France Says 'Au Revoir' to the Word 'Smartphone' (smithsonianmag.com)

Hoping to prevent English tech vocabulary from entering the French language, officials have suggested 'mobile multifunction' as an alternative. An anonymous reader shares a report: The official journal of the French Republic, the Journal officiel, has suggested "internet clandestin" instead of dark net. It's dubbed a casual gamer "joueur occasionnel" for messieurs and "joueuse occasionnelle" for mesdames. To replace hashtag, it's selected "mot-diese." Now, as the Local reports, the latest word to get the official boot in France is smartphone. It's time to say bonjour to the "le mobile multifonction." The recommendation was put forth by the Commission d'enrichissement de la langue francaise, which works in conjunction with the Academie Francaise to preserve the French language. This isn't the first time that the commission has tried to encourage French citizens to switch over to a Franco-friendly word for "smartphone." Previous suggestions included "ordiphone" (from "ordinateur," the French word for computer) and "terminal de poche" (or pocket terminal). These, it seems, did not quite stick.

Comments

Re:It's hard to feel sorry for the French language

[sobachatina]

Surely this must be sarcastic. Especially with the grammar error.

I have studied a handful of languages and taught English. English is a train wreck to learn.
It is extremely flexible and expressive but the grammar rules and spelling are the linguistic equivalent of the worst spaghetti code.

Re:All french everywhere

[Anonymous Coward]

That's a lie. English classes are mandatory in all french schools in Québec. Moreover anglophones in Québec have full access to english education from kindergarten to university. There's nothing equivalent for the French in the other provinces. Maybe they mandate french as second language in the other provinces, but I assure you that by having contacts with english canadian tourists that these programs are utter failures.

And by the way, we don't give a fuck about the signage in Winnipeg or Moose Jaw. Past the Outaouais, it's very clear that we are in a foreign country posing as us.