The French are known for being … um … determined to intentionally maintain the purity of their tongue, to officially deprecate word imports in favor of their own native words, etc.
But that sort of sentiment can draw flak when the government officially makes changes to the language.
'French linguistic purists have voiced online anger at the removal from many words of one of their favourite accents – the pointy little circumflex hat (ˆ) that sits on top of certain vowels. Changes to around 2,400 French words to simplify them for schoolchildren, such as allowing the word for onion to be spelled ognon as well as the traditional oignon, have brought accusations the country’s Socialist government is dumbing down the language.'
But it's not those zany Socialists this time. These changes were all proposed and approved by the language police, the Académie Française, decades ago.
Language always changes. For all that people here get irked when that change is messy and pop-culture-driven, that may be a less objectionable way than to have the government pass on the dictates of the language police.
Not the oignon: fury as France changes 2,000 spellings and drops some accents
#JeSuisCirconflexe campaigners fight back against decision by the Académie Française to ‘fix anomalies’ – although decision was originally made in 1990
