Courtesy of the Franco-American Studies Dept. At U. of Maine A fun quote from Peter Moogks La Nouvelle France My first encounter with the originality of Canadas French that the French taught in English speaking cultures came at an early age, when living in Ottawa during the 1950s. It was immediately apparent language public schools belonged to a world apart from the everyday French spoken in the streets. Canadian vernacular French had a direct and earthy quality: mashed potatoes were patates pilées. When a restaurant listed pommes de terre en purée on its menu, I knew that I was going to pay well for the proprietors European pretensions...While living in the Province of Quebec as a graduate student in the late 1960s, I became aware of differences, in addition to language, that distinguished French-speakers from their English speaking compatriots.... French Canadians are proverbially a family minded people and there is truth in that preconception. The strength of family ties was evident when a French speaking friend declined an invitation with the explanation that the day in question was Mothers Day and he felt that he should be at his parents home then. Sometimes French Canada seemed to be one extended family. The interplay between French speakers meeting for the first time was intriguing: once the surname was given, inquiries began with something like, do you belong to the Rainvilles of Beauport or those from Beauce? I have an uncle who married a Louise Rainville. . . . The genealogical knowledge displayed was impressive, and, more surprisingly, the interlocutors usually found some shared ancestor or a common acquaintance. This happened at a time when Quebec had a population of five million.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 20:16:13 +0000
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