To those Quebecers who become immediately irritated with me because they can tell by my accent that I am not from Quebec:
I spent 12 years learning your language. I am a university graduate with a French degree. My French is technically probably better than yours is. Fuck you.
You piss and moan that your culture is at risk, that the French language is fading from Canadian culture, and yet you belittle any Anglophone who makes an attempt to learn your language. Your government offered you a tax break to have more children in an attempt to produce more French-born Canadians. And it failed miserably.
Those Anglophones willing to spend the time and effort to learn your language are your best hope for its continued growth in this country. Maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to turn your nose up at us.
And for the record, when you ask to speak to someone who “speaks Quebecois”, you sound as ignorant an American in Europe asking for someone who “speaks American”. —Irritated Bilinguist
This article appears in Aug 12-18, 2010.
francophones hate anglos trying to speak french for some reason and they’re very rude about it; lighten up all you Quebecers
..an dat night I pray to God to send a undred million mot to eat my Toronto Maple Leaf sweddur.
>; ) Go Habs
…that’s nothing compared to how they feel about Quebecers trying to speak English ,Marty.
A lot of them are like that towards Acadienne French, too! When I worked in NB, a girl I worked with was born French and Quebecers would speak English to her, as it wasn’t ‘real’ French she was speaking! Blew me away.
Acadian French…. well it’s not….
“I parked ma truck dans la ditch” doesn’t reek of proper french at all.
not to mention that they just make up words all the bloody time.
It’s true – as an aglophone who learned “proper” french in the school system (which was more France-french than anything), it used to frustrate me also living in the acadian regions… I just couldn’t win! Acadian should really be it’s own bastard language.
It’s not always integrated. I’ve been around both kinds; the ones that use French & English together, and then the ones who only use French. Most are capable of both.
Lol…like Newfinese =)
j’aime la langue francaise. je vous aime trop fils *sob*
How is the lad doing PainMom?
I lived in an acadian region for 6 years….
they know how to speak, they just choose not to most of the time.
I had to drop french because I was dragging the class down so much.
They all knew the material from day 1 and I had a very limited grasp of the delicate language…..
like why the fuck does everything have to be masculine or feminine…. and conjugated differently…
I know english is no treat, but that’s just fucking stupid.
he is having a kayleigh…the interweb has been a useful tool of late
I love how every couple of years the Ceeb will pull out some old Acajun hillybilly from Cheticamp or Wedgeport who will bemoan the fact that the French spoken nowadays is not the same as it was 300 years ago.
“Well, No shitteth, Sherlocke. Prithee Sirrah, thou dost pulleth my pudde with thy heretical claime that one’s lingua franca is subject to that most blasphemous theorie of Evolution”
Quebec ex-pat here…(and french is my first language).
OP: I’m with you on a number of points…especially the constant whining from a significant portion of their population. Trust me, it annoys the other part of their population quite a bit. Playing the victim card is such a winning attitude.
The sad truth, OP, is that every ethnic/cultural group has its share of uneducated and ignorant tools. Quebecers are no exception. The reaction you get all depends on who you’re talking to: Quebecers that have never set foot outside of La Belle Province tend to be ignorant about the “rest of Canada” and can be somewhat hostile by default towards anglos (and other cultural groups too)…because they don’t know any better. This group tends to think the universe gravitates around their province, and it annoys me (and others) as fuck. Their ignorance is infuriating.
However, I’m pretty sure a Quebecer visiting Upper Rubber Boot County Alberta would not get overly friendly reactions from the locals, either. I doubt this is a Quebec-only issue.
I’ve worked in several provinces and one territory, with native speakers of both official languages (and Dogrib). I’ve never experienced hostility between anglos and francos, and most people I’ve met through the years have people on both sides of the linguistic fence within their respective circles of friends. But then, all my current or previous co-workers were university educated and/or well traveled. My assumption is just that you ran into a bunch of stupid fucks with no education or life experience. Usually, Quebecers being addressed by an anglo who is struggling with French will switch to English as a courtesy (sometimes even if their English is a bit sub par). Trust me, decent “normal” Quebecers usually salute the effort.
Ivan: You’re right, the efforts that Quebec governments have made to prevent people to learn English are quite disconcerting.
Shoe Chick: You have to put things in context. I don’t know if you speak French at all, but depending on how heavy the accent is, Acadian French can be as different from Quebec French as Newfounese is to standard English. Sometimes even more so. I once volunteered for the Acadian games here in Halifax and some kids I could not understand AT ALL. There’s one that I had repeat something 4 times, and eventually he made a gesture and I finally understood…trust me, in some cases it’s not the same language.
Gatineauese is amusing.
Do you have webcams Painey, or is it just straight e-mailing?
i don’t know if i could handle looking at him just yet…email and wait for it, texting! who’d a thunk this old laggard would be doing that. weird old lady rawk
Have you ever done the federal government french language exams? I managed high aptitude levels, but received the comment that I speak French with an accent. Dear me, my bad. Seems I speak English with an accent, too, though it’s my mother tongue. Again, my bad.
A friend from France (yes, a native French language speaker) failed the exam. He had the gaul (pun?) to point out the grammatical errors in the exam. The test administrator, based in Quebec, tore a shred off my friend and told him to learn ‘real’ French.
Lol, what a monopoly on federal government jobs, huh?
gaul…very funny. when the boy was in high school his french was better than the teachers. nowt you can do but pick up the slack at home…which included reading asterix et obelix en francais
How the fuck did Jean Poutine ever pass? Don’t bother, like most Canadians I already know the answer.
Texting Painey?, my suds and body, there’s hope for us Luddites yet. Impressed rawk.
Quebec French, Acadien french, it all sounds like Stallone after a stroke.
Ya it goes with the rest, most are intolerant of anyone!
Heh, Hova made a funny.
Who cares what the people in Quebec think…..they will always find something to blame the anglophones for.
The Quebecers are just pissed of because when they go to France and speak “French”, the true French look at them and say “Quoi?”.
Bahaha, oldhand is back! Y’all owe me five dollars!!
When I was in Quebec, I was THERE to learn the language. And while I didn’t have to deal with anyone in a professional capacity (just people at stores and such), I did notice that the second I said “bonjour” to them they refused to speak in french to me. They weren’t rude about it, really, it seemed as if they were trying to accommodate me. But it was frustrating because I kept talking in french, and they refused to respond in french.
In any event: I’m currently taking french classes and I was told that the canadian government doesn’t use quebecois french on the exams, they use france-based french. I know people from quebec who have spoken french and english, both, their entire lives failed to achieve an exempt from the exam in all three sections, and only got a CCC designation. Problem with french is, it’s very finicky dialect-wise — moreso than english, and quebecois is certainly…well it’s hard as fuck to understand when you’ve learned “standard” french in classes.
However, it doesn’t surprise me one bit that the fed french language exams are fucked up. I’ve tried some practice questions and although my french is upper intermediate, I have some trouble with some of the grammar whilst evaluating the written passages. Then again, government testing, on the whole (especially the grad recruitment test) is pretty fucked.
I just don’t understand you guys… I’m from montreal and my first language is french but I also speak english and to those of you who think we don’t like people trying to speak french well… it’s totaly false.
IR, people are probably right when they say your ran into dumb asses with no education. En fait, notre accent est plus près de l’accent du vieux francais que l’accent Francais lui-même. Notre parlé que l’on pourrait qualifié de jouale n’a rien à voir avec le francais écrit au même titre que l’acadien.
So guys, are sure quebecers have something against you or do you have something agaisnt quebecers? I’m really open minded and travelled a lot… In fact I’m coming to halifax really soon and I hope haligans will be more friendly to me and my friend than you guys seem… Be kind to quebecers and quebecers will be kind to you vice versa because THERE IS some dumb asses quebecers haha as well as there is propably dumbs asses haligans 😛 Bonne journée tout le monde
bonne chance et heureux sentiers^^
My Tante lives in Montreal, but is an Acadian from the South Shore here in NS. She feels ethnically, culturally French. But when she interacts with Quebecois, they always switch to English because- well, I don’t know why. All I know is that my Tante is very upset by this. She is speaking to them in French so why won’t they speak to her in French?
“You have to put things in context. I don’t know if you speak French at all, but depending on how heavy the accent is, Acadian French can be as different from Quebec French as Newfounese is to standard English.”
Yeah, so what? When Newfies speak “Newfounese” to me and I don’t understand, I don’t switch to a different language.
Life of the Party… you’re basing the niceness of Haligonians on the responses on a board called “Love the way we bitch”?
do you see the flaw in your logic there????
“Yeah, so what? When Newfies speak “Newfounese” to me and I don’t understand, I don’t switch to a different language.”
If someone speaks to you in Dutch, and you never heard Dutch before, how can you tell it’s Dutch?
Ask any Corporate Business and they will tell you that English is the Universal Language of Business Worldwide. People can get upset all they want. It is , what it is.
i’m the same boat as you! learning their language, french major, etc — i’m going to end up with a degree that’s laughed at by both anglophones and francophiles!
knowledge is power aspersions…let them laugh, your brain will be bigger
The sooner french fades away the better
let me guess dartmouthy…you call them freedom fries
Freedom would have been NOT having to pay for their (even more sickening and glorious) socialism than the rest of us have to deal with – let alone the incessant whining about their “culture”. It’d laughable, if it didn’t make me so ill.
Hey Ivan-‘The Sweater’-quoter, I am a huge fan of Roch’s little animated hockey sweater tale. Every time I hear the opening theme play I’m like a little kid summoned by ‘Overture, curtains, lights, This is it, the night of nights…’ What was Monsieur Eaton thinking sending that blue and white maple laffs sweater into Habs territory for that poor little french kid to have to wear? Maybe that’s why some Anglos get treated poorly by some Francos. That maudit sweater!
Every single francophone that I have spoken my vastly imperfect french to has treated me with the greatest respect for making the effort to speak their language. Many eons ago in high school the love of my life who spoke English with the most amazing French accent pointed out the unfairness of my not being able to speak to him in his language, while we were conversing in mine. My puppy-love heart directed my butt into the french classroom a.s.a.p. because I knew he was absolutely right. Since Canada has two official languages, I felt it was best to know how to speak them both. Being an eastcoaster living in Ontario it sure made that long trek to and fro through mostly francophone territory a whole lot easier to navigate. Merci, mon amour. Je me souviens!
Though hey at least all those tax dollars they steal from the rest of the country gives Quebecers cheap beer and free in vitro – life is rough, eh frenchies? 🙂
Well Oceanlady, without giving away too much of my CV I started out in the book biz in an all-Canadian bookstore and The Hockey Sweater, and Richler’s “The Street” did more to dissipate the baked wind coming from the politicians on all sides than anything else I can think of. No mistake, I laughed my ass off when Bouchard’s leg declared “sovereignty association” and if I’m going to pay Duceppe’s salary, healthcare and pension I want the privilege of shoving it up his ass a toonie at a time. But, I figure, I wouldn’t want someone from elsewhere judging me by our politicians so I decided to return the favor.
“Tax dollars they steal”, eh?
From statistics Canada…
A. Federal transfers for FY 2007-2008:
Quebec: 7,160 M$
NS: 1,465 M$
(“M” stands for “millions”)
B. Population in 2008:
Quebec: 7,753,500
NS: 936,600
Simple math (dividing A by B) gives us federal transfers per capita (rounded to the nearest dollar)…are you still with me?
Quebec: 924$
NS: 1,564$
Go fuck yourself.
life of the party: I’ve only ever dealt with any quebecois in informal or retail/restaurant settings so I might not be the best one to judge, but I’ve only had an issue once with anyone in la ville de quebec being rude regarding language. I found that if I attempted to communicate in french and didn’t automatically assume they should accommodate me, they were more than friendly and helpful.
What they DO hate is when the bus tours of high school seniors comes in every spring and refuse to speak french. They go to QC because of the drinking age and end up acting like drunk fools, for the most part.
Well “-“, I’m sure if you added all of the other provinces in with your fancy statistical analysis you would get a very different result.
But, yes if it makes it easier to prove your point by saying Nova Scotia is the only province paying taxes for Quebec’s “largesse” so be it.
PS I’ll be fucking myself, just for you “-“.
Ok, you seem to be mathematically challenged and the educator in me wants to help…since you asked for it, here goes:
(Same references)
(federal transfers/population/transfer per capita)
Alberta: 0$
Ont: 0$
BC: 0$
Saskatchewan: 226 M$ / 1,013,600 / 223$
Manitoba: 1,826 M$ / 1,206,100 / 1,514$
NL: 477 M$ / 506,400 / 942$
NB: 1,477 M$ / 747,100 / 1,977$
PEI: 294 M$ / 139,500 / 2,107$
I’m not sure which part you don’t understand…I think any retard with grade 5 math (but then again, maybe I’m overestimating your skills) can see that those getting screwed the worse are British Columbians, Albertans and Ontarians, and those getting the best deal are the Maritime provinces and Manitoba. Quebec and NL are pretty much in the middle of the pack. Is this result different enough for you?
Not sure what “largesses” you are referring to…maybe you could expand a little? Facts would be nice. Or maybe you just prefer making shit up and/or repeating what other idiots like you are saying in the locker room or at the barber shop? Perhaps you inherited your ignorance from equally bigoted parents? I think your dislike of French Canadians is simply blurring your logic (if you ever had any in you to start with).
But that’s ok, I can understand why you dislike us…a lot of us frenchies speak more than one language and have a better sense of style. When living (or visiting) abroad, our accent and romanticism get ladies weak in the knees and our success in this department is often the object or jealousy from local guys. So yeah, we do get a pretty good deal and have more opportunities than most, if you look at it this way.
Bottom line: I forgive you.
Aurevoir ma biche,
Bisous!
Frenchie
PS: Thanks to you, I finally found a suitable screen name! Merci ma chérie!
Why all this hostility? Peace and love man.
Silly me. I thought we are all Canadian. Seems I got things all mixed up again.
The line forms on the right . And that would make you a member of a true minority.
Fool on the hill: I’m not the one disagreeing with that concept, and my replies were only directed at DM.
Bearded Donkey: I’m all for peace, love, understanding and thick-framed glasses. Nobody writes a pop song like this anymore…but I digress.
I’m just not a big fan of racial or linguistic intolerance. For the record, most of my friends are anglos. Unlike DM, they’re educated, open-minded, and they’ve travelled further than Truro (or at least have enough intellectual curiosity to have the desire to).
If you spend any time in QC, you’d realize that it’s like being in a different country. I went into the dollarama once and they have an ENTIRE aisle of Quebec memorabilia. They even had quebec suckers!
I mean they have their own pension system and you can’t use your health card there. Every other province I’ve been to accepted health cards from other provinces, but not Quebec.
However, I’m not quite sure I don’t think their insular attitude is completely unwarranted. They’re a small population (that’s dwindling) in a whole country of vastly different culture (and language — and no, NB doesn’t really resonate here in this instance) just trying to keep their own heritage and language.
Maybe all those quebec-haters should go visit for a while. I was there little over a month and I got quite an eye opening picture.
Also: I love quebec. I’d go live there if i was fluent in french — I’m working on that, but Quebec is great! I mean, any population that can eat poutine with wieners on it and still stay thin? SHIT. I saw MAYBE three fat people when I was there. And they were all men. Interesting….
Frenchie in NS, have you noticed a trend with all of those figures you so graciously posted? Perhaps my uneducated closed mind has just missed something again.
The only provinces receiving transfers from the federal government are those with small populations, of around a million people or less.
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, NB, NS, NFLD, PEI, not to mention the territories, perhaps you forgot about those.
Quebec, with a population nearly that of Ontario, gets Federal subsidies that equal about as much as all of the other provinces combined, when in fact, they should be paying into the system (if it were created equal) like BC, Ontario and Alberta do.
But no we wouldn’t want that. Because Quebec and French people are special aren’t they frenchie. They aren’t a drain on our country at all, no they are really in it for the entire country, not for themselves.
Quebec is so special we let them have their own federal party that is not required to run candidates anywhere else in the country.
The BQ has essentially held our country hostage since it’s inception, taking just enough votes from the real parties in this country so that we will be stuck with successive minority governments for the rest of time.
Then you’ve got the power plays, such as the little deal Charest would like to break vis a vis the Atlantic power grid. Why? Because Quebec opposes federal subsidies for infrastructure!
Which is laughable at best, since where would the Port of Montreal be without Federal money used to keep the St. Lawrence ice free for 6 months of the year – since it’s inception.
Yes, it would be locked in ice.
Perhaps we should remove the Coast guard from Quebec and you frenchies can get out and do some work – bring your pick axe! Or perhaps start your own Coast Guard. No no no, English Canada is good for something after all.
But that’s ok, double standards are what the french are all about. They DESERVE to be treated better than anyone else, don’t they frenchie? Awww, you are different and distinct. How nice.
Well there is certainly a different and distinct smell coming from Quebec, it is the smell of largesse.
And yes Frenchie, though Nova Scotia may be a larger per capita Subsidy recipient with our less than a million people, you’re greasy poutine land still sops up more federal gravy than any other jurisdiction. And when I pay Federal taxes, which I do, some of my money is going to pay for free in Vitro in Quebec and various other socialist wonders that no other province could dream of being able to afford.
Congratulation asshole.
French sucks. Eat my balls Quebec.
I think it needs to be considered that not all Francophone Canadians are Quebecois. There are non-Quebecois francophone populations all across Canada.
…and other places like the states and belgium…gotintingo
La Cote d’Ivoire, Haiti, Martinique…
I once did a car commercial in Cape Greton just north of Chetticamp on the roadways of the Cabot Trail.
My DP (director of photography was from France, the Gaffer was from Montreal & most of the locals were from Chetticamp.
When they wanted to communicate to each other anything technical or having to do with the shot we were setting up…they would all speak english ~:)
…st. bart’s what a funky little island. the airstrip is right off the beach. awesome snorkeling
To DM, my dearest Trou de cul,
Hope you had a good weekend.
First off, thanks for taking time away from a busy schedule and an obviously fulfilling life to type a lengthy reply on a weekend of such absolutely gorgeous weather. While I was getting ready for a day at the beach (silly me), you were hard at work. This speaks volumes to your level of dedication, and for this, I salute you.
Also, kudos for creating another profile just to post the “eat my balls” comment. This is refreshingly creative.
I will keep this as short as possible because debating with you is like trying to learn Greek in a Chinese fire drill: Useless, and slightly unpleasant.
Quebec doesn’t have a population “nearly that of Ontario”…Ontario has a lot more. Not exactly twice as much, but close. They have about 13 million people, Quebec 7.7 million. Look it up.
On the subsidy question, I haven’t included the territories because I think it’s quite clear their figures will be in a totally different ballpark considering their minuscule population. If you really want them that bad, maybe you can look it up…do some of the legwork, for a change. As for the rest of your view point, I am confused. Although each Nova Scotian already receives 1.7 times more of his federal tax money back in subsidies compared to the Quebecer, Quebec, in your mind, remains the biggest financial drain on this country. Also, do you want Quebecers to pay in the system, or do you want them extinct? Make up your mind, darling. A dead taxpayer is rather useless.
On the BQ, although I agree with you (you may want to sit down and re-read this) that it is not helping anyone, they aren’t breaking any law. Under article 368 of the election law of Canada, any party can become registered if it has at least 250 members. No mention is made of where their candidates must be located in order for the party to be recognized. So, as much as you’d like to think that the director of elections is bending the rules to accommodate le Bloc, he/she isn’t. Bogus parties like the Rhinoceros, the marijuana party and others have existed long before the BQ and they don’t necessarily run in every province and territory.
Also, it should be said that the BQ thrives thanks in great part to bigots like you: every time someone like you opens his mouth, the BQ gains in popularity. While you complain that the BQ is holding us hostage, take pride in knowing that you’ve been helping every little step of the way.
Your point about the Coast Guard is childish and makes me wonder if I’m dealing with a 12 year old. Are you oblivious to the fact that French speakers are present at every level of governance in this country? Do you really have it in your mind that only English speakers are serving in the Coast Guard, RCMP and CF?
If you answered yes to any of the above, you have your head so far up your ass it might be beyond recovery. Eating lots of fibre, drinking lots of fluid and regular exercise is my advice to you.
I don’t know about the Coast Guard specifically, but if there is one group that is not under-represented in the RCMP and the CF, it is French speakers. If you take away Quebecers, Maritimers and Newfies, there would basically be no CF. Your plan for the port of Montreal sounds very sane, too: Just out of spite for French Canadians, we’ll shut down the port that is closest to where about half of the canadian population lives. Instead, we’ll receive everything at a port where about 1/16th of the population lives, we’ll then truck it or put it on a train to wherever it needs to go next, and by the time it hit the shelves it’ll cost about 1.5 times more and will be hours away from its expiry date (sounds familiar?). The GTA crowd is a passionate one and they don’t really care about money as long as they’re making a statement. I’m sure they already love your plan. One logistician mastermind, you are.
You still vaguely talk about “socialist wonders” but fail to quote any reference material to support your point of view. One thing your posts do accomplish though is raise awareness to the in vitro program, on which you are clearly obsessing (dude, we heard you the first dozen times…are you trying to get pregnant?).
Quebec has the highest taxation rate in the country and a lot of their “socialist wonders” are provincial programs. One example is the program that allows every child to have a place in daycare for something like 10$ a day. But you’re right: such a concept is so terribly wrong and immoral that it sends shivers down my spine.
To conclude, your level of refinement leads me to believe that you are a man well versed in world affairs, so I’ll assume you’ve heard about a certain group in a land far, far away from here who would like to see all “western infidels” go extinct. How do you feel about them, DM? Would you say that they’re a bunch of idiots that have been successfully brainwashed by their parents and their religious, political and cultural leaders? Would you say that they are the human equivalent of a pack of rabid dogs and should be dealt with accordingly? Yes? With such a brilliant opening statement as “the sooner French fades away the better”, do you really think you fit in a different category? Not really, if you have to ask. When individuals like you congregate in large enough numbers, beautiful things like Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Chechnya and Northern Ireland happen. Clearly, the world would be a better place if more were like you.
On second thought, maybe you do belong to a different category. The main difference between little Mustafa in Yemen and you is that he’s actually going to do something about his hatred of westerners, while your actions will only go as far as putting down your donair long enough to post your anonymously signed message of hatred on an internet forum.
I think that being part of such a select group deserves recognition. So congratulations to YOU, du con.
In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy the perks of working for an organization that hired me not only for my qualifications, but also because I am bilingual: It’s an asset that keeps me ahead of the game when good, well paid jobs are posted not only here, but all across our beautiful country.
Good luck, Ricky Bobby.
Frenchie
Wow doesn’t take much to get you frenchies all riled up does it frenchie in NS?? lol.
Yeah, they’re still pissed off about that little incident on the Plains of Abraham.