Quebec Tries to Say Au Revoir to ‘Hi,’ and Hello to ‘Bonjour’
- 6 years ago
Quebec Tries to Say Au Revoir to ‘Hi,’ and Hello to ‘Bonjour’
It has now been deemed acceptable in everyday usage to use "cocktail" instead of "coquetel" and baby boom instead of "bébé-boum." In introducing the "Bonjour" resolution, Pascal Bérubé, a leading member of the Parti Québécois, said
that the "Bonjour hi" greeting was an "irritant," and that using "Bonjour" was a reminder that Quebec was a French-speaking province.
But the latest example of this long-simmering culture war here in Quebec happened just last week, when provincial legislators unanimously
passed a resolution calling for shopkeepers to stop saying "Bonjour hi" when they greet customers and to say simply "Bonjour" instead.
" He said he routinely greets customers with "Bonjour" but switches to English if the customer is a native English speaker.
that What are they going to do, come into my shop and arrest me for how I greet people?
In an episode known as "Pastagate," the agency — which staunchly defends the French language in Quebec — told an Italian restaurant in Montreal
that it had violated the law by using the word "pasta" on its menu rather than translating it into the language of Voltaire.
5, 2017
MONTREAL — A customer at a pet shop in Napierville, Quebec, once threatened to complain to the province’s French-language watchdog agency
because a parrot called Peek-a-Boo refused to speak French.
Walk into a boutique or restaurant in downtown Montreal, and there is a decent chance the shopkeeper will say, "Bonjour hi!," a hybrid greeting
that reflects the cosmopolitan city’s vaunted bilingualism.
It has now been deemed acceptable in everyday usage to use "cocktail" instead of "coquetel" and baby boom instead of "bébé-boum." In introducing the "Bonjour" resolution, Pascal Bérubé, a leading member of the Parti Québécois, said
that the "Bonjour hi" greeting was an "irritant," and that using "Bonjour" was a reminder that Quebec was a French-speaking province.
But the latest example of this long-simmering culture war here in Quebec happened just last week, when provincial legislators unanimously
passed a resolution calling for shopkeepers to stop saying "Bonjour hi" when they greet customers and to say simply "Bonjour" instead.
" He said he routinely greets customers with "Bonjour" but switches to English if the customer is a native English speaker.
that What are they going to do, come into my shop and arrest me for how I greet people?
In an episode known as "Pastagate," the agency — which staunchly defends the French language in Quebec — told an Italian restaurant in Montreal
that it had violated the law by using the word "pasta" on its menu rather than translating it into the language of Voltaire.
5, 2017
MONTREAL — A customer at a pet shop in Napierville, Quebec, once threatened to complain to the province’s French-language watchdog agency
because a parrot called Peek-a-Boo refused to speak French.
Walk into a boutique or restaurant in downtown Montreal, and there is a decent chance the shopkeeper will say, "Bonjour hi!," a hybrid greeting
that reflects the cosmopolitan city’s vaunted bilingualism.