Pastagate

[Rogie]

In Canada, the province of Quebec's endless language wars are playing out yet again in the public arena, this time as farce — thanks in no small part to the power of social media.

 

The long-running language debate in a province where English-speakers are outnumbered by French-speakers, has recently reached new heights of absurdity against the backdrop of a proposed language law tabled by the province's separatist minority government.

 

Bill 14, a piece of legislation authored by Premiere Pauline Marois’ Parti Québecois, would toughen the province’s existing laws, limiting access to English education for Francophones and Anglophones alike, stripping many municipalities of their bilingual status, and broadening the powers of the province’s so-called “language police”.

 

On February 14, an officer from the province’s “language police” paid a visit to upscale Italian eatery Buonanotte, and sent a letter of warning to the restaurant for a series of language infractions, including the use of the word "pasta" (as opposed to the French pâtes) in the establishment’s menu.

 

Qubébec’s language officers operate out of the”Office de la langue français” (Office of the French language), a body which oversees and enforces Bill 101, the province’s existing language law.  Amongst other things, officers must be on the alert for English wording, and measure the ratio of English-vs-French wording on all public signage (French must always be larger than English).

 

Once the OQLF officer targeted Buonanotte, the owner took to Twitter, posting a photo of the word “pasta” circled on the restaurant’s menu. The Internet went wild.  After Anglo journalist Dan Delmar broke the story, other media outlets followed suit, and "Pastagate" was born.

 

 

 

http://techpresident.com/news/23617/quebecs-language-laws-lead-pastagate

 

I am indebted to my Canadian cousin who brought this story up in the pub last night. He lives in Ottawa but was born and raised in Montreal. I myself lived in Montreal as a small boy.

[pong]

in Belgium they have much of the same and in some cases for those unfamilair with it even more idiot looking. In BRUssels-as its considered neutral and hence bi-lingual, the railways have to change every year the langauge they start the announcements in, so that anyone gets his right share and there is no priority.

But there the locals themselves play for lingo-police, by crossing off and demolishing any sign that does not strictly follow the laws. Thats also why in the national airport, which sits in Vlaanderen and not in BRUssel, there are no official French signages-even though 60%+ of customers are FRench-speaking.

Strangely in tri-lingual Switserland it seems they do not have any real need for this-and even though a part of it is also French