“
Welcome to the table of great defenders of the French language.
"In the heart of the sixth arrondissement of Paris, on the second floor of the French brasserie Lipp, which will meet this Tuesday, December 7, nine eminent defenders of the French language and jurors of the Académie de la Carpette anglaise, who are pointing their fingers"
a member of the French elites
”for his support for English to the detriment of French.
And in fact ironically, its champion.
To read also Tailor, fit, slim… why so many anglicisms?
Among them, Philippe de Saint-Robert, its president, Marc Favre d'Échallens, its perpetual secretary but also Eugénie Bastié, Guillemette Mouren-Verret, Paul-Marie Coûteaux, Albert Salon and Yves Frémion.
About ten literary personalities, in love with the language, engaged in associations for the defense of French like the Association for the preservation and expansion of the French language (ASSELAF), Avenir de la langue française (ALF) and the Defense of the French language (DLF).
All are gathered to elect the authors of the worst Anglicisms of the year.
"Wokisation" of language
After two blank years, the round table was able to resume this year. To the happiness of his jurors, delighted to see each other again. For the 2021 edition, were in the running: Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, who implemented the new bilingual French / English identity card, the Robert dictionary for the integration of the pronoun "iel" in his digital columns as well as the Danone company which replaced its “
Taillefine
”
range
by “
Light & Free
”. All driven by massive communication based on anglicisms “
One Planet. One Health
”.
“I would like to add the Île-de-France region,”
intervened Albert Salon, former ambassador and current president of the Future of the French language.
In 2018, the region renamed the “Navigo pass” to “Navigo Easy”. ”
For Eugénie Bastié, as for Guillemette Mouren-Verret, the adoption of "
iel
" by Le Robert is notable because it testifies to the "
wokisation of language
". After bitter debates and a double vote, Gérald Darmanin finally won his case. "
The identity card is important,
" noted the jurors. He thus sees himself as the 2021 winner of the English Carpet, after the Postal Bank which in 2019 had appointed one of its services "
My French Bank
".
The European Union, hotbed of Anglicisms
The jurors then looked at the case of the winner of the "
foreign title
", reserved for French speakers.
On a proposal from Marc Favre d'Échallens, the name of Michael Rousseau was mentioned.
In fact, the president of Air Canada declared last November: “
I was able to live in Montreal without speaking French.
This is to the credit of this city
”.
Words he apologized for after creating controversy in this country where French is an official language at the federal level.
A proposal which did not convince Albert Salon.
The former diplomat mentioned the name of the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
"
It is very serious, English has replaced French as the official language in almost all the European institutions
".
While English is now only spoken by 1% of Europeans after Brexit, Shakespeare's language continues to be spoken predominantly in European institutions.
"
Ursula von der Leyen persists and signs in this dynamic, us too
", protests Marie-Josée de Saint-Robert, former head of the linguistic service at the UN Geneva.
An affront which earned him for the second time the price of the foreign carpet.
