# France bans e-mail **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 18, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/france-bans-e-mail/189471 "2003-07-18T20:54:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Elenfair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@Elenfair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elenfair)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/france-bans-e-mail/189471/41 "2003-07-20T01:32:40Z")
GAAAAAAAAAAH That was ME, not lno! I forgot to log him out. Shaaaaame… Shaaaaame… ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/france-bans-e-mail/189471/42 "2003-07-20T02:20:34Z")
Good call, Elen. What always amuses me is that in France, the official word is “week-end”… but in _le canayen affreux_ it’s “fin de semaine.” ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/france-bans-e-mail/189471/43 "2003-07-20T06:17:33Z")
I was astonished at the amount of English used in France, at least in the commercial names of businesses; it seems to be seen (at least by the retailers of clothes, electronics, convenience-type goods, fast-ish foods, music, etc) as hip, cool, what-have-you, and above all _American_. Some even with the American Flag as part of the logo! (Yes, I’m aware that there’s a disconnect there with the perception that the French have nothing but distain for the USA, or at least their perception that the USA lacks “culture…” but the youth of France sure seem keen to ape US youth cultural trends in clothing, food and music, regardless.) I wasn’t in Paris, but in the smaller northern cities of Picardy, like Arras, Amiens, Lille, etc. At an unscientific guess, easily 15-20% of the signs in the newer businesses in the smarter town centre shopping districts had an English name of some sort. And, of course, the “STOP” signs in France all say “STOP,” at least all the ones that I saw. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/france-bans-e-mail/189471/44 "2003-07-20T06:19:33Z")
should they say “go” then? ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/france-bans-e-mail/189471/45 "2003-07-20T06:21:53Z")
**gum** , they could say _arrêt_ as in Québec ---
**Author:** ![BabaBooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/france-bans-e-mail/189471/46 "2003-07-20T06:55:58Z")
What a Duketastrophe. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/france-bans-e-mail/189471/47 "2003-07-20T07:33:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by detop \* > \*\*Better translations would be _sandwich hambourgeois or à la mode de Hambourg or de Hambourg_. Anyway, it’s all moot, everybody I know still call them “hamburgers” anyway 😃 \*\* I make a point to pronounce it _hambourgeur_. I like the sound of it. Seriously folks, the Japanese ministry of education publishes a list of characters that are acceptable for use in general publication, where’s the outrage? How dare they “regulate” language? > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Ray Walker_ > **Wow, they feel that threatened by English? How sad.** The Académie Française has been setting guidelines for French usage since 1635. This has _nothing_ to do with being threatened. ---
**Author:** ![New\_Improved\_Scott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/france-bans-e-mail/189471/48 "2003-07-20T12:55:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Elenfair \* > \*\*GAAAAAAAAAAH > > That was ME, not lno! > > I forgot to log him out. > > Shaaaaame… > > Shaaaaame… \*\* I was gonna compliment **lno** on his dedication to picking up the details of french so quickly. I had heard he was trying to learn a little for you… Hehe. ---
**Author:** ![chewbasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbe5ce/32.png) [@chewbasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chewbasta)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/france-bans-e-mail/189471/49 "2003-07-20T21:47:42Z")
France sucks. Smee German, Italian, Polish, and uuummm. French. What is the shortest book in the French History section of the Library? A: The book of “French War Heros” Smee Goan… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/france-bans-e-mail/189471/50 "2003-07-20T22:17:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by chewbasta \* > \*\*“French War Heros” > \*\* Joan D’Arc and William the Conquorer come to mind. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/france-bans-e-mail/189471/51 "2003-07-21T01:27:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*detop, do you think it’s weird that the Spanish (once again) call it a _hamburguesa_? \*\* My problem with _hambourgeois_ is that it sounds like something that would be served at a Marxist cafe. Made from real capitalist oppressors! People don’t find it funny or pretentious that the French have different words for stuff. If the French just happened to use _courriel_ as the word for e-mail no one would be objecting. It’s the fact that they have an official body that makes pronouncements banning certain words. That sounds pretentious simply because it’s very different from what we do here in the States. I think it makes a certain amount of sense, frankly, to clarify what should be used in an official sense. Much easier than the US system of just assuming folks know what’s appropriate or not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/france-bans-e-mail/189471.md?page=2)