A bilingual greeting might make English speakers feel too welcome, so the legislators of Quebec passed a unanimous though unenforceable resolution disapproving of its use by merchants [Dan Bilefsky, New York Times]
A bilingual greeting might make English speakers feel too welcome, so the legislators of Quebec passed a unanimous though unenforceable resolution disapproving of its use by merchants [Dan Bilefsky, New York Times]
4 Comments
A few years back, I had a Quebec shopkeeper greet me with a “Bonjour.” I don’t speak French and just gave him a nod back, not really looking for a conversation anyway. So he switched languages: “Hola.” I spoke to him in Spanish, not having the time to find out how many languages he would try before he’d admit defeat and go for English.
There is an emotional attachment to French, and that’s understandable. Freedom is, of course, more important.
Just more Gallic snobbery. Saving you the expense of going to Paris to be treated like that.
Has anybody noticed that the same people who get mad when the subject of making English the official language of the US are OK with Quebec doing this?