Royalty and media
You know, many Québécois claim to be anti-monarchy, but it’s only in the Journal this morning that I see a headline about topless photos of Kate Middleton.
You know, many Québécois claim to be anti-monarchy, but it’s only in the Journal this morning that I see a headline about topless photos of Kate Middleton.
Tux 09:37 on 2012/09/14 Permalink
With all the wangst about french being in danger in this province, it always bugs me when I see stuff like “Oh my God!” on the covers of french magazines. Or hear about the TV show “Loft Story” or “Star Académie” (don’t you mean “Academie d’étoile” ?)
Steve Quilliam 10:07 on 2012/09/14 Permalink
The wangst about french being in danger is only coming from a few, very few loud mouth but it is covered 100 times what it should be by the english medias. So i guess they need each other.
Also, the Québécois are not very pro-Harper either but i can assure you that if there we’re pictures of him ”topless”…..it would end up in the papers. People, any people, are ”voyeur”.
Philippe 10:28 on 2012/09/14 Permalink
“Star” entered the French language a great while ago as a way to designate a celebrity.
Anglo media (at least in the UK) frequently sprinkle France/French-related articles with “Oh mon Dieu!” and “Sacrebleu” (which has been in disuse for decades if not centuries, BTW), and what not. You’ll also often see writers weirdly try (why?) to use French names for things and precede them by a French article, almost universally “le”, even if grammatically incorrect. I’m not sure what effect they’re trying to achieve with this.
I don’t see this as a language issue at all.
Kate 10:43 on 2012/09/14 Permalink
No, I don’t think it is, I was just amused that for all the fuss, it’s the Journal that probably carries more news about the British royal family than CBC, CTV and the Gazette all together.
Tux 10:58 on 2012/09/14 Permalink
Apologies for bringing up the language issue on a thread that didn’t have much to do with it! The issues seemed related to me, how we hate the monarchy but are fascinated by them just the same, or how the franco media whines about the ‘dilution’ of french language and culture while actively taking part in it by incorporating english words and expressions into the vernacular. Bilingual people who were born here generally use a strange mix of french and english and take pride in doing so…. why can’t we take a provincial pride in our mix-and-match culture? It just seems hypocritical to enshrine the line drawn in the sand in law and then for all intents and purposes ignore the spirit of the laws while being dicks about enforcing the letter!
Again, sorry! I wasn’t trying to start a fire. This’ll be my last post in the thread, I just wanted to try and explain myself…
david m 11:58 on 2012/09/14 Permalink
haha, yeah, the harper analogy is perfect. like he’s not popular, but if his wife were photographed parading topless on the beach with her rcmp body guard, it’s safe to say that it would be making headlines.
Anto 12:27 on 2012/09/14 Permalink
Loft Story and Star Académie are both imports from France, where using English words is very fashionable.
Martin 16:35 on 2012/09/14 Permalink
I think you can be an anti-monarchist and still be interested in a story like that. It involves a scandal that is turning into a political media crisis. I think most Quebeckers will just smile at the whole scandal, exactly because they don’t care about the Royals. From what I understand, the Bristish don’t find it funny at all. As for the language thing, Closer, where the pics were published, is a magazine from France, so the quote “Oh My God!” was concocted in Paris, not here. In any case, why not ? It’s obviously a faux quote from the Queen, so of course it’s in english. Also it’s more funny.
dwgs 06:12 on 2012/09/15 Permalink
Also, boobies!
Blork 11:32 on 2012/09/15 Permalink
The “oh my god” thing was on the cover of a French magazine (i.e. France), which has nothing to do with any language issue in Quebec.
Kate 11:42 on 2012/09/15 Permalink
Tux: No worries. I see where you were coming from although it did start a little tangent.