The Office of French Neologisms

Being a fully mature bureaucratic state, France has an office in the government for everything. One of them is an office for the protection of the French language from imported words, such as American English words, La Commission Générale de Terminologie et de Néologisme. Whenever a trendy new American word threatens to become adopted by the French this office will come up with a French word that is supposed to be used instead. So the official French word for prenuptual agreement is "accord prénuptial", for gold plating "surtransposition", for hashtag "mot-dièse", for empty voting "vote nu" and for happy slapping "vidéoagression". "Happy slapping" is a British word for the controversial American knockout game.

The latest addition to the French lexicon is "textopornographie" which substitutes for "sexting". Somehow I doubt it will catch on. Besides which, the French have already come up with a more succinct term for it on their own, which is "sextos".

To be fair, although the office would seem to be a caricature-ish example of the overly large and intrusive state, it has been in existence since the 1600s, which is apparently how long the French anxiety over the effect of imported words on French culture has been in existence. So, it's more like this is just another odd thing about the French.

Textopornographie: France creates its own word for 'sexting' - Your Community

The French language, like all languages, is a melting pot of different linguistical roots. Languages are built of taking things from other languages. To arbitrarily draw a line in the sand and say "we're no longer importing foreign words" is not only absurd and self important, but also goes far beyond the scope of government.

Let languages evolve as they may.

You have never been to Quebec the language police there is rather strict and brutal, France is nowhere near as strict. It would also happen eventually anyways as I have found that sexting is hard for French people to say. Trust me in my English class in Belgium my classmates had to read an article on sexting. France does not have a Bill 101 which allows language police to just take down signs of your business and fine you for not having enough French on it. Quebec kind of has a reason for it as it is the only French speaking region in North America. I think a language police can be a good idea to prevent language degeneration.

RabidAlpaca said:

The French language, like all languages, is a melting pot of different linguistical roots. Languages are built of taking things from other languages. To arbitrarily draw a line in the sand and say "we're no longer importing foreign words" is not only absurd and self important, but also goes far beyond the scope of government.

Let languages evolve as they may.

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Go read Clockwork Orange or go to any poverty stricken area of the U.S., then you might not feel the same way. I do not want to see English devolve into Nadsat or ebonics.

Carjosse said:

Go read Clockwork Orange or go to any poverty stricken area of the U.S., then you might not feel the same way. I do not want to see English devolve into Nadsat or ebonics.

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If those types of words and phrases are undesirable, then they will not be adopted, if they are, they will be. It's really that simple. People speak in a way that is most natural to them, and no government agency is going to change that. This reminds me a lot of "freedom fries".

The French language, in millions of small steps, has evolved from other languages, who evolved from other languages, who evolved from tonal grunting. To draw a completely arbitrary line in the sand and say THIS is where the evolution stops, is ridiculous.

RabidAlpaca said:

If those types of words and phrases are undesirable, then they will not be adopted, if they are, they will be. It's really that simple. People speak in a way that is most natural to them, and no government agency is going to change that. This reminds me a lot of "freedom fries".

The French language, in millions of small steps, has evolved from other languages, who evolved from other languages, who evolved from tonal grunting. To draw a completely arbitrary line in the sand and say THIS is where the evolution stops, is ridiculous.

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Evolving form Shakespeare to modern English is evolution, changing from English to Nadsat as an example is degradation.

Carjosse said:

Evolving form Shakespeare to modern English is evolution, changing from English to Nadsat as an example is degradation.

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And yet you have no evidence whatsoever of this happening. You're using a fictional plot from a book to justify your position.

RabidAlpaca said:

And yet you have no evidence whatsoever of this happening. You're using a fictional plot from a book to justify your position.

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How about why those from usually African-American communities where rap music and hip hop are common have such low literacy rates. Apparently being good at speaking proper English and reading it is frowned upon and children think that it is acceptable to go around talking like they do in rap music. That is degradation of our language and it has negative consequences on the education of children.

Carjosse said:

How about why those from usually African-American communities where rap music and hip hop are common have such low literacy rates. Apparently being good at speaking proper English and reading it is frowned upon and children think that it is acceptable to go around talking like they do in rap music. That is degradation of our language and it has negative consequences on the education of children.

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And you somehow think if we had a government agency to put out replacement words for them, they would do that? :lamo "Yo dawg, I heard about this new government agency dats gonna tell us how to speak right!"