French in the News

During the first decade of the 21st century, some aspect of the French language made headlines on several occasions. Here's a look back at French in the news from 2000 to 2009.

1. French insult spikes sales
After news got out in 2004 that Seattle-based bag company Tom Bihn's products came with an insulting message in French, many in the US and France believed it to be aimed at their presidents, George W. Bush and Jacques Chirac, respectively. The eponymous president of the company claimed that it was an inside joke, but sales spiked anyway.


2. Courriel
When the Académie française chose courriel as the official translation of "email" in 2003, everyone was surprised: French speakers, because the word comes from Canadian French, considered by some to be a "lesser" French variation, and English speakers, because they can't fathom why there has to be an official word.


3. Freedom fries and freedom toast
During the anti-French backlash in 2003, when France refused to join the US in invading Iraq, French fries and French toast were renamed "freedom fries" and "freedom toast" (in French, frites and pain perdu, respectively).


4. Bravitude
2007 French presidential hopeful Ségolène Royal's use of the word bravitude set off something of a firestorm in the news. While she claimed that she coined the word deliberately, others insist that her French skills were lacking, that she couldn't think of the word bravoure. She continues to be mocked today with new coinages like Libertude, Égalitude, Fraternitude (a play on the French motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité) and other words with the -tude suffix added on.


5. French CNN / BBC
In 2003, M. Bernard Brochand, deputy mayor of Cannes, announced his goal to create an international, French-language, 24-hour news station similar to CNN or BBC, to be called CFII. It launched three years later as France 24, and offers three channels: French, English, and Arabic (though the Arabic is only a few hours a day).


6. Kärchériser, racaille, gangrène
Les émeutes de banlieues de 2005 (the 2005 civil unrest of October and November) began in poor northeastern suburbs of Paris and eventually spread to all major cities in France. Tension had been building for months beforehand, fed in part by then Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's use of terms like racaille and gangrène to describe French youth, and the need to Kärchériser certain cities.


7. Voyoucratie
In 2007, Sarkozy again made linguistic headlines, this time as the president of France, when he stated that the violence which had occurred in Villiers-le-Bel was not due to a social crisis, but was rather a question of voyoucratie. Many were shocked to hear this word, as the last time it had been used was by far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.


8. "The French language can't count numbers"
When the governor of Tokyo mistakenly claimed in 2005 that French should not be an international language because it can't count numbers, he was sued by a group of teachers and researchers seeking published apologies and damages because his comments "hindered their economic livelihoods." (They lost.)


9. What an insult: "He speaks French"
During the 2004 American presidential election, one of the insults hurled at Democratic hopeful John Kerry was that he spoke French.


10. Des Moines
The American city of Des Moines has, at first glance, an obvious French name that translates as "of the monks." But in 2003 a linguist specializing in the extinct Miami-Illinois language came up with a different scenario - maybe it's just a big joke.