, it’s that “pure” French doesn’t exist.
Ian 11:46 on 2023-07-28 Permalink
As they say on 94.3 FM, Plus de fun !
Bob 13:55 on 2023-07-28 Permalink
All you have to do to make a lot of menus and signs illegal is put some accents on them, Fèta. Goûda. Tapîoca. Maybe change some spellings. Bageule. Pite-ça. Bourritteau. Hambourgeois.
Kate 16:04 on 2023-07-28 Permalink
Has anyone ever heard the word “hambourgeois” spoken?
Uatu 09:49 on 2023-07-29 Permalink
A previous post talked about bullshit jobs. Here’s your prime example. A job to figure out how to spend government money on pointless stickers.