The French war against incursions into their language continues unabated. Now the government insists that its civil servants not use English-language business jargon in their official correspondence. Words like "email" and "startup" are banned, to be replaced by the purer, if clunkier, "courrier electronique" and "jeune pousse" (lit. "young plant"). Considering the havoc wreaked upon English by allegedly English-speaking PR flacks and business-school grads, the French have a point. They speak their language better than we speak ours.
Holy War
The French war against incursions into their language continues unabated. Now the government insists that its civil servants not use English-language business jargon in their official correspondence. Words like "email" and "startup" are banned, to be replaced by the purer, if clunkier, "courrier electronique" and "jeune pousse" (lit. "young plant"). Considering the havoc wreaked upon English by allegedly English-speaking PR flacks and business-school grads, the French have a point. They speak their language better than we speak ours.
