How long until French culture destroys itself?
Wall Street Journal today: The French Get Lost in the Clouds Over a New Term in the Internet Age http://ow.ly/uuDW
There are numerous academics who have to approve new terms in order to prevent the French language from being dominated by the faster-moving, more efficient English language.
The WSJ story by itself is an interesting read, but it makes me wonder about the other parallels in French society <insert now-embarrassing admission of being more than 1/4 French here>. Their labor force can't compete on the world stage. French companies struggle to survive financially under the strain of taxes and regulation. They are absent from the world stage of high-tech industries. The citizens who have jobs in the French socialist economy take home wages that average just 72% of U.S. workers' pay.
It's a country in denial of so many things. Perhaps if they take long enough to debate the francofication of terms like 'economic catastrophe' and 'failed economy' they can pretend it isn't happening. So who will be worse off? The 96% of their population living in metropolitan areas, or the 4% clinging to the postcard-from-days-gone-by countryside? At least the latter can pass itself off to the world as a quaint tourist destination.
