Re: OT : France Bans the Term 'E-Mail'

Ken Kauffman wrote:
>
> [snip]
>

I'm not defending France or Quebec, but the French are not the only ones
to try to halt the demon scourge of English. In European Spanish the
word for "password" is officially supposed to be "la contrasena."
Everybody (at least everybody I know) uses "el password" anyway.

English in its entirety is derived from other languages. Isn't it time
for us to give some of the love back? Shouldn't our (speaking as, um,
an English-speaker) contribution to the globalization of language be
more significant than the amusingly common "OK?"

In article <1122632.V9ZSES661s@robinton.llondel.org> noone$$@llondel.org
(Dave {Reply Address in.sig}) writes:

>If all languages shared more words then we'd all be heading towards
>a single common language that would be beneficial to all. Part of the
>reason for the success of English is that it nicks words from elsewhere
>and adopts them as its own.

I've heard English described as a "kleptolect". :-)

>The French have singularly failed to appreciate this which is why
>they make up their own words.

It seems the NIH syndrome is everywhere...

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"Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> writes:
>
> >The French have singularly failed to appreciate this which is why
> >they make up their own words.
>
> It seems the NIH syndrome is everywhere...

Sometimes it seems like the French invented it.
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