3 ms·

I never got the hang of this kind of myopic, senseless traditionalism. If Latin didn't let himself be bastardised with the influences of Frankish and Gaulish th

I never got the hang of this kind of myopic, senseless traditionalism. If Latin didn't let himself be bastardised with the influences of Frankish and Gaulish there wouldn't be any French.

realusername 8y ago
Most European countries have a similar language board, English is more an exception than anything else. And there's not much Gaulish influence in French, here is the full (and small) list of words originating from Gaulish: https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/Cat%C3%A9gorie:Mots_en_fran%C3%A7ais_issus_d%E2%80%99un_mot_en_gaulois https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/Cat%C3%A9gorie:Mots_en_fran%C...
- gpvos 8y ago
  I don't think any of those have so much pomp and circumstance about their functioning and composition, though.
  - gerard2 8y ago
    Stop hating on our classy habit vert. French people like having a history, as complex, bloody and sometime shameful it is. We are an old country and we have traditions. The english people have their royal family, the US have their rusty nuclear warheads and we have the institutions de la république.
    - tozeur 8y ago
      Good points, monsieur.
    - Ericson2314 8y ago
      They all have rusty nukes shhhh.
    - 4ad 8y ago
      Ah, yes, the good old whataboutism.
cm2187 8y ago
That’s kind of the nature of conservatism. Some invaders capture the city, force everyone to convert to their religion or be killed, and 500 years later it is our religion, the religion of our ancestors, the one we always had and will never change. I think the EU will always be a mere bureaucratic administration unless all European citizens speak the same language. I can’t really think of any serious alternative to English, that’s by an order of magnitude the only real common denominator. For that, French, but also Dutch, German, Spanish, etc must all disappear as languages. And we should be ruthless. French only became the language of France because that country got ruthless with regional languages (patois).

I never got the hang of this kind of myopic, senseless traditionalism. If Latin didn't let himself be bastardised with the influences of Frankish and Gaulish there wouldn't be any French.

realusername 8y ago

Most European countries have a similar language board, English is more an exception than anything else. And there's not much Gaulish influence in French, here is the full (and small) list of words originating from Gaulish: https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/Cat%C3%A9gorie:Mots_en_fran%C3%A7ais_issus_d%E2%80%99un_mot_en_gaulois https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/Cat%C3%A9gorie:Mots_en_fran%C...

gpvos 8y ago
I don't think any of those have so much pomp and circumstance about their functioning and composition, though.
- gerard2 8y ago
  Stop hating on our classy habit vert. French people like having a history, as complex, bloody and sometime shameful it is. We are an old country and we have traditions. The english people have their royal family, the US have their rusty nuclear warheads and we have the institutions de la république.
  - tozeur 8y ago
    Good points, monsieur.
  - Ericson2314 8y ago
    They all have rusty nukes shhhh.
  - 4ad 8y ago
    Ah, yes, the good old whataboutism.

cm2187 8y ago

That’s kind of the nature of conservatism. Some invaders capture the city, force everyone to convert to their religion or be killed, and 500 years later it is our religion, the religion of our ancestors, the one we always had and will never change. I think the EU will always be a mere bureaucratic administration unless all European citizens speak the same language. I can’t really think of any serious alternative to English, that’s by an order of magnitude the only real common denominator. For that, French, but also Dutch, German, Spanish, etc must all disappear as languages. And we should be ruthless. French only became the language of France because that country got ruthless with regional languages (patois).