text:
the french government has caused outrage amongst its citizenry by demanding that people stop using the common terms for the @ sign used in e-mail addresses. the two main words used at the moment are the english "at" and the european "arobase." but the french government has decided to introduce a french word, "arrobe," and wants everyone to drop the other two terms.
this is not the first time the french government has made such a controversial decision. the reasoning behind such changes is to try to protect the french language. the biggest threat seen is the new technology words that keep coming into common use that are mainly based on english or american english. as technology moves so fast, the french government finds it hard to keep up with all the new words and cannot translate them fast enough, allowing the non-french words to spread.
there have only been a few successes so far, with the government managing to have "ordinateur" and "internaute" as common words for computer and internet. one that it cannot get rid of, however, is "e-mail."
read more at silicon.com (free registration required).
matthew's opinion
i don't understand why the french government finds this use of common words such a threat to the french language. the words the government is actively trying to get rid of are generic terms used around the world. forcing the french people to change makes it more difficult for them, as they have to remember both terms depending on who they speak to within their own country and around the world. it also means that children now will grow up not knowing what words such as "internet" mean, as they won't be taught them, but a native alternative.
i don't believe the french language is threatened by such obvious technology terms. if the government wants to preserve the language then it should concentrate on the education in schools. resources are being wasted trying to pointlessly change these terms; these resources could be put back into education and promotion of the french language.
the continuing progression of technology will bring more and more names that are meant to be used around the world. hopefully the french government will give up when it sees that its efforts are wasted and that its population is not willing to change.
user comments 375 comment(s)
|1st post? (11:01am est mon dec 16 2002)
maybe if they would invent the technology and quit whining, then they could give it a french word to start with.
get off your derier� and release a new tech! – by frosty
|oh well… (11:04am est mon dec 16 2002)
there goes my signature. – by m@
|so what? what do you call a "#"? (11:06am est mon dec 16 2002)
it has been called "tic-tac-toe sign", "pound sign", "octothorpe", etc. – by
|french… (11:16am est mon dec 16 2002)
"ordinateur" and "internaute" as common words for computer and internet.
pauvre de vous, la langue englaise vous monte t'il � la t�te? internaute ne veut pas dire internet mais d�signe l'utilisateur en sois. nous utilison le mots internet tout comme vous… svp ne devenez pas barjo!
oi!88 – by oi!88
|what the… (11:17am est mon dec 16 2002)
je t'attend…
steve – by oi!88
|yeah! (11:19am est mon dec 16 2002)
maybe they should invent some technology! like a supersonic airliner or a high-speed train.
heh-heh… actually, the decline of french culture and language has been a rising tide for some time now. i like to cut the wind with a knife now and then too. – by prfunky
|because they are french. . . (11:23am est mon dec 16 2002)
remember, wwi and wwii were simply reasons for the germans and british to beat up on france.
seriously though, is this any different than the pc (politically correct) movement in america trying to change every word with "-man" in it: fireman, postman, freshman, chairman, policeman, etc.
they have even gone as far as trying to get rid of waiter and waitress, for the neutral "waitperson" or "waitstaff". while most hollywood elite are supporting this movement, the only ones i haven't heard being changed are "actor" and "actress".
as a kid, when i heard the word "postman", i always envisioned our neighborhood carrier, mary crowl. i always figured that -man as a suffix was gender neutral. i guess i was wrong.
anyway, screw the french, they contribute nothing to the world economy, they wouldn't let our fighters launch from there when we bombed moamar quadaffi, and there french wine sucks, australian wine is much better. – by zaph1
|no zaph, you were right (11:45am est mon dec 16 2002)
the "man" is neutral, except in the decidedly on-neutral brains of the feminists, pc-crowd etc. they think it is important, but it will be but a footnote in history.
actually, the french have contributed quite a bit to the world, and as an australian, with a family vineyard, i cannot concur with your view. there are great australian wines, and great french wines, and even great danish wines.
as for the language issue, it always falls to the preminent culture of the planet to donate words to other languages. this has been true for several millenia and since the anglophile culture is on top now, that is where the pressure is from. for several centuries the francification of other languages was even more accute that the anglophication (if that is the word) taking place now.
|perspective (11:52am est mon dec 16 2002)
it is hard for someone who speaks using the collection of words and rules commonly refered to as english to understand the perspective of the academy francais. they may be a little authoritarian in their control of the language, but language and culture is very important to the french. they are not an imigrant nation and have been invaded many times. and last time i checked, there is no language known as "european". – by f. theilig
|i'm with dweeb… (12:00pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i like french and australian wines, but i am biased to california wines because of patriotism and they're generally cheaper where i shop.
so remind me again…who is france? what do they do? i know many of them like to proclaim their superiority, but i don't know if i've ever bought a french product outside of a liquor store. i don't really consider mandrake a phenominal achievement since the bulk of it is repackaged programs that can be obtained with other linux distros. i don't ever remember buying french electronics or software. do they make decent cars? they only have one decent director working in their borders (jean-pierre jeunet). they've never produced any music i liked. outside of that one director, are any of their movies, music, or literature successful outside of the french-speaking world (and don't mention the colors trilogy, those movies sucked and bombed financially)? germany has a lot of german-speaking music that is popular throughout europe and the us, so i know its not a language barrier issue.
i know this makes me a pig-headed american, but why doesn't france focus more on their role in the new world economy and let archaeologists worry about their culture and language. i bet french citizens would rather have economic dominance, high-paying jobs, and international prestige rather than a pure language. they're doomed to become the next greece or italy…a tourist trap for those obsessed about their past, ignoring their future. – by steven
|no wonder!! (12:02pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i work in europe alot! while no one trust the germans, the english are considered snobby, the italians and spanish are considered very laid back, and the dutch are neutral… everybody with out a doubt dislikes the french…this just adds to the list of why! – by martin
|tis funny… (12:07pm est mon dec 16 2002)
the french forget that most (nearly all, in fact) of their words are either derived from latin or greek. the remaining are francotransforms from the teutonic clades, the anglos & the saxons. an amazing amount of detritus has accumulated in french from the nordic peoples as well. but… these words are over 200 years old, so they're "ok".
mostly this is just "news" though – 100% (and i don't mean 99%) of the youth of france are not only cognizant of words such as "computer", "internet", "reboot", "printer", "login"… but they also preferentially use them in the native, english format. makes it tons easier to talk about with their foreign friends, and frankly the english words are shorter, more compact, and more standard.
in point of fact… i believe the "american computerese" is the universal lingua franca, the world around, when it comes to talking in any language about "computer stuff".
– by goatguy
|….such limited mentalities…. (12:10pm est mon dec 16 2002)
if i were a national of most any other country i would be extremely scared of my countries being in this world (even though i loved it when the french got whooped in la copa i understand them). american capitalism and imperialism has made our "culture" overrule the world. and because we have $$$ people don't mind it. the french nation has a long storied history filled with many beautiful pieces of work and to describe those things and keep your society alive you must have words which properly describe it. getting the public to have a different "definition" of the @ sign is truly nothing. a concept is a concept…and the @ symbol is a concept.
i think we should create a new cymbol to appease all the people in the world and make everyone care and love each other. err…yeah – by distempered
|homme de ch�vre (12:20pm est mon dec 16 2002)
je crois que vous �tes la plupart du temps correct.
vous devez vous rendre compte que beaucoup de l'anglais a les racines
fran�aises aussi!
– by le jedi des macs
|distempered, explain… (12:21pm est mon dec 16 2002)
"american capitalism and imperialism has made our "culture" overrule the world." capitalism i understand, but please explain imperialism and the us's empire. i've never heard anyone talk about the us's empire but hippies and arabs. – by steven
|different language (12:29pm est mon dec 16 2002)
heck, i'd be happy if the world could agree on 1 alphabet. – by keyboard
|be thankfull that (12:37pm est mon dec 16 2002)
the geeks that invent all this technology aren't using klingon words. – by and by
|distempered… (12:39pm est mon dec 16 2002)
the drummer in our band might want a new 'cymbol', but you most likely want a 'symbol'.
it is too bad my limited linguistic capabilities do not include french, which probably includes most of the listers here. les jedi, if you wish us to understand what you said, please use english.
steven, the u.s.a. does not have an 'empire' as such but controls through the concept of 'raj', or outright puppet states. if ones motives are good, and one is kind to the natives that may not be too bad, but when 'big biz.'- read oil, rules, well, i take exception. – by old bassist
|hence, the creation of the european union. (12:43pm est mon dec 16 2002)
one language, one religion, under one paymaster: germany. – by the gutter
|re: steven (12:44pm est mon dec 16 2002)
the us used to be very imperialistic. while generally we like it influence other countries now, rather than own them – there are still remnants from our us empire days. american samoa, commonwealth of the northern mariana islands, commonwealth of puerto rico, guam, navassa island, u.s. pacific territory, u.s. virgin islands. in western history, it used to be assumed if you were a world power, you were an empire. i think the world is starting to figure out that making an empire just makes rebellions. – by robguy
|ok, fine with me… (12:46pm est mon dec 16 2002)
if that's the way they want to play, i will stop using the french words cul-de-sac, and any hockey player with a french name must come up with an english counterpart.
that'll teach'em! – by jaxxon
|god damnit (12:52pm est mon dec 16 2002)
french people piss me off! – by cartman
|it's not the french – it's their gummint (12:58pm est mon dec 16 2002)
the average frenchman is perfectly happy with the word "arobace" or "le signe at". he also wants to mind his own business. actually, quite often, he wants total control on his life.
now what a coincidence: the french government is full of civil servant (about 25% of the work force!), and every one of them also wants to have total control on each citizen's life.
reread orwell's "1984". you'll see that total control means controlling the words people use.
the worst thing is that the french gummint doesn't even realize that their inane micromanagement is orwellian in nature. they just see that it's their sacred duty to "correct" the way the unwashed masses are speaking.
americans, don't let that happen to your country. – by freddy le frog
|about the french (12:59pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i am french, and is willing to correct a few things which had been said here. 'internaute' means internet user. we use 'internet' or 'le reseau' (like in the network) for 'internet'.
what the french brought to the world apart from the wine:
– declaration of human rights
– french bakery and food
– modern telecommunication (minitel)
– first computer (pascaline)
– a lot of opensource project or collaborations…
about the music
– serge gainsbourg will do for all the other french musicians
about the cinema
– jean pierre jeunet, but also
– godard, truffaut, rohmer etc…
– 'avant garde', 'film noir'…
– france is producing david lynch
– france is woody allen and abel ferrara's audience
– festival de cannes
and a hell of a lot more… – by str6szuko
|about orwell (1:03pm est mon dec 16 2002)
>> the worst thing is that the french gummint doesn't even realize that their inane micromanagement is orwellian in nature.
well. france is nothing compared to us. france is one of the countries fighting for digital liberties. our internet providers are not monitored or censored. we now have access to high-level cryptography. the cheapest registrar in the world is french. we officially don't have any big citizen 'file'. (we more or less do, but not in a us scale), etc…, etc… – by str6szuko
|taxes (1:06pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i think we should tax all foriegners living abroad. – by ron vibbentrop
|re: zaph1 (1:07pm est mon dec 16 2002)
when i was attending the university of michigan in the late 80's, the school newspaper was pc-ified.
they were forced to replace "freshmen" with "first-year students" and "defensive linemen" with "defensive line players". as if there was any confusion about the gender of the 300+ lb. men playing football for michigan.
uggh! – by hungrywolverine
|itsproper name . . . (1:08pm est mon dec 16 2002)
the " @ " is commonly referred to as an " axon "
but thanks to the french it has another useless name that " the at sign " didn't need – by ax – on
|real name (1:18pm est mon dec 16 2002)
isn't "@"'s real name master space ?
and there are no great danish wines. – by d'oh
|uh, str6szuko (1:18pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i think you forgot to mention the bizarre french love for jerry lewis in your little "film" section…
buncha cheese-eatin surrender monkeys… – by groundskeeper willie
|erm…. (1:18pm est mon dec 16 2002)
>> don't forget that we are about to go to war once again to fight for the freedom and peace that allows this world function.
let me laugh here… a country led by a dumb texas cow-boy who wants to control irak to make his father's friends happy is completly different from a country who is fighting for peace. chomsky wrote a book not a long time ago about the said 'peace' operation made by us. very interesting… – by str6szuko
|great wines (1:41pm est mon dec 16 2002)
ok. perhaps "great" was a little hyperbolic in the case of danish wines, but trust me, dons is really quite good.
my point was that "great" wines are produced everywhere, each with their own local peculiarities. this is why wine is so interesting, because no 2 are the same. – by dr. dweeb.
|so what's the big deal? (1:44pm est mon dec 16 2002)
75% of (american) english words are borrowed from other languages. are they afraid of becoming too american? – by -d
|french film (1:44pm est mon dec 16 2002)
the output of the french film industry is substantial and of generally a very high quality, and the number of quality actors (many working also in hollywood) is substantial. a little research will reveal this. the fact that few french films are ever released in the usa does not mean that there is no french film industry.
– by dr. dweeb
|what i don't understand… (1:44pm est mon dec 16 2002)
…is why do the french have such outraaaagious accents!?
– by silly english pigdog
|french film (1:48pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i do agree with dr. dweeb. us audiences don't like french cinema (too complicated maybe) and mostly like blockbusters. even the indie networks in us are getting blockbusterized. it's like the indian cinema, which production is the biggest in the world, and which doesn't have a lot of audiences in the western world (apart from uk actually) – by str6szuko
|dead language (1:50pm est mon dec 16 2002)
to describe french as a dead language and dead culture is to display a level of ignorance (not to say literacy) of gargantuan proportions.
and while i am at it,
* the french produce fine automobiles – that would be renault, peugeot & citroen.
* the tgv hsts are amongst the best in the world (if not the best)
* and we must not forget the cuisine & great chefs of the world !
not that i am especially a french booster, i just think a little credit is due to what is after a a very substantial nation and a substantial part of the rich fabric of european history and culture.
anyhow, i thought @ was the "commercial 'at' sign" ?! – by dr. dweeb.
|europeon point of view (1:51pm est mon dec 16 2002)
we, the dutch like french very much as a superb holiday destination, where the weather, the girls, the food and the wines are excellent, however, what we don't like is that a lot of french people kind of refuse to learn the english language, which make communication somewhat awkward….
also the french government suffer from delusion of grandeur, with their own nukes, spacerockets, former colonies etc…
but above all french people like the extravagance, wich is why they come up with the most fantastic projects that either are revolutionary or total utter failures… – by goymodeus
|american imperialism (1:53pm est mon dec 16 2002)
one indirect evidence of american imperialism is counting the number of countries their army is represented in.
i think it was something around 170 last time i heard.
that is a majority of countries in the world.
sounds imperialist to me! – by frenchie
|europeon point of view (1:54pm est mon dec 16 2002)
> what we don't like is that a lot of french people kind of refuse to learn the english language
i am not sure it is true. i am french, living in uk. everybody here is saying that when they go in holidays in france, they'd love to speak french, but every french they meet will want to speak english. there without any doubt more french people who learn english than english who learn french. in france, you *have to* learn english at school (plus another language, such as german and spanish commonly) – by str6szuko
|apple invented the @ sign! (2:00pm est mon dec 16 2002)
apple invented the internet, the computer, cars, airplane, u-boat, telephone, adam & eve, earth, the universe, the spanish inquisition, islam, toothpicks, lint, beer, nazi party, flonase, diesel, saddam hussein, windows 95, plants, ants, and dingle berries. so there…us mac users will fade away, just like amiga users did 7 years ago. everything was done 2nd on an apple computer. death to bill gate$ – by clause sucks
|bollywood (2:01pm est mon dec 16 2002)
indeed, india is also the largest democracy on the planet, a point that probably escapes most us citizens. – by dr. dweeb
|french change @ name (2:02pm est mon dec 16 2002)
what do you expect from people who
concider jerry lewis a comic genuis. – by jim
|what i find baffling here (2:07pm est mon dec 16 2002)
in the states, is old orchard beach maine. half of the shops are owned by canadians (quebec), and although they are operating businesses in the u.s, not one of them will speak english. usually one or two of their staff are either american or at least speak english fluently, but the shop owners refuse. i mean they flat out refuse, yet when a supplier or didtributor of theirs appears, suddenly they become quite proficient in the english language. arrogant sons of bitches they are. by the way, i'm the supplier/distributor. – by fed up
|very sad – – – i'm embarassed to say (2:12pm est mon dec 16 2002)
geeks, how can you say with such piebald insensitivity, that the french are worthless, contribute nothing, etc.? does the ability to bleat-in-unison, here, give a kind of mass stupidity to all that have posted such?
the french culture is amazingly deep, rich, full of life. every time i've had the pleasure to stay in france, i'm struck by the joy with which the french can elevate a day of going to an open market, tromping through the woods looking for tastey mushrooms, and then spending the afternoon fixing up delicious omletts and drinking excellent – and dirt cheap – wine. this, of course, just leading up to a 9 pm dinner (which isn't late at all… if you eat 4 perfectly sized meals a day, which is the french norm.)
sure, maybe they aren't producing armies of u.t. robogeeks, or not producing the handful of "things" that american youth puts high opinion upon, but by comparison to our tasteless, moronic ideal of workaday work, the french have a much better balance. aren't you just a little bit jealous of a culture that has all that, has a brilliant medical system that is essentially free for the population, has a government mandated 5 weeks of vacation per yer per employee (or more… that's just the base)? i sure am.
so, let's just get a little more cultured here, goats. braying in the wind doesn't do it.
[ps: the french army, marines, and foreign legion are world renouned for being damn tough sob's. certainly not the type to gracefully capitulate!]
grrr rrr rrr
– by goatguy
|first computer? (2:13pm est mon dec 16 2002)
pascaline was far from the first computer, abc was probably the first, although there is debate whether it was eniac or abc. either way, pascaline was far from a computer, it was a calculator.
la femme nikita was the only good french movie ever produced.
a. g. bell invented the phone, thus modern telecommunications.
the magna carta (1215 ad) was the first well known human rights declaration.
french nuclear testing in the pacific did create godzilla, however, so give something to the french for that. – by zaph1
|language (2:16pm est mon dec 16 2002)
one more thing to remind us that, yes, god really did make the french to remind the rest of us how not to behave.. – by eric
|first computer? (2:19pm est mon dec 16 2002)
yes, the pascaline is a calculator. but don't we say that pascal and babbage's works led to the computing science as we know it now?
when i was talking about the minitel, it was the first terminal system working over a phone line, and available to the masses. france was a telecom leader at that time.
i think the minitel is closer to internet than bell.
fot the human rights declaration, you're probably right.
but for nikita, and can't let you say that. there are so many good or very good french movies. make a difference between the french cinema which exists, and the french cinema you know. america dispises french cinema, because if americans were liking french prod, the big american studios couldn't sell their sh*t anymore. – by str6szuko
|celine dion is french (2:20pm est mon dec 16 2002)
celine dion is french.hehe.by the way i do not understand french movies they suck a lot.they help me fight insomnia. – by venezolano
|celine dion is french (2:24pm est mon dec 16 2002)
erm… you're right about that, and french people are ashamed. shit like that happens…
don't say the french cinema sucks. do you prefer 'xxx' or '8 women' (both hits, both released in us and france)?
i mean, i am a french filmmaker, and i think all depends on waht you call 'cinema'. – by str6szuko
|french movies (2:32pm est mon dec 16 2002)
hey, don't knock french movies.
always lots of skin in french movies… – by priorities!
|"the us used to be very imperialistic" (2:37pm est mon dec 16 2002)
ye gawds, man – what is this "used to be" crap. the u.s. is the most imperialistic nation in the world today. there is no power that can oppose them and they know it.
let the world tremble at the feet of the u.s.a. and the almighty dollar for which it stands. – by jefferson
|what now (2:38pm est mon dec 16 2002)
damn frogs always changin the us language invent email yourself and you can call it whatever you want – by usanum1
|where from? (2:47pm est mon dec 16 2002)
where were these people from and what do we have to thank them for?..?
loius pasteur
|screw the french and their language (2:52pm est mon dec 16 2002)
with the explosion of technology and the the world becoming a smaller place it is time the world started moving toward a world wide common laguage. (i.e. english) yes i know i am being an arrogant american. – by josephunh
|what now (2:38pm est mon dec 16 2002) (2:54pm est mon dec 16 2002)
> amn frogs always changin the us language invent email yourself and you can call it whatever you want
it's eventually what i said. french invented the minitel, which was the first way to send an electronic message accross a wired network. besides, the minitel was already using the principal of dynamical pages (web). – by str6szuko
|where from? (2:56pm est mon dec 16 2002)
louis pasteur : concept of virus, vaccinations, pasteurisation
marie curie : radioactivity, x-rays
ren� descartes : loads, including encyclopedia, research methodologies, etc…
all of them were french :) – by str6szuko
|no way! (2:58pm est mon dec 16 2002)
no, really?
rene descartes?
with a name like that, who'da thunk?
still, what is the deal with the jerry lewis thing? – by just wondering
|france revolting against innovations of english names? (3:03pm est mon dec 16 2002)
viva la resistance. – by yeildarb
|bashing (3:19pm est mon dec 16 2002)
it is really distressing to read through these comments. anyone can point out what they don't like, especially about people. by our very nature we are each different. yet everyone has good characteristics. i could write pages about great musicians, composers, artists, dancers, archetects, etc of france. why throw such insults? any intelligent caring individual will be quick to point out a persons goodness, and ignore the rest. to do otherwise is to the destruction of all.
ps you might check comment guideline 14. – by itsdonnie
|go ahead shoot! (3:43pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i'll gladly use terms that make myself more understandable to the general population. that is how i will suceed in life and that is how nations will suceed. the french can shoot themselves in the foot as long as they want. the death of an insignificant country is no skin off my back.
(a uni-versial language woud be nice! hopefully one with words easy to spell and pronounce.) – by terrakhan
|@@@@@@@@ (4:00pm est mon dec 16 2002)
"at the rate of" – by what's it for?
|ahhhh (4:00pm est mon dec 16 2002)
enough with the inventing stuff. we all know that if bill gates could, he'd buy the right's to everything, so he could own the world. – by winblows
|the big picture (4:08pm est mon dec 16 2002)
this is all payback for making us call our champaign sparkling whine…muhahah ) – by marc
|celine dion (5:03pm est mon dec 16 2002)
is canadian, dumb asses, she just began her singing career in french…
btw, this is nothing new… in quebec there's a law that says any sign in english must have another sign in french more prominently displayed and twice as big to compliment it or they are disobeying the law. and yes, it is enforced by the police… – by you must learn
|jahhhahhahahhhahahha (5:03pm est mon dec 16 2002)
you guys have very bad opinion on everyone! probably hard to make some new friends. i�ll do as you did, describe an entire people with 2 words! english are snobs, americans are paranoiac, germans are cold and drink a lot of beer, italians are retarded because their primary industry is tourism, and canadians are stupid and cut forest to live!
racist?????? no you didn�t say black or jewish!!!!! wrong !
france is retarded because they want to control the language, it�s also the same ignorant people that created the first dictionary. and now the second book best seller is le petit larousse francais after the bible.
dead culture… go eat your tv dinner you usa paranoiac selfish… when every americains will die of an heart attack or a cancer, maybe the some (of the most gentle )french chef will show you how to do their cuisine. until then californians will continue to eat french cuisine for 400$/plate because it�s exotic. because it's fench! they hate france but have a pleasure to think that they can speak 2 words of french.
|wait… (5:12pm est mon dec 16 2002)
who said that the french made the first computer? the greeks beat them to it at least 1700 years before, it's called the antikythera device. if you're talking modern electronic computers, you want to go to iowa state in 1937 and then eniac in 1946. before those the many incarnations of the computer qualified as mere historical curiosities, including the pascaline. – by js
|american imperialism (5:14pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i wouldn't call defending the freedom of others imperialism. i believe it is job of all of us that live in "free" nations to bring freedom and democracy to those that are unable to achieve it on their own.
i also find it hard to respect a nation that doesn't believe in the freedom of speech. – by johnny utah
|mmhh (5:18pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i'm french and i don't really give a turd. 'arobase' and 'at' are ok words. generally i prefer using the common english word isntead of some weird french translation that only a very few french speakers will understand. i guess a lot of ppl here think alike. not really a reason to start a pointless debate � la 'fuckfrance.com'
p – by dudushhheee
|the really good thing about the french? (5:19pm est mon dec 16 2002)
because of their elitist nature, they will manage to break up the eu! – by launcelot du lac
|re esi (5:21pm est mon dec 16 2002)
usa as paranoid… that's a new one. keep in mind, it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you ^_^
but that's ok, as the us is doing things like curing cancer (you women have nothing to fear from cervical cancer anymore, 100% cure) and maintains the best heart surgeons in the world. so good, in fact, that if there's something wrong with your body you better hope it's with your heart, as there's almost nothing that we can't fix with it. so, i guess we won't be dieing from cancer or heart dissease anytime soon. and for the record, i can't stomach the slop you people call "french cuisine", and the austrians invented the croussant, so :p – by france blows
|le car (5:32pm est mon dec 16 2002)
gee, i used to own a le car. at the time i didn't realize car was a french word – stupid me. – by isysman
|j'emmerde tout ces putains de n�ologisme � la con (5:53pm est mon dec 16 2002)
aux chiottes les inventions fantaisistes des gros croulant de la langue fran�aise!
a mort les "mels" et autres "bogues" d�ja qu'on est le trou du cul technologique pas la peine d'en rajouter :) :)
on est plus au xviii si�cle pour nommer qqchose il faut en etre l'instigateur!
j'ai dit!
et � bas le "courriel" rofl de lol – by kokko8
|for the paranoid americans (5:54pm est mon dec 16 2002)
from a mature american
here's the final word on nutrition and health. it's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting medical studies.
the japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than
the french eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than
the japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks
the italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer
|ouuu��������� (5:57pm est mon dec 16 2002)
lol americans are really uncultivated, this is not a legend ! mouahaha – by le vengeur masqu�
|for the paranoid americans (6:00pm est mon dec 16 2002)
about fat, heart attacks, etc… the conclusion is : eat fat and drink wine if you want. but if you wanna keep alive, don't eat sugar.
that's why americans are dying from heart attacks : the us food is based on sugarish things. just look the number of obeses in us – by str6szuko
|olive oil or omega-3 (6:16pm est mon dec 16 2002)
well, how about this,
the japanese eat a lot of fish oil and the mediterranean folks eat a lot of olive oil – both of these oils are "healthy" according to the folks in the know.
americans are not, by and large, consumers of these products, prefering other vegetable and animal fats.
maybe americans have lots of heart attacks because they have sedentary lifestyles? my experience from having lived on both continents over the past 20+ years is that southern europeans are less sedentary than folks from the usa.
i realise this is a gross generalisation, but nevertheless it may still be largely accurate and could point to the cause – the heart being a muscle and all. – by dr. dweeb
|�a fait plaisir…. (6:33pm est mon dec 16 2002)
depuis que j'ai quitt� la france, il y a 3 ans de �a, j'ai constat� que mon pays avait parfois des points de vue �triqu�s sur de nombreux sujets. heureusement que ce forum me donne l'occasion de constater avec joie et d�l�ctation, que l'obscurantisme, la b�tise crasse, le d�nigrement syst�matique des r�alit�s que l'on ne parvient m�me pas � toucher du bout des doigts n'est pas une sp�cificit� fran�aise, loin de l�! je peux m�me affirmer bien haut que ici, se trouve inscrit noir sur blanc les t�moignages de performances proprement ahurissantes dans ces domaines.
tout ceci me d�goute profond�ment. voyez, je vous t�moigne tout mon respect en �crivant non seulement en fran�ais, car je r�pugne � �tre lisible par de tels abrutis, mais encore dans un fran�ais suffisement riche, histoire qu'une traduction automatis�e reste parfaitement inintelligible pour les cerveaux atrophi�s qui trainent ici.
refusant de m'abaisser � votre niveau, je n'en tirerait aucune conclusion d�finitive quand aux peuples que vous repr�sentez. votre comportement face au monde insulte suffisement vos parties.
quand au mot de la fin, je le laisse � un valeureux guerrier, g�n�ral d'empire, connu de tous les fran�ais par ce mot fameux: le g�n�ral cambrone.
m… – by ano
|go ubi soft, (6:33pm est mon dec 16 2002)
cryo, infocom… – by tech
|l'acad�mie fran�aise (6:34pm est mon dec 16 2002)
"the french government […]" isn't l'acad�mie fran�aise (french academy) ?
l'acad�mie fran�aise can be seen as a standardization organisation for the french langage (or also like an hospice for old people).
"internaute" is an "interneter" nothing special.
"ordinateur" is a computer (but literally "ordre" = sort, "teur" is a suffix to express a machina that sort).
"at" anybody is going to change his vocabulary ? i don't believe when i see the number of different local language that are used in france.
au fait, je ne suis pas fran�ais ! avant de critiquer n�gativement peut-�tre faudrait-il connaitre la langue qu'on critique ! – by alenvers
|vive l'frogs (6:37pm est mon dec 16 2002)
frogs rule!! – by the frog prince
|str6szuko & dr dweeb (6:40pm est mon dec 16 2002)
french film contributions are pathetic. in the last 20 years, they've only had 1 prolific, talented movie director. french movies are easily available at large video stores. nearly every one i've seen either completely sucked or was overrated. i love jean pierre jeunet. he is a rare talent….probably the best filmmaker in europe. he is one of the few that can actually compete with american filmmakers at their level. watching french films is like watching the special olympics. it makes you feel good, but you know you're watching it in a condescending, charitable manner. you know not to take it seriously. french actors?…like jean reno?…he may be a good actor speaking french, but he's pretty lousy in every film i've ever seen him in. we have a million better british actors working here and abroad than french ones.
those automobiles? they're probably nice automobiles, like ferarris, but they're not a serious part of the auto industry. they're no mercedes, bmw, hyundai, or lexus. they're too overpriced for anyone to buy but pretentious snobs looking to express a little individuality.
i really have no respect for france. its a tourist trap. it's jamaica with more history. they probably produce fabulous wine. every bottle i've had was good. they have good chef's, but that doesn't make you much of a country. their primary export is agriculture. by textbook standards, that qualifies them to be a 3rd world nation!!! germany is an economic force to be reckoned with. britain is a cultural force to be reckoned with. france is….well…not even a blip on the radar in the business or cultural world. ….but they have good wine and food…aparrently that's all that's important to the french. – by steven
|a cartoon (6:50pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i was just watching 'the fairly odd parents', where timmy got his redo-watch. he was trying to hit francis with a water balloon, but missed. so he re-did the throw over and over. one of the re-do throws hit a french guy, he yelled "we surrender".
i think that summs it up. – by uhhhh
|american health… (6:51pm est mon dec 16 2002)
americans are so unhealthy because they all want to live in the suburbs and drive an hour to work each day. automobiles cause more health problems than food ever will. i live in chicago, a city with great public transportation where if you're willing to pay pretty high rent, you don't need a car. despite an upper-middle class income, i still haven't purchased a car because it is more practical to rent one when i need on that to incur the costs of a car's purchase and insurance. i can do a lot of shopping at $1000/year including insurance due to the great public transportation and populations density of chicago. that's one area where i think europeans have the right idea. i'm always amazed when i visit my family in st. louis at how obese every one is around there compared to how people look in chicago. we have some fat asses in chicago, but when you go to the st louis area, it seems like 1 in 10 people in a shopping area is over 300 lbs. living near st louis, you need an automobile to survive long term, to get to work and get what you need. the infrastructure is not designed for foot traffic. it's very unsafe to cross 4 lane highways without crosswalks. people living in chicago, new york, and boston adapt to foot travel, public transportation, and bicycles. they also tend to be slightly leaner. let's hope the air pollution doesn't counteract the health benefits of living in an urban area.
finally, as michael moore pointed out in bowling for columbine, americans are very paranoid and love to live in fear. i'm sure that shortens our lifespan. then again, it also makes us competitive globally, which is why we lead the world in so many areas. seeing the direction asia and america is going and seeing the direction europe is going, i wouldn't expect europe to lead in much of anything in the business world in 50 years. i expect asia and maybe the us to dominate. – by steven
|dear stephen (6:52pm est mon dec 16 2002)
dear stephen,
you need some culture … euh … non, pas du tout, efface ! reste comme tu es, je me sens vraiment intelligent quand je te lis … niark … niark – by alenvers
|@@@ (6:53pm est mon dec 16 2002)
screw steven, and the french. they are blind idiots. – by whackedout
|bande de cons (6:53pm est mon dec 16 2002)
j'aime les am�ricains : on dirait de petits cochons de lait.
je les vois, j'ai envie de les croquer.
quand ils seront enfin pr�ts, j'esp�re les voir d�barquer ici pour en faire mon repas.
petits cochons, venez, ou je souffle sur votre maison.
miam. – by nostromo
|cette page me fait peur (6:56pm est mon dec 16 2002)
quand je lis ces commentaires, je r�alise que le fermeture d'esprit de certaines personnes est impressionante .
just another little thing i'm french but i'm able to speak english too. unlike what the dutch said :o – by moi, moim�me
|the french (6:56pm est mon dec 16 2002)
living in canada, i get subjected to a daily dose of french in my life…..
1) the government has to waste my money printing everything in french and english. even when french is basicly limited to quebec.
2) we have to listen to quebec complain that everyone is against them and they should seperate (let em go, hell kick em in the ass on the way out)
3) they are the most ignorant people in quebec.
4) noone likes quebec or the french that live there.
5) if you live in quebec you are breaking the law if you put up an english sign on a business
you know, something that has to be 'protected' to keep it from dieing a natural death should be allowed to die. the french suck, france sucks, quebec really sucks
and yes she is a fireman and she is a policeman and that girl is the chairman…… i refused to use pc in university, and i refuse in real life….big pile of crap, like the french. – by english dude
| _hopeful, that was funny… (6:57pm est mon dec 16 2002)
seriously, i think you pointed out two important characteristics…diet and lifestyle. the japanese are arguably more uptight than us but eat incredibly healthy…they live longer. in the last 50 years, they started eating more western food and started dying at a much younger age.
the europeans are much better at avoiding stress than most asians and americans. they drink like fish and eat like shit, but still live long.
americans work hard and absorb stress, but aren't as good to our bodies as our asian counterparts. that kills us earlier, but then again, the usa is a great place to live and some things are more important than avoiding death…like living life to its fullest and dominating the europeans! – by steven
|les �tats-unis sont la seule nation qui soit pass�e du barbarisme � l (7:02pm est mon dec 16 2002)
les �tats-unis sont la seule nation qui soit pass�e du barbarisme � la d�cadence sans �tre pass�e par l'apog�e. – by nonmais
|linux sucks… (7:05pm est mon dec 16 2002)
…i just passed my first mcse exam and i'm so happy. i can now administer windows xp pro computers. i won't be working the help desk much longer!!! maybe i'll become such a great computer professional that my boss will let me cut computer cable and run them through walls. did you know i just upgraded my computer's ram…without any help…i rock!!! i'll never have to pay bestbuy to do it in the future! – by whackedout
|you're pathetic (7:09pm est mon dec 16 2002)
*shake my head* – by a computer geek
|dear steven (7:10pm est mon dec 16 2002)
well, i didn't want to write in english for people like you, but you're really getting too far.
you don't even know what you're talking about. ferrari, a french car-maker? you sucks! it's italian. by the way, the french cars are probably the most secure in the world: just look at the euro-ncap crash-test: renault (french) have 3 models with 5 stars, mercedes (deutch) only two, and no other car maker could have a single model with 5 stars. no, even your beloved bmw, and of course not ford.
well, just try to know what you're talking about, you will look less ridiculous, and perhaps will show a less pathetic idea of your people to foreigners.
|peace end love :) (7:13pm est mon dec 16 2002)
hi everyone,
i am french and i am very dissapointed with what i can read here. what do you want to do ? proove that you are the best country in the world ? sorry but you are not. france is not too.
all countries has her own culture and it is very difficult to like it when you don't live in it or you don't try to understand this culture.
for americans, remember that your country is made of a mix of differente culture that come from europe "the old world". this world is not has old as some of you can pretend. for exemple your cars are technically very bad regarding to european one (less polution, less petrol for same kilometers, more secure,…).
for french movies, remember that america make lot's of french movies (nikita, true lies,…). us in french we don't do remake for your movies. we can see it in original version or translated (doubl�s). we accept the other cultures as they are. don't need to modify it to fit to our culture.
french is also a country where lot's of person speak foreign languages. i don't know if it is the same thing in usa. but we are also prood of our culture eaven regional one (celtic,…).
so accept our culture as we accept yours. and if you don't know it, don't make stupid critics.
para los espa�oles, quiero decir que prefiero america latina :) la cultura des esos pa�s es m�s interresante que la de los estados unidos. less dineros en la cabesa ) – by shift
|youpie een forum met verschillende talen (7:17pm est mon dec 16 2002)
we kunnen hier nederlands trollen or puedemos en espa�ol et pourquoi pas en francais but not in english it's so classical. – by yeah
|re: english dude (7:18pm est mon dec 16 2002)
hi dude,
i'm from quebec, i work in the us, i'm french canadian, i have italian blood and irish blood and i do live in quebec. you can say all you want about quebec but let me tell you that if we to separate, the canada would be in big trouble … believe me that's why i'm against it.
also french is the language of love and judging from your answers, you are desperately in need of …
to respond to all others, france has brought many things to the world which were explain before but one was forgotten and it is cheese.
also don't forget that it is the french that helped the americans to get their independence against the british in 1776 or something like that so if you have a free speech country, thanks the french. do they teach you history or do they like to do like anything else which is twist the verity to their own advantage. – by proud french canuck
|komish (7:21pm est mon dec 16 2002)
was f�r eine g�te idee. wir konnen mehrere sprache probieren, um sicher zu sein, da� niemans alles verstehen kann!
ach, est is viel zu sp�t fur mich, ich mu� im bett gehen….
alle dieses dummheit ist mir schei�e egal. – by ano
|penso sux (7:22pm est mon dec 16 2002)
chers amis ricains
la tribune de dlfp a �t� ferm�e aujourd'hui pour raisons assez obscures, ce qui a provoqu� l'incompr�hension des nombreuses moules qui la fr�quentaient
ne soyez donc pas surpris si quelques moules encore boulversifi�es viennent se divertir dans votre sac-�-trolls
pour ma part, je voudrais vous remercier, vous qui connaissez si bien notre culture pour avoir apper�u une fois la tour eiffel dans un reportage sur cnn, de donner votre avis et d'en d�battre, �� va vraiment faire avancer le schmilblick – by une moule expatri�e
|on va leur pourrir la vie � ces tar�s (7:24pm est mon dec 16 2002)
la seule chose que je conseille aux am�ricains, c'est de nous envoyer leurs copines.
donc, messieurs, envoyez nous vos copines, s'il vous plait, qu'on les prenne par les fesses, puisqu'elles en r�vent et que �a vous d�plait.
nous leur donnerons ce que vous �tes bien incapables de leur donner : du plaisir.
bande de peine � jouir. – by nostromo
|french language (7:25pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i don't know a lot american people who know another language perhaps steven can speak with us in french? :)
for his information franch language are also the official diplomatic langage.
i don't need to speak about the american "food". it's so funny.
i would like know what steven think about the kyoto treaty that american governement refuse to sign. i think that the futur is not an important things for them…
steven, i'm sorry to say you this but you're stupid and have any general knowledge. – by ramses
|anton! anton! anton! (7:27pm est mon dec 16 2002)
ich bin so gro�,
ich bin so toll,
ich bin den anton aus tyrooooooool!
– by pas couch�? ben non!
|moole cai toa ??? (7:27pm est mon dec 16 2002)
moole sale krik� :o – by iansolo
|my new admirers (7:28pm est mon dec 16 2002)
well it apears that you lameo kiddies admire me so much you can not help but post using your idols name (whackedout). i can understand that you worship me, and want to be like me, but sorry there can only be one… – by whackedout
|plop! (7:29pm est mon dec 16 2002)
42 – by obiwan kenobi
|annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnntoooj (7:30pm est mon dec 16 2002)
anton aus tyrol :love: – by iansolo
|re: whackedout (7:30pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i wish you luck. you are doing more than many other posters on this site to understand the industry. i don't "hate" m$ce, just don't think they shouldn't call themselves "engineers" (as many sales "engineers" did in the '90s), and should continue their education. get your a+ next if pc work is your goal. programming, it operations, systems work needs to be picked up at your local post secondary institution. good work. – by tech
|01:30:33 (7:33pm est mon dec 16 2002)
je vous sens parti dans un trip pourrissage de forum la!! – by nicolas
|"don't think they shouldn't" (7:33pm est mon dec 16 2002)
what am i a hillbilly? sorry i added the 'nt while proofing, which i never do. – by tech
|ayaaaannnn (7:35pm est mon dec 16 2002)
saiskualitaai powaaaaa never dies :o
– by tarass capain
|han (7:36pm est mon dec 16 2002)
sarassss – by lklkh
|la s (7:36pm est mon dec 16 2002)
moouchos galettos – by hlk
|vive le temps (7:37pm est mon dec 16 2002)
des krikets – by magnifikes
|pour votre culture (7:37pm est mon dec 16 2002)
– mon premier est un moyen d'�clairage moderne
– mon deuxi�me est une �le
– mon troisi�me est un gaz inflammable
– mon tout est un grand fait de l'histoire de france (indice : 1821)
si vous ne trouvez pas ��, c'est que vous ne connaissez rien � la france, alors s'il vous plait, arr�tez d'en parler – by fantomas
|wahnsinn (7:38pm est mon dec 16 2002)
wahnsinn, warom schickst du mir in die h�lle?
eiskalt l�sst du meine seele erfrieren.
das is wahnsinn, du spielst mit meinen gef�hlen!
und mein stolz liegt l�ng schon auf dem m�ll. – by je suis pas couch�!
|l'homme qui parlait a l oreil dai chwox (7:38pm est mon dec 16 2002)
han ! :o
saiski boys :jivaidai:
once uppon a time, in the calendos, a litthe horse … hu
gn� ? – by meuhmeuh
|dsqf (7:39pm est mon dec 16 2002)
– mon premier est un moyen d'�clairage moderne
ton cul
– mon deuxi�me est une �le
ton saiske
– mon troisi�me est un gaz inflammable
le methane de ton ku
– mon tout est un grand fait de l'histoire de france (indice : 1821)
ma date de naissance
si vous ne trouvez pas ��, c'est que vous ne connaissez rien � la france, alors s'il vous plait, arr�tez d'en – by qscqc
|elsass frei (7:40pm est mon dec 16 2002)
elsass freiiiiiiiiiiiii – by elsass freii
|\_o~ coin coin (7:41pm est mon dec 16 2002)
l'am�rique saipalibre, sapulpat� !!! – by o� �� ?
|suche! (7:41pm est mon dec 16 2002)
suche ein man, swischen 18 und 30, da� gefressen werden will. – by armin m.
|parabole :o (7:41pm est mon dec 16 2002)
j'ai demand� � dieu un jardin il m'a donn� une foret
j'ai demand� � dieu un ruisseau il m'a donn� un oc�an
j'ai demand� � dieu des trous du cul il m'a donn� votre site :) – by bande de nerdz
|pairdu (7:44pm est mon dec 16 2002)
– mon premier est un moyen d'�clairage moderne
-> lampe au n�on
– mon deuxi�me est une �le
– mon troisi�me est un gaz inflammable
– mon tout est un grand fait de l'histoire de france (indice : 1821)
/o [patapai] – by fantomette
|hyperbole (7:47pm est mon dec 16 2002)
bande de nerdz et moi je te demande de me rapporter un jardinet – by le chevalier kif� ni
|lo siento (7:48pm est mon dec 16 2002)
lo siento para los individuos del fin des este pagina pero est� muy tarde en francia :)
estoy escuchendo buena vista social club y es muy bueno !!! le aconsejo a todos antes dormir.
viva francia o/ viva espa�a o/ – by shift
|french are just plain stupid! (7:51pm est mon dec 16 2002)
didn't anyone ever tell that dumb ass french prime minister that there is already an american work called "arrobe". it is a frissbee…..dumb ass french, if it wasn't for us, they would be german right now….yet all they want to do is oppose the u.s. in any way. – by jaque cousteau
|by the way…. (7:53pm est mon dec 16 2002)
all of you french dumbasses writing posting on this site, learn to speak english and type it too…do you see this site written in french????? – by geek.com admin
|physic (7:53pm est mon dec 16 2002)
according that a falling cat always falls on its legs.
according that a slice of bread and butter always falls on the butter side.
how will fall a slice of bread and butter attached on the back of a cat? – by moule
|re: french are just plain stupid! (7:55pm est mon dec 16 2002)
>didn't anyone ever tell that dumb ass french prime minister…
hummm, did you see your president ? – by jakiv cousteau
|au fait (7:56pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i have forgotten to answer to this news :
french governement didn't say nothing. this is "l'acad�mie fran�aise" who gives an advice to use "arobe" for @. it is just an advice and as the other ones nobody will use them (cdrom=> c�d�rom, mail=>m�l,…) we are free to speak as we want. this is not governement who make languages but cultures.
i will go now, i have a "rendez-vous" with my bed :)
|la fayette (7:57pm est mon dec 16 2002)
do you have heard this name before, steven? no? oh you must go to philadelphia to learn the little history of your fabulous country… it's a french guy who help you to be free from england.
do you know why you speak english, i want say a sort of english, and not french? because there are only one vote for english and not for french langage.
do you know why european people are smarter than you? because we haven't need to prove that our country it's grea t and like we're care use a lot of more petrol than the "fabulous" american car we don't need to kill a lot of people to steal their petrol…. – by toto the hero
|re: physic (7:57pm est mon dec 16 2002)
a quantic cat in a box ? – by yet another moule
|geek.com admin (8:00pm est mon dec 16 2002)
ich hasse wan man sagt mir was ich machen mu�.
aber es ist villeicht zuviel zu verstehen f�r so ein arschloch. leck mir am arsh, un dann vielleicht k�nnen wir daruber sprechen. – by moule powaaa o/
|re: au fait (8:00pm est mon dec 16 2002)
shift: pense � changer tes draps demain ) – by pl0p
|mistake (8:01pm est mon dec 16 2002)
all people are correct my precedent post naturally and change lot of more by a lot of less. sorry for my bad english – by toto the hero
|to the english dude (8:02pm est mon dec 16 2002)
man i can just say, 0,5% more people voted yes in the referendum and we could have got rid of you and all your little french-hating, ignorant friends. you could then have your english only prints like we care and stop bothering us. french-speaking were in canada (then known as nouvelle-france) first, you invaded us. the confederation was signed by both french-speaking and english-speaking persons and the country is officially billingual. yet in quebec we have billingual signs for the most parts, english-speaking hospitals, universities, etc… i dare you to find just a couple french-speaking equivalent outside of quebec! good luck.. the quebec's languages law were passed because people (some ignorant ones like you maybe) were putting english-only signs everywhere or putting large english signs and unreadably small french traductions below. if i'm correct there are similar laws passed in california to protect the english language in some cities because the spanish is so omnipresent.
by the way, the next time you sing your great national anthem, think of this, it was originally composed in french only by a french-canadian here in quebec! – by your quebec friend
|learn english…moule powaaa o/ (8:04pm est mon dec 16 2002)
what is the most widley spoken language….thats right it's english. learn it if you want anyone to take you seriously. – by geek.com admin
|bordel (8:05pm est mon dec 16 2002)
mais qu'est-ce que je fous l�, � troller sur un site � la con, au lieu de dormir?
remarque, qu'est-ce que je me marre…
ah, nicolas, c'est moi qui ai crosspost� ton message. d�sol�. – by devine! trop facile!
|geek.com admin (8:06pm est mon dec 16 2002)
the most langage spoke in the world is the spanish langage!!!! – by toto the hero
|re: learn english (8:10pm est mon dec 16 2002)
actually no, it's chinese.
fyi all these people posting here do speak english when they want/need to. so if they don't, it may be intentional ? :)
� demain les fruits de mer
|geek.com admin (8:10pm est mon dec 16 2002)
don't worry, i can speak english. my grammar is far from perfect, but most people says that i have a pretty good accent.
it's just that i never do what people wants me to do…
and by the way, lots of people takes me seriously when i speak german, french, spanish, or any another language. i can understand 4 language, i speak correctly 3 of them.
can you say more? or are you another self centered english native speaker? – by moule powaaa o/
|ou� (8:11pm est mon dec 16 2002)
on voit bien que c'est pas penso qui administre ce site, sinon l'aurait �t� ferm� depuis longtemps :) – by pl0p
|well well well (8:11pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i live not too far from an american cementery in france where thousands of american people now rest for eternity.
i have a really deep respect for those guys who gave their life to free europe (and we can say, to some extent, the world) during wwii. most of them were really young, but all of them were braves.
no one really showed them what was war but they came. bringing with them freedom.
so please, you sons of these braves, respect the freedom they gave us, because they made the ultimate sacrifice for it … – by jlm, frenchie too
|re: your quebec friend (8:12pm est mon dec 16 2002)
you are talking about francis scott key, right? – by someone
|to toto the hero (8:12pm est mon dec 16 2002)
� si espa�ol es la idioma m�s utilisada en el mundo, porque hablas ingl�s ? :) – by shift
|censure (8:13pm est mon dec 16 2002)
ce con de modero me nargue.
racist !
you can not even speak nor read nor write our langage, why would you that we make an effort for you dumb fuked up langage.
say the truth, you are childish.
get lost. – by nostromo
|r�v�lation (8:17pm est mon dec 16 2002)
vive l'am�rique, quel beau pays !
god bless america, what a beautiful country !
|pfffff (8:17pm est mon dec 16 2002)
y m'a bousill� mon troupeau de canards.
encore un site de merde avec un forum sans slip.
– by mouledecompaitission
|national anthem (8:17pm est mon dec 16 2002)
francis scott key was an american. he wrote the star-spangled banner on a boat, not in quebec. – by bob
|langues (8:18pm est mon dec 16 2002)
non, shift l'allemand sapupadufion! – by moule powaaaaa o/
|\_o~qwak! (8:20pm est mon dec 16 2002)
c'est plus pratique que faire "refresh" et �a pourris la vie de l'admin. – by moule powaaa o/
|yeaaaa… (8:23pm est mon dec 16 2002)
by the way, "god bless america", read by a french speaking people, makes something like "gode wounds america"…
how funny… – by adolphos
|tous couch�s les am�ricains ? (8:24pm est mon dec 16 2002)
bah alors, y'a plus personne pour discuter, bande de tafiottes ? – by rocco
|taisteu (8:25pm est mon dec 16 2002)
taisteu – by slipoucalesson
|correct (8:26pm est mon dec 16 2002)
yes, read 'god bless america' in french, translates to 'god injure america' in english. – by ghdshggh
|god shave the queen! (8:26pm est mon dec 16 2002)
just a little hi to people living in london. i was there a few days ago! – by moule powaaaaa o/
|on est bien, l�, on s'installe ? (8:28pm est mon dec 16 2002)
passk'ils m'ont pas l'air si rapides que �a, au pourrissage, ces abrutis bourr�s � la bud.
j'aime les voir, les touristes amerloques : on les plume. ils n'ont m�me pas le temps de quitter l'a�roport, qu'ils ont d�j� les poches vides.
un continent entier d'imb�ciles. – by nostromo
|connerie — ne pas lire (8:29pm est mon dec 16 2002)
pfff je manque d'inspiration moi – by da refresh bot
|re: on est bien, l�, on s'installe ? (8:31pm est mon dec 16 2002)
ben la derni�re fois, du c�t� de nancy, on nous a servi une sp�cialit�: le touriste am�ricain cuit � l'�touff�e.
nous rappelons aux allemands propri�taires des wagons que nous d�testons les voir venir br�ler leurs ordures en france. – by moule powaaaaa o/
|msieur, on m'a vol� mon cookie (8:32pm est mon dec 16 2002)
ano: c'est pas bien de te faire passer pour moi, je vais devoir venir te farcir une tribune – by dodolfos
|bon, au lit (8:32pm est mon dec 16 2002)
bonne nuit les moules – by moule powaaaaa o/
|re: on est bien, l�, on s'installe ? (8:38pm est mon dec 16 2002)
je persiste � croire que grill� c'est meilleur : comme ils sont gras, le mieux, c'est de saucer pendant la cuisson, avec le jus. ne pas h�siter � poivrer et saler � volont�, c'est fade, l'am�ricain, plus fade que le porc.
l'amricaine, en revanche peu r�server de bon morceaux : ne la consommer que fraiche, � la broche. la tirer par les cheveux, pour bien bien rendre la p�n�tration de la broche plus facile, n'est ce pas ?
– by nostromo
|militons (8:42pm est mon dec 16 2002)
pour le retour du post anonyme sur dflp
comment �� j'ai un train de retard ? :( – by ton cul
|?????? (8:48pm est mon dec 16 2002)
?? ?????????? ????? "????? ? ???"? – by ??????
|to someone and bob national anthem (8:48pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i was speaking about the *canadian* national anthem. all my comments were in reply to english dude that was speaking about canada.
the canadian national anthem was first composed with lyrics in french by adolphe-basile routhier in 1880. latter it was translated in english.
thanks for the info though, i didn't know who composed the american anthem. :) – by your quebec friend
|svp (8:59pm est mon dec 16 2002)
essayez de pas trop siliconner vos jeunes filles, c'est pas ce qu'il y a de mieux � tripoter – by french lover
|et une connerie, une (9:02pm est mon dec 16 2002)
vive le qu�bec libre – by ch. de gaulle
|da plop bot (9:15pm est mon dec 16 2002)
plop ! – by plop
|coin coin coin (9:21pm est mon dec 16 2002)
penso en fait c'est un abruti issu de ce forum ricain tout con [:totoz] – by c0in!
|ramses, sorry… (9:25pm est mon dec 16 2002)
habla espanol? us latinos generally learn spanish first. why do i want to learn french again? there are a dozen languages i would learn first if i had the time. – by steven
|shift…. (9:40pm est mon dec 16 2002)
no shit ferrari is italian. why did i give that analogy? well, i thought it was clear, but maybe its a poor ananlogy or you're just not too bright. ferarri is familiar icon of worthless, well-engineered, overpriced toy for rich idiots. the european nations make lots of great products, but few of significance because they either are not of good enough quality to compete well on the open market (old yugos come to mind) or in the case of french automobiles, they limit their production. either way, they are not significant players and are dominated in marketshare, sales volume, and profits by their german, american, japanese, and korean counterparts.
i, nor few individuals with iqs above their shoelaces, would never pay 2-3 times as much for a french car, over it's japanese and german counterparts simply because the company thinks its noble to limit its production and make its few customers foot the high cost of producing a line of automobiles.
then again, maybe i'm just a pigheaded american who doesn't understand the beauty of wasting money a significant amount of money over the cost of an equivalent mercedes/lexus for the honor of saying "my car was built in france." – by steven
|wtf happened to my other posts (9:47pm est mon dec 16 2002)
wtf happened here!?who erased my posts?i just sayed french women had a bad bo and they're only useful to get laid.by the way spanish is better.que viva chavez cuerda de malditos!!!! – by venezolano
|mwarf (9:48pm est mon dec 16 2002)
no more comments, steven, you're an idiot, definitely. – by anonymous
|imperialism (9:49pm est mon dec 16 2002)
this is why imperialism sucks.you only think about your country and what you make is the best. – by venezolano
|j'ai honte (9:53pm est mon dec 16 2002)
this is the first time i come to geek.com, and this will be my last time. seeing from what i have read here, most people who comes here are racists, full of preconceptions, badly mouthed.
avez-vous un seul petit brin de cultures? pas beaucoup � ce que je vois.
btw: celine dion is francophone from quebec, canada. not france. it's like if i was mixing british and americans. but i guess you don't have enough culture to know that. – by morons.
|j'ai honte (9:53pm est mon dec 16 2002)
this is the first time i come to geek.com, and this will be my last time. seeing from what i have read here, most people who comes here are racists, full of preconceptions, badly mouthed.
avez-vous un seul petit brin de cultures? pas beaucoup � ce que je vois.
btw: celine dion is francophone from quebec, canada. not france. it's like if i was mixing british and americans. but i guess you don't have enough culture to know that. – by morons.
|moi aussi j'ai honte (10:01pm est mon dec 16 2002)
et plut�t deux fois qu'une :))) – by myself
|yum! (10:46pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i like french bread… i give them credit for that. – by lefrenchfry
|french orange inthe name of.. (11:13pm est mon dec 16 2002)
wow! a lame excuse for falling behind.
the french mentality never fails to amuse me.
anyway i have a question: how come the french films are so dirty?? – by allo allo
|re: steven and the rest like him. (11:36pm est mon dec 16 2002)
i was watching a program on pbs about the life of ben franklin. i like gool old ben and i was born on his birthday.
anyway he was sent to france to get support for the revolutionary war and it was a good thing too because the americans were getting their collective butts kicked in just about every battle.
if it had not been for the french we would still be a colony. so the next time tell your self about what we did for them on wwii also think about what they did for us.
i don't think to this day that we have paid them back for all the supplies they loaned our country in our bid for independents.
– by rax
|btw (11:41pm est mon dec 16 2002)
the french monarch went broke supporting us and was overthrown and we never lifted a finger to help.
so i say if the french want to change the @ sign let them.
it's a small price to pay for our freedom.
|the french (11:51pm est mon dec 16 2002)
have brought us a few good things…
1)french fries
please feel free to add on.
|my perspective… (12:17am est tue dec 17 2002)
if a nation is strong in it's self identity, it needs not to defend itself from the influx of foreign words. thier people would choose to use alternate words on thier own. however a nation who's identity is dying, will protect what is left of thier identity, which is what we have here.
while i can understand why, the french govt. is doing this, i don't really like it. if only for the simple reason that the farther we, as a human race slip away from nationalistic/socialistic/religious
one world one people. – by thinking man
|re: thinking man (12:25am est tue dec 17 2002)
while i agree with your prespecitve, they are a dying culture, i am not about to cry over it. i was in paris and normandy this summer, what i experienced led me to think this: shoot the damm parisians and thier fu*&ing dogs. it is a city the if full of some of the most beautiful art i have ever seen, and morons who are rude, filthy, and simply discusting. because of thier actions nyc is clean in comparision.
now the people of normandy (including those few who i met that were working in paris,) are truely salt of the earth. they were wonderful people, kind, generous, and helpful. as a general group i would put them as some of those i have the greatest respect for. (right up there with the amish!) how they can be so vastly different, i do not know.
as far as the wine, and what they have given to the world… you can keep the wine, i'll drink the german stuff, granted thier beer was pretty good.. suprisingly. and in the past, they have give some exellent achievements, however i wonder how many of those achievements came from native parisians? – by cybermastif
|quebec (12:59am est tue dec 17 2002)
quebec 'friend'
quote "0,5% more people voted yes in the referendum and we could have got rid of you and all your little french-hating, ignorant friends."
quebec would have been bankrupt by now if that would have occured, plus quebec would not have held on to all of its land. as you know the northern part is native land, canadian natives. they voted and were not going to leave. do you really think that the natives would have been ignored when they asked for help when the qpp invaded their land and the natives shot them? another point, newfoundland could have then voided the contract for the power from churchill falls and quebec hydro and the gov. would have been screwed.
quote "french-speaking were in canada first, you invaded us." –> and kicked the french ass, should have shipped you all back to france
quote "the country is officially billingual." –>another waste of my tax dollars, learn english dumbass
my point is, that canada would be a better place if quebec were to seperate. the northern (over 50%) world remain in canada and whats left of quebec could do what ever they want after taking 25% of the national debt. plus we would be spared of the big welfare payments that quebec sucks out of canada, and we could turn off your lights. – by english dude
|french (2:02am est tue dec 17 2002)
french is the 13th most spoken language in the world… and declining. why bother with it? – by sogrundy
|that is the point (2:21am est tue dec 17 2002)
so what, let the french do what they want. the rest of the world will continue to use the @ in their e-mail. later france will be forced to conform to the standard.
this is a good parallel for windows vs linux. linux will be the standard of the world and windows will be what america tries to force on the world. in time the world will go to one standard and it might well be linux.
sorry but i got to make my dig :)
– by rax
|don't care… (2:42am est tue dec 17 2002)
> "french is the 13th most spoken language in the world… and declining. why bother with it?"
well, english is only the second spoken language in the world. why bother with it?
english is about to become the second spoken language in the united states…. and declining. why bother with it?
german is only spoken in 4 countries in europe, why bother with it?
english is only spoken in 1 country in europe, why do you want us european to bother with it?
chineese is spoken in only one country in the world. why bother with it?
if you don't know the language of the people you're dealing with, you will just have, by the end of the negociation, something like a pain in the ass. cause when they were talking in their language in front of you, they knew you were just unable to understand, and they could easyly share their feelings about you in real time just under your nose.
just another self centered english spoking people… i'm already happy to have to deal with such innocent people… that still think they can throw their shit all over the world without having to pay the price. 11th september didn't learnt you a single thing. my poor boy… – by moule powaaaaaa o/
|that's true… (2:58am est tue dec 17 2002)
french are insignificant.
actually, they are so insignificant that without them usa would probably not be an independant state today.
but since usa are insignificant, that's not a big deal.
|oh my god, he didn't understood a single thing! (2:59am est tue dec 17 2002)
> "so what, let the french do what they want. the rest of the world will continue to use the @ in their e-mail. later france will be forced to conform to the standard."
of course we will do what we want:
1- we will use the @ as we do nowadays, like anyone in the world.
2- we will call it the way we like: we call an apple a "pomme", and will continue to do so. the "acad�mie fran�aise" advises us to call the @ an "arobe" instead of "at" when talking about email adresses, people that wants it will do so. i will just go on calling it with its french typographic name: "arobase". cause nobody imposes me to do another way… i am free to accept to use or not this designation, as long as it is a french word. cause i am speaking french. and when i am speaking another language i use the word that exists in this language. if you try to speak about a keyboard with a german, he will just stare at you. spak about a tastatur, and you will get understood.
so, let people speak the way they want. as long as the electronic communications respects the standards. standards, you know? the thing that americans are constantly reinventing, and never respects. – by moule powaaaaaa o/
|what about films (3:07am est tue dec 17 2002)
> "anyway i have a question: how come the french films are so dirty??"
cause they need just more than one brain-cell to be understood.
by the way, could please hollywood stop trashing our "dirty" scenarii making such shity remakes?
|bieng./.. (3:09am est tue dec 17 2002)
on s'en tape le chibre..:/ – by alphonse
|last post everyone!!! (3:28am est tue dec 17 2002)
192 posts and absolutely nothing was said.
well done everyone! aren't you a big boy now!
alles soll zu fark.cim gehen, wir diskutieren den groben unterschied zwischen canadians and americans. – by nachrechts
|pauvres cons d'am�ricains (3:36am est tue dec 17 2002)
you're just so pathetic! do you think *you* should dictate the way foreign people should speak and think?
just continue watching the superbowl while the moron you call a president makes you more ridiculous.
your culture is poor, your technology is poor, your economy is collapsing, and you're still on the way for more decadence. i can't understand how you can still be so arrogant. are you blind or just plain stupid? – by napol�on
|plop! (3:52am est tue dec 17 2002)
"so what, let the french do what they want. the rest of the world will continue to use the @ in their e-mail. later france will be forced to conform to the standard."
gni ?
by the way, this news talks about 'arrobe', but i thought 'arobase' was equally proposed by the academie.
and "internaute" doesn't mean internet, as 'spationaute' doesn't mean space…
�para los espa�oles, quiero decir que prefiero america latina :) la cultura des esos pa�s es m�s interresante que la de los estados unidos. less dineros en la cabesa�
hablas espa�ol como une moula francesa :)
|plop les moules! (4:10am est tue dec 17 2002)
un petit plop pour les moules matinales qui ont eu le courage de s'enfiler le forum jusque l�.
avec un peu de chance, de nombreux messages vont suivre celui l�, et constituerons un excellent test de charge pour ce site…
je compte sur vous vous cette exp�rimentation…
'cause we got the…
|mouarrf!!! (4:32am est tue dec 17 2002)
he, he, funny to see how ppl are quick to react and just hurl insanities to each others.
as for many other stupid decisions taken by the french government regarding the "proper" language, the french will keep doing and talking as they want or are used to.
there is always a difference between the language of the street and that of the dictionnaries…
as for americans bashing us about our culture (yes we do have one guys contrary to most of you) i'd like to know how many french words you are using in your day to day language without having the remote idea about the real meaning…
every language evolves but rules, as stupid as they can be sometimes, are sometimes necessary…
by the way the first "pc" was developped by the french army. the government was stupid enough to consider it too strategic to be put in everyone's hands… every one knows what happened next ) – by zhead
|go! go! go! (5:01am est tue dec 17 2002)
we can reach 200 commentary!
197! just 3 more! – by moule powaaa o/
|go! go! go! (5:03am est tue dec 17 2002)
we can reach 200 commentary!
198! just 2 more! – by moule powaaa o/
|go! go! go! (5:04am est tue dec 17 2002)
we can reach 200 commentary!
199! just 1 more! – by moule powaaa o/
|you americans are so naive! (5:06am est tue dec 17 2002)
it's funny to read your comments, you have such a belief of being the center of the world and the maker of every single technological thing…
english is not a threat for french, and as never been… since english is made of about 60% of french words…
so, i don't worry!
– by thorpe
|200 o/ (5:06am est tue dec 17 2002)
we did it!
200 commentary!
only the moule powaaaaa made it possible! – by moule powaaa o/
|i undestand now .. (5:28am est tue dec 17 2002)
when i read all these americans post , i undestand now why you elect bush for president … – by french
|200 o/ (5:34am est tue dec 17 2002)
on va pas se laisser faire !
moule poowaaaaa! – by thorpe
|penso tairroriste (6:13am est tue dec 17 2002)
he ho , les ricains vous faites franchement chier , qu est que ca peut vous foutre qu on dise "arobase" au lieu de "at" ? vous allez pas nous chier des pendules ?
et puis y a des choses bcq plus grave dans la vie que ce que dit l academie francaise gener que la tribune libre est fermee !
allez en enfer , bande de cons – by da corsamoule
|o/ (6:15am est tue dec 17 2002)
c'est bas l� quand meme, il est 5 heures du mat' chez eux, laissez leur le temps de se r�veiller avant de troller et flamer (+: – by neryel
|stop it now (6:15am est tue dec 17 2002)
c'en est trop, s'il vous plait putains d'amerloc, retournez vous empifrer de macdo et laissez les vieux croutons de l'acad�mie fran�aise d�battre sur des sujets sans int�r�t et pondre des r�gles qui ne seront appliqu�es par personne – by mini moi
|liberez d abord le roquefort!!! (6:28am est tue dec 17 2002)
apres on verra pour @ – by dioove
|wow (6:29am est tue dec 17 2002)
207 post on this. – by 207th poster
|america rules the world ? (6:59am est tue dec 17 2002)
bwa ha ha.
before ruling the world, americans should rule their country. the only "civilized" country where it is so dangerous to live. the only "rich" country where you can be poor while working 70 hours a week. the only "industrialized" country where not anyone has access to medical care.
|h� ho (7:07am est tue dec 17 2002)
vous voudriez pas annexer l'angleterre, par hasard ?
les gens qui l'habitent ont des moeurs et que les votres, et leur bouffe est tout aussi infame
ce pays se comporte depuis longtemps comme un simple satellite des �tats unis, et leur chef passe son temps � l�cher les bottes du votre, de fait il freine depuis toujours la construction europ�enne, et ce pour votre plus grand bien
alors s'il vous plait venez r�cup�rer cette �le qui nagu�re vous gouvernait, histoire qu'elle nous foute la paix une fois pour toutes – by bye
|advice (7:11am est tue dec 17 2002)
can i give you and advice?
go in a library and look for "l'ami fritz" and read it. you will learn a great lesson of savoir vivre. – by strass
|re: advice (7:20am est tue dec 17 2002)
strass >> don't you know the us are also #1 of "evolved" countries for analphabetism issues, thanks to their public schools falling into pieces ? – by jar jar binks
|re: re:advice (7:40am est tue dec 17 2002)
jjb your are deconning.
it is impossible that a country is so tared.
this said, when you look at their president, you can be inquied for the rest of the population. – by meodudlye
|what about mass killing? (7:44am est tue dec 17 2002)
and, aren't the states right behind china as far as executions for death penalty are concerned?
hmmm… but never mind, let's have a little war in irak, the bloody french petroleum companies have contracts there that you don't have, isn't it?
damn i wonder how much spam for enlarging my penis or getting an unsecured credit card i gonna receive today… – by zhead
|beautiful language (8:02am est tue dec 17 2002)
french is certainly one of the most beautiful sounding laguages in the world. what's the big deal if they want to maintain the rules that govern the language?
chill, people. no nation has a perfect record. not the us, not france.especially today the goal should be acceptance, tollerance, respect and forgiveness.
and let's not forget that america is made up of only immigrants (except the indians). that's our strenght. also remember that the french helped us big time fighting the british for our independence. we helped them big time by liberating them from the nazis. – by usa citizen
|one more thing… (8:03am est tue dec 17 2002)
thanks to france for the statue of liberty. hopefully we'll always remember the spirit in which it was given and the words that are on her base. – by usa citizen
|??? (8:24am est tue dec 17 2002)
come and tie my shoe.
what a cheese! – by qel fromage
|culture or fight ? (8:57am est tue dec 17 2002)
i had much fun reading this argue around almost nothing. i won't contribute it but i'm proud to stand on the good side of the atlantic ocean shore -)
more seriously, i hope you'll be happy to know that the use of this sign is universal, but it's name is very location dependant. if any of you had have any real interest and curiosity about it, you would have learnt much about it at :
but please, keep up fighting 'cause it amuse me so much!
|why? (9:21am est tue dec 17 2002)
why is it that the ugliest of a country's people are always the most vocal? – by sublime
|health care (9:34am est tue dec 17 2002)
someone longways up in some post say that america has the best heart surgeons or whatever.
i doubt there is much difference among the best surgeons from different countries especially among the developed western countries.
what differs though is the availability of said care, everyone can have health care for free in europe.
the american mentality of thinking themselves are the best is bad because it doesn't cause them to self reflect.
ask americans and they say they have the best judicial system in the world.
you can punch big holes through the americans self image but they still wouldn't notice, they're the greatest country on earth:) – by maximus
|re: health care (9:38am est tue dec 17 2002)
maximus >> you couldn't be more right.
for a great catalogue of all those "great america" horrors, i recommend the reading of michael moore's "stupid white men". – by jar jar binks
|clich� ? (9:42am est tue dec 17 2002)
isn't "clich�" a french word by the way ? there are so many in these posts it's unbelievable ! to all the french around here don't bother : they probably think that germans only build cars, drink beer and wear spiked helmets or that greeks are all shepherds if not sailors.
americans might not know that without la fayette and the french navy they wouldn't even be here. or that ignorance and bombs rarely solve problems…
but there's no use trying to argue : we might as well try to explain the greatness of baudelaire to a bunch of goats.
so let them talk rubbish and let's live happily with this stupid academie of ours we love to hate and all these debates we couldn't live without but seem pointless to the rest of the world. it's us and we don't care.
– by fripounet
|right, but… (10:00am est tue dec 17 2002)
totally agree with fripounet.
peace, environment, economy : we depend so much on the us and its government choices that we cannot act as if they didn't exist. which is a bit scary if these posts reflect what they think… – by french kiss
|health care (10:06am est tue dec 17 2002)
i believe that health care in europe is similar to the canadian system. and the canadians i know say the best health care they can get is to cross the border into the u.s.
– by johnny utah
|but… (10:09am est tue dec 17 2002)
but maybe the canadians you know can afford it… in france, the lowest of the lows get the same care as the richest man. here, healthcare, like justice, is blind. and we can be proud of that. – by french doctor
|health care (10:16am est tue dec 17 2002)
it sounds like your system is something to be proud of. but in practice it is more like wealth distribution systems. the poor do not get brought up to the middle. everyone is brought down to the poor. the poor may not get great care in the u.s. but they do get health care whether or not they have insurance. – by johnny utah
|hold da k�ft var det underholdende (10:31am est tue dec 17 2002)
da der er skrevet i s� mange forskellige sprog herinde syntes jeg at de skandinaviske sprog burde ogs� have noget airtime.
steven er helt klart en ubegavede brian type som burde skydes omg�ende.
mange af dem der skriver herinde er s� dumme at man burde f�le for dem.
jeg kan personligt godt lide franskm�ndene of deres bidrage til verdens kultur.
oh and steven, your knowledge of automobiles and the automobile induxtry in general is broken – and one day when you have nothing to do i will take you for a ride in my ferrari on a race track and scare the living shit out of you. – by dr. dweeb
|reply (10:39am est tue dec 17 2002)
don't get confused, and think the french monarch was helping the u.s. for his love of freedom, or our new country. it boils down to he was against great britain. this is a factor that has to be taken into account when you talk about the french help to the u.s. in the revolution. i am greatful for the help, but don't pretend his love for the u.s. was the prime motivating factor. i also think that the two times in the 20th century we went to war, and help free france from invasion does make up for helping with the birth of our nation, and no i don't think that was our prime motivating factor either. – by crash
|re: health care (10:40am est tue dec 17 2002)
johnny utah, you obviously don't know what you are talking about. in europe, the poorest have access to state-of-the-art medical care, including priority on transplantations if necessary, latest aids or cancer treatment, or more generally all modern science can do for them.
and without having to pay the bill for 40 years. – by jar jar binks
|re: french kiss (10:41am est tue dec 17 2002)
don't judge an entire country just by the people posting here. we're not all stupid, closed-minded, arrogant morons. it's just they tend to make the most noise. – by american citizen
|the new imperialism (10:41am est tue dec 17 2002)
in regards to the united states of america as an empire- it is certainly true. however, the old definition of an empire is no longer applicant in this digital world. previously, empires (rome, colonial britain, et cetera) were defined by expansionist tendencies.
america carries this legacy, not through conquering territory, but through global americanisation with its popular culture and capitalism. shining examples include pepsi-cola, the american film industry, and the mcdonald's corporation. through these various institution, the culture of america invades and permeates all, extinguishing tradition.
this is not saying that the imperialistic nature of america is not extended into military characteristics. as empires of the past have, america has come to 'recognise its duty' to exert some extent of control on the world, which is supported by unsurpassed dominance of the seas and the world's most sophisticated military. the imperialistic tendencies of america have grown to the extent that america now violates the sovereign rights of other nations, insisting upon its righteousness. america has deposed the taliban, on the sole reason that they refused to surrender the great sheik osama bin laden without any offer of evidence. now, america insists that any nation that opposes its global empire will fall iraq, led by president saddam hussein, is viewed as an enemy, for iraq insists on its sovereign rights as a nation.
cultural preservation programmes are essential to resist this imperialism, although it may be in vain… – by taradaitya
|re: jar jar binks (10:50am est tue dec 17 2002)
" america rules the world ? (6:59am est tue dec 17 2002)
bwa ha ha.
before ruling the world, americans should rule their country. the only "civilized" country where it is so dangerous to live. the only "rich" country where you can be poor while working 70 hours a week. the only "industrialized" country where not anyone has access to medical care.
then how do you explain all the people from other countries that are clamoring to get into the u.s. legally or illegally. i for one think that they want to raise their standard of living, and have an opportunity to prosper. – by crash
|@ = arrobe…doh. (11:00am est tue dec 17 2002)
i always thought @ = le petit escargot – by smallislander
|health care (11:03am est tue dec 17 2002)
in the u.s. the poor also have access to modern medicine. they may end up with large bills, but everyone is in debt at some time. now the treatment time is where the difference is. in the u.s. people get treated faster than in canada. i admit to being unfamiliar with european medicine.
transplantation priority is a seperate ethical issue. the priority settings are probably very similar between the u.s. and europe.
|crash>> (11:04am est tue dec 17 2002)
how do you explain all the people from other countries that are claimoring to get into france, germany, or uk legally or illegaly ?
oh, i have a simple explanation for afghans and kurds : because of the us army who helped throwing them out of their homes. – by jar jar binks
|to english dude (11:05am est tue dec 17 2002)
"my point is, that canada would be a better place if quebec were to seperate."
that's about the only thing i agree with you. and i believe quebec would also be a better place if separated from canada.
so hear me, next referendum, just say to all your canadians friends to stop comming here and saying that they love us and don't want us to leave. tell us the thruth just like you said and maybe the 0,5% dumbass people that didn't voted yes will change their vote!
just remember me if we separate to check on you in 20 years to see whose's nation is stronger. it's about 300years that anglos tried to assimilate us but we still have our own culture and language. now look at your culture… i'd say it's about what, 50% american for now? all the english speaking tv's and radio's i listen to have more than 50% american content. i would not be surprised at all to see the canadian's province becoming new american states! when the only thing that differenciate you is your canadian mounties and the way you pronounce about and z i thinkg there's a real problem! – by your quebec friend
|johnny utah>> (11:05am est tue dec 17 2002)
"they may end up with large bills, but everyone is in debt at some time."
thanks for your demonstration of that sooooo nice "american way of life". – by jar jar binks
|soy latino (11:10am est tue dec 17 2002)
thanks about the comment neryel.im from venezuela!sup ya�ll.anyway things are a bit complicated down here.darn burocrats trashing my country.they�re trying to sell every public institute like our petroleum one, pdvsa.im really sad about whats going on and before you speak bad about my president why not read the history of my country?its been full of corrupted people.i feel pity for them.they call themselves democrats and are making us the people, middle class people poorer everyday selling public institutes.el espa�ol es bueno.latinas are very horny and beautiful.come to venezuela.ill put some other posts on dependending on your opinions.later friends. – by venezolano
|re: crash (11:16am est tue dec 17 2002)
i don't want to live in america, i'd rather live on the moon. hey, how about keeping your war games within your lovely country? oh, and please stop using 25% of the world's energy resources. like it, using lots of energy to create some shit and then thinking it is their brains that make them rich. – by bill
|jar jar binks (11:17am est tue dec 17 2002)
do you think that this "free medicine" heathcare does not come with a price. look at the income tax rates of the french people, and i bet they are taking home 50% or less of the money they earn. would that kind of reduction in your paycheck modify your stance on the medical care subject? just curious. – by hallow
|re bill (11:23am est tue dec 17 2002)
sure we will stop using all the resourses. the reason we use more resources is that we produce more than any other country on the face of the earth. we can also stop contributing to the worlds economy with our gross national product. then you would have all the war, and civil unrest your heart desires. – by crash
|the new imperialism (11:24am est tue dec 17 2002)
there is no new definition of empire. if a business that originated in the u.s. wishes to market it's product to other nations then that is their choice and should not be thought of as an invasion of "american" values. if there was no market for the product then the company would not be selling it there.
in the u.s. we do believe we have a duty. it was first started to protect the other nations of north and south america from european imperialism. with the rise of communism that duty was spread to the world. our vast military presence throughout the world is mainly in response to communism. we are now turning our eyes onto the other despots of the world. iraq is of interest because they have the potential to be a great example of democracy in an area that has none.
arrobe is a good name for @. it is much better than "at".
– by johnny utah
|replies (11:28am est tue dec 17 2002)
venezolano : �thanks about the comment neryel.�
to be honest, i was just quoting shift. i don't disagree with him, but i wasn't the one who said the sentence about southern america )
�arrobe is a good name for @. it is much better than "at".�
but 'at' is not realy the name, that's the meaning. personally i prefer arobase (all your arobase are belong to us… oups, sorry), but i guess it's a matter of taste (+: – by neryel
|jar jar (11:28am est tue dec 17 2002)
i would bet that the u.s. allows more immigrants into this country every year than does france or great britian. so evidently there are people in this world that love the thought of the u.s. and do care to live here. – by crash
|crash : damn idiotic ethnocentrist (11:42am est tue dec 17 2002)
you are so etnocentrik that you are blind of your racism.
damn idiot, have you ever think in your deviant parano�a that 9/11 hijackers were happy to come to you too ? yes, they were happy.
damn idiot.
a continent full of damn idiots.
shame. noone here tends to go leave by your side. don't confuse us with poor latinos people you have soon betrayed, by killing their chiefs (chili), stopping their economy (brazil), provocating revolt (venezuela). here is the same for africans countries our land has destroyed on the past. we are conscious and ashamed by attitud of our fathers : that was hawfull. why don't you learn from history, why others would adopt your shitty catholic point of view ? – by nostromo
|point of view (11:42am est tue dec 17 2002)
hallow : �do you think that this "free medicine" heathcare does not come with a price. look at the income tax rates of the french people, and i bet they are taking home 50% or less of the money they earn. would that kind of reduction in your paycheck modify your stance on the medical care subject? just curious.�
that's a question of point of view. if you are rich, that's true, that's great to have less taxes. you can buy an additional big car and show it to your friends.
now, if you're poor and starving, i don't think you have the same opinion.
in france, "we" consider that everybody should have the same rights, including the poor who cannot pay for it, so that makes a little less money for rich and a little more for poors. now, if "you" consider that everybody gets what he deserves, and deserves what he can pay for, that's sure you can disagree with the system. – by neryel
|re: crash/re: the new imperialism (11:49am est tue dec 17 2002)
re: crash
with all respect:
re: the new imperialism
|free medicine (11:55am est tue dec 17 2002)
the real price of free health care is the inability to use tax money for anything else(like a defence budget).
i think the 50% figure might be a bit conservative.
also my main point about free health care is the slow acting bureaucracy that comes with it. people get sicker and sicker while they are waiting for care. so where the idea of "free health care" sounds utopian. in practice it is actually cruel.
|neryel (11:55am est tue dec 17 2002)
but does that kind of system really induce the poor to try to better their situation or just to remain in stasis in the economic level they are currently at. relying on the gov. to provide for them instead of trying to take charge and help control their own destiny. i'm not saying one way is better than the other. i'm just curious at the ups, and downs of both choices. – by hallow
|bill (12:02pm est tue dec 17 2002)
what i am saying that is the u.s. economy were hurt by outside things. the (keyoto spelling) treaty. there would be a destabilization of the world economy, and that would lead to civil unrest, and war. if you don't think this would happen you are living in a delusional world. – by crash
|the new imperialism (12:12pm est tue dec 17 2002)
when you talk about a nations support for others and how that support changes you have to take into account how the world has changed. in iraq'a case, iran was seen as a larger threat. in bin laden's case, the soviet union was seen as the larger threat.
when talking about the rest of the world and it's voiced opinion of the u.s. you need to think about why they voice that opinion. dictatorships are threatened by the prosperity of the u.s.. the people under rule support the u.s. but cannot voice their opinions in the open. – by johnny utah
|johnny utah (12:17pm est tue dec 17 2002)
succinctly put. i thank you for your input on this subject. – by hallow
|a scenario (12:20pm est tue dec 17 2002)
american: why don't all you french people go back to speaking german?
frenchie: we never spoke german…
american: yeah, thanks to us!
by the way thanks for the statue of liberty! – by rambo
|hallow (12:22pm est tue dec 17 2002)
that is good point about the welfare state and it's effect on people. – by johnny utah
|crash and the new imperialism (12:29pm est tue dec 17 2002)
sorry, but i am getting a bit bored here. also i need to get back to work. so have fun with the supporting peace with war concept.
but remember the head is round, so that you can easily change the direction of your thinking. bye. – by bill
|re: a scenario (12:49pm est tue dec 17 2002)
as i am french, let's correct the sentence:
nowadays, the engine that pushes europe forward is the franco-german cooperation. now that these two counties are true allies, now than these two countries relations are based on a true friendship, nothig can stop us.
by the way, the german didn't destroyed anything unnescessary while they attacked france. the so called "liberation" was a disaster. the american bombers destroyed entiere towns without seeking to knom if it was a military objective. the american army killed more french and german civilians
who will pretend we have to thank america?
– by by moule powaaa o/
|what about the french word for web? (12:56pm est tue dec 17 2002)
i'm sitting here looking at a google bar in french and it says: "recherche web", "recherche site", "pagerank","infos page" and "monter". i figure that "recherche" and "monter" are the only truly french words in that list.
by the way, i have ie in german, acrobat in dutch etc. etc. don't you lot ever get bored using only one language? or is that all you can handle? – by sysprog.net
|re: moule powaaa o/ (1:03pm est tue dec 17 2002)
what about the war in bosnia? america and the un fought to protect muslim people who were being murdered and abused by the serbs. i can't think of a selfish reason for the us doing this.
do you think the outcome of wwii would have been different without the us? better? worse? – by user
|re: what about the french word for web? (1:04pm est tue dec 17 2002)
it's "toile"… – by moule powaaa o/
|arrobe = arroba (1:08pm est tue dec 17 2002)
the "arroba" word used in spain to call the @ sign from about 3,000 years we have been using it as wight and volume measure
i think "arrobe" comes from "arroba" –clearly – by anom
|france your welcome! (1:08pm est tue dec 17 2002)
if you frenchies would have fought to defend your land and not just let the nazi's waltz right into your country then we wouldn't of had to go in there and rescue your pathetic ungreatfull french butts. – by ww2 veteran
|peace and war (1:10pm est tue dec 17 2002)
the real price of free health care is the inability to use tax money for anything else(like a defence budget).
france has a good army but the purpose of this army is only to defend not attack a country. we have too the nuclear weapon but only few because is only a defense weapon for us not a means to attack someone. if you prefer attack france with a nuclear weapon obtain a nuclear answer, it's all.
usa is an imperialist country not france!!! – by toto the hero
|what about the war in bosnia? (1:17pm est tue dec 17 2002)
murdered by the serbs? are you kidding? it was a war my dear, as dirty as american soilders makes it… and cnn didn't talked about the serbs being slaugtered by the musilms.
you need a selfish reason? to have a foot in a land where they never been. they made a durable shit in europe so that nobody will throw them out. albanese are mafiosi, worst than sicilia's, violents, deadfull, specialised in human trafic, proxenetism, drug trafic. thank you uncle sam, now we really have tons of work to get rid of these bandits, when the serbs would have happily done this for free. serbs were damn stupid to accept that these albanian emigrants come and work on their soil instead of letting them starving in albania, governed by a paranoid dictator. what a payback!
in fact, french president's de gaule was the only one smart enough to kick the us army out of its country. nowadays he would be considered as usa public enemy n�1, cause bin laden only wants the same thing: he wants the us army to get out of saudi arabia, out of the islam's sacred land.
by the way the american soldiers responsible of the "chi mai"'s slaughter are still free, unjudged. your brave soilders slaughtered an entire village of unarmed civilians.
|re: what about the french word for web? (1:18pm est tue dec 17 2002)
merci bien, moule! – by sysprog.net
|to rambo (1:20pm est tue dec 17 2002)
do you know why american come in europe in 44? because red army began to win against the hitler army so usa was afraid by the fact that all europe can be communist! – by toto the hero
|war! never been so much fun! (1:22pm est tue dec 17 2002)
> "we wouldn't of had to go in there and rescue"
if you were fighting for freedom, why on earth did you let spain's dictator, franco, living happyly and dying from old age in 1972? – by moule powaaa o/
|peace and war (1:28pm est tue dec 17 2002)
the purpose of the u.s. army is also to defend. we choose to not only defend ourselves but also nations and people that cannot defend themselves. france is not an imperialist country anymore. the u.s. has never been an imperialist country. our forces are not located in any area where the majority of the people do not want us.
i believe france is a good nation full of good people. the nation's leaders made some grave tactical errors during wwii and that is what led to a german invasion that didn't destroy much. but to imply that the u.s. destroyed more than germany is wrong. if germany hadn't invaded at all then the allies would not have needed to liberate france. any destruction left by wwii is clearly the fault of the aggressor.
|funny, funny, funny. (1:32pm est tue dec 17 2002)
i can't get enough laughing, when i have a look at what the american ( or so called americans) write.
i am sure that it never passed through their empty brain that the world does not need america at all.
i am sure, that the world would be much, much better without such an arrogant country, so quick when it comes to give lesson, so long when time is to apply them to itself.
your country is so decadent, that its times are already counted.
so long pals.
– by meodudlye
|johnny utah (1:38pm est tue dec 17 2002)
the purpose of the u.s. army is also to defend. we choose to not only defend ourselves but also nations and people that cannot defend themselves.
i suppose to let a people die because there are nothing to eat since 1989 is a mean to defend them? yes i speak about irak. and i suppose that if there are no petrol in irak you president will want exactly the same thing, destroy a dictactor? open your eyes guy. the goal of all the war ar money, land or powerful not to help people!!!! – by toto the hero
|action vs. inaction (1:40pm est tue dec 17 2002)
it is true that the u.s. seems to pick and choose when and where to liberate. not everyone in the u.s. wants us to take the postion of global liberator. many people just want to live their lives and stay out of the business of others. we are governed based on public opinion. not just the opinion of our citizens but also the opinion of others. we care what other people think of us. this can lead to inaction in many cases(like past spain and current cuba).
we also can't do it all. the world would be a better place if the u.n. stood for democracy. together we could bring true democracy to all nations. but for this to happen alot of the current members would have to be removed and the entire charter would have to re-written. i don't think the u.s. should be the member of any organization that doesn't promote freedom of speech as a right of all people.
|to johnny utah (1:41pm est tue dec 17 2002)
any destruction left by wwii is clearly the fault of the aggressor.
perhaps you must read an history book because the agressor of germany was england and france. they declare the war at germany after hitler invaded tchekolovakie – by toto the hero
|to johnny utah (1:44pm est tue dec 17 2002)
the world would be a better place if the u.n. stood for democracy.
yes but for this purpose perhaps it'll be better if your president don't want absolutly the control of this organisation!! do you think normal how your president act against a pacific solution with irak? – by toto the hero
|mais m�le toi de ton cul! (1:47pm est tue dec 17 2002)
>"we choose to not only defend ourselves but also nations and people that cannot defend themselves. "
don't you understand that the whole world is fed up with seeing you? that the whole world is fed up with you?
in asia chinese and russians hates you, in middle east, the only people happy to see you is israel: with your help, they can go on slaughtering palestinians. this makes that the whole arabian world hates you. in africa, wasn't the ethopian message clear enough? in europe, most of the french are anti-american, and this feeling expands through europe. appart in great britain. congrats, your former colonisator is now your nice little puppy. i don't know south america, so i won't speak about it.
so take that in your head: the whole world wants you to stay home! the whole word wants you away! the whole world dosn't see you as liberator, they don't see you through cnn's eyes, they see you as imperialists, as invaders, as people that never respects the international agreement they signed, as people that makes tons of co2 with no consideration for anythin or anyone appart your damn money!
so, do the world a favor, save your money, get your army back home! – by moule powaaa o/
|peace (1:54pm est tue dec 17 2002)
sometimes there are other benefits that can result from liberating a nation. if the u.s. does liberate iraq and brings democracy that is all it will do. the new iraq government will be in charge, not the u.s..
germany is the nation that invaded. therefore they were the aggressor.
like the case of destruction in france caused by the liberation from germany, any problems that the iraq people face are the direct result of the dictatorship they are forced to live under.
|re: johnny utah (1:57pm est tue dec 17 2002)
ah? and the marmotte?
is she still packing chocolate at nestle's factory? – by meodudlye
|go home (1:58pm est tue dec 17 2002)
i heard people say they don't like us meddling but i have never heard anyone tell us to go home. – by johnny utah
|re go home. (2:01pm est tue dec 17 2002)
you probably did not understant in its entire meaning the message from the 9/11.
but that is not your fault. to understand it, you need a operational brain. – by meodudlye
|coneries (2:05pm est tue dec 17 2002)
the new iraq government will be in charge, not the u.s..
mouarfff!! the iraki governement will be a puppet of usa and all the contract will be sign only with american compagny, i'm sure of this!
for the iraki people, you think it's normal their suffer because they're a dictactorial regim? you're an a s s h o l e if you think this.
|moule powaaa o/ (3:14pm est tue dec 17 2002)
what coutry are you from? does it not have any blood on its hands? a perfect saintly record? the us usually helps another country because it is asked.
by the way, i'm with you in america's role in the world. i say total isolationism. if you have problems you work them out yourself. don't bother us and we won't bother you. if someone squashes your little country, then that's what you deserve. don't whine to us.
i should ommit many key nouns and verbs in the posts so you can understand what say i am. – by don't tread on me
|don't tread on me (3:42pm est tue dec 17 2002)
you're too funny.
just one thing.
then, stop watching your shitty television, begin reading, and then the world will suddenly apper not as you would like it to be, but as it is.
but, as the only thnig you know is eating at mcdo and drinking coke, you will never understand why the world hates the usa. – by meo
|meo (3:54pm est tue dec 17 2002)
*smile* you are a funny man! – by don't tread on me
| don't tread on me (4:03pm est tue dec 17 2002)
what country i am from? what do you mean? the country where i was born? the country i currently live in? well, i think "european" will suffice. and don't worry, europe is big enough to deal with it's problem.
nobody asks america to attack irak. furthermore, everybody asks usa not to do it. they don't care? well, i am ready for the final battle: usa vs the world. the vietnam will look like a piece of fun after that. – by moule powaaa o/
|american warcrimes… (4:05pm est tue dec 17 2002)
america is the only country that's not been a dictatorship that has killed millions of civilian people.
ww2, korea, vietnam, iraq, kosovo, afghanistan…
americans like to say that the civilians deaths are not intentional so it is ok and that some loss is inevitable.
this does not seem credible though because in every war there is more civilian deaths than soldiers.
the tactic of the american army is to kill everyone not caring if women or children die too so to not risc american soldiers deaths.
according to geneva convention an illegal way to make war.
and americans wonder why they are not liked in the world???? – by mr. world
|usa (4:09pm est tue dec 17 2002)
not every american blindly thinks the us is a perfect nation. we do have many strengths, however. i think our greatest strenght derives from the fact that the us is a great mealting pot of all races and cultures. we owe much to immigrants from italy, germany, many african nations, ireland, iran, england, india, pakistan, afghanistan, iraq, etc.
agreed, some us administrations may appear arrogant and of course we have our own agenda in foreign policy and we do play favorites, that's politics. maybe some of those policies should change.
i for one think the us can be a better neighbor in many ways. a good way would be to give away a full %10 of our gnp to the poor and hungry all over the world and expect no repayment, ever. the us is the one country that could afford to do this.
there's a lot of hatred toward the us but even if there's only one or two out of ten that are good can you say they're all bad and they deserve to die? – by american citizen
|bwah… (4:09pm est tue dec 17 2002)
all of those stupid, blind us kiddies speaking of politics or economy when they don't have a clue about it would be funny… if the situation weren't so cruel and sad.
thank you for the millions of dead in iraq. for encouraging war in israel. for using yugoslavia as a test terrain for your radioactive eapons. for ruining whole countries efforts to live decently in south america. for training and funding usama bin laden. for your enslaving and starving billions of people in the third world. for millions of dead to come thanks to your infamous pollution.
the world is ruled by a bunch of stupid, analphabetic, alcoholic americans and their stupid, analphabetic, alcoholic president. how funny it is… – by jar jar binks
|re: jar jar binks (4:11pm est tue dec 17 2002)
bush is on the wagon. he successfully quit an alcoholic addiction.
are you going to be in episode iii? – by 12 steps
|world tax rtae statistics (4:42pm est tue dec 17 2002)
according to figures published today the average total tax burden of wage income expressed as a % is,
belgium 63.7
|iraq (5:01pm est tue dec 17 2002)
it doesn't really matter what other nations want when it comes to iraq. what is important is that the iraq people want us to invade.
and the argument about colateral damage is a poor one because in all instances more people would have died if the u.s. had not intervened. except vietnam where less would have died because no u.s. troops would have died if we hadn't tried to help.
|johnny you are quite wrong. (5:54pm est tue dec 17 2002)
it is not true that millions of civilians had to die in each of the conflicts that the us has been involved in.
#1 first of all americas involvment in all conflicts prolonged them.
#2 second the tactics of the us of carpetbombing instead of sending groundtroops, makes civilian targets skyrocket.
you can bet that a majority of iraqis is against a us aggression, if you really would have experienced a war you would know that too.
|to mister utah (6:33pm est tue dec 17 2002)
what is important is that the iraq people want us to invade.
i think you must buy a brain and a heart too. i'm not so sure than you that iraki want be kille, destroy and reduce in slave by usa…
|@@@ 291 post @@@ (7:04pm est tue dec 17 2002)
i can't believe this was such a hot topic. we here in the usa are about to go to war and the @ gets this much press.
you geeks are sad people. – by rax
|moule powaaa o/ (7:11pm est tue dec 17 2002)
it was insignificant then, that america had to provide the "fightin' power" to clear up the kuwait deal? europe is roughly 93% dependent on m.east, eastern european oil. guess what… the french, the germans, belgians, british, portuguese, spanish, italians, yadanians… drive cars, trucks, ride busses, utilize oil in a plethora of ways. saddam's bid is nothing less than to take over and hold europe hostage for its oil. surely it takes less than the amount of brains that can fit in a teacup to understand that.
but where was europe? ah, debating the issue. france sent a ship, then recalled it midway across the mediteranean. eventually u.n. "peacekeepers" (more like latrine cleaners) kept the peace. not until 425,000 american reservists (goddamn it) were called into service to free kuwait.
and where was urup in quelling the serb/croatian deal? ah, debating it in the u.n.
and where is uroop now, in a middle east that is on the verge of internal destruction? "pfeh you american pigdogs – we don't like you any more, we're brilliant europeans, and you're low imperialists. take your military toys and leave us alone" oh sure.
and just exactly who the hell invested nearly $1,000,000,000,000 (that's right!) in 1980 dollars to rebuild a europe that europe fucked up? ah, yes… those damn americans again.
in a nutshell – all euros have a lot of hard thinking to do – for if we pull up our stakes and "go home", you can absolutely expect a full world war 3 on your hands. got any guns?
– by goatguy
|further… (7:18pm est tue dec 17 2002)
as an open invitation to the europeans that hold that america is "hated the world around"… we suggest that you invest soon in those guns, those militaries. you're going to need them. you might also want to build a few armies and navies – you're going to need those too.
on a political scale, i happen to agree with mr. safire of the n.y.times – europe so much wants to be treated on the same footing as america (as a souper-power) that they should be honored fully in the un and in nato … as a unit. one security-council vote for all of europe, since the countries of europe feel that they collectively are a super-nation. after all, we don't have a u.n. representitive for ohio or florida or california. no reason to have one for france, germany, spain or ridiculously, greece.
then again, that wouldn't serve y'all, would it?
– by goatguy
|well (7:39pm est tue dec 17 2002)
our dependence on oil has to stop sooner or later and something like that is what will force the issue.
if middle east is on the verge of internal destruction it has got a lot to do with american policy in the area.
well europe was fucked up real bad by american carpet bombing of civilian cities, infrastructure and production plants. the brittish did also help of course.
|… (8:23pm est tue dec 17 2002)
please stop fighting about ethnic differences.we are all human beings.one thing i wanted to add is that there are not 2 different continents here it should all be called like we call it america.there is no north or south america.that is one of the reasons why you gringo people or canadian people think of your superiority.we are all americans.america is the name of the entire continent, just remember that a simple artificial man made channel cant separate a whole continent.i believe that the name of the us should be changed.it should only be called united states cuz america is the entire continent.anyway remember that there are lots of words in the english language that come from spanish and other languages.by the way where did i read that there are around 250 million hispanic residents in the us?if you want to see beautiful women come down to venezuela. – by venezolano
|i couldn't have said it better. (8:24pm est tue dec 17 2002)
mr. world – you've got the patter down to a perfection. the arab world is a mess 'cuz of the americans. the israeli's are murderous bastards that should never have had a right to palestine. the american prez is on a crusade to pull europe into a war that no one wants. general marshal's great plan to rebuild europe was just a convenient way for america to profit from the war. the moderate arabs are doing everything possible to quell internal radicalism – which of course is entirely a reaction to american imperialism.
bull – total bull
the palestinians are pawns, left in refugee state by their oh-so-generous arab neighbors after they left israel on their own accord in fear of a retaliation (that never came) for the triple-pincer attacks on israel underwritten by its arab neighbors. nassir proclaimed that "jews in palestine have no place, and it is our duty to rid the arab world of their influence. we will annihilate them, god willing". god wasn't willing.
europe doesn't have one statue of gen. marshal – even though his rhetoric stood alone in congress to ask the american people to cough up the trillion bucks.
the arab world's horrendously bigoted religious totalitarianism, its burgeoning overpopulation, its outrageous unemployment, its suppression of culture and openness – that is the root of radicalism, bud.
america chose not to take over kuwait (or any other part of greater arabia),but instead has long tried to cultivate relations with the secular and certainly the modest factions in the arab world. fat lotta good it has done. the population bomb is what's coming – and it is far bigger than the nuke.
ah well… europe "and the world" can view history through rose colored glasses. i for one am glad we have the n.y.times.
– by goatguy
|re goatguy (10:47pm est tue dec 17 2002)
… as can usa view history and see present through b&w tv …
i suggest you send n.y. times to irakis, palestinians, and to the people of many many other countries …
i think it will make their lives suddenly better …
just one thing btw :
|france your welcome! (11:35pm est tue dec 17 2002)
if you frenchies would have fought to defend your land and not just let the nazi's waltz right into your country then we wouldn't of had to go in there and rescue your pathetic ungreatfull french butts. – by ww2 veteran
|quebec fiend (12:01am est wed dec 18 2002)
quebec would collapse , crash and burn and would be bk.
you dumbasses think that quebec wont be carved up when a yes vote goes through. i am sure that you wouldnt be missed and a nice new native run provience would be great.
btw i refused to take french crap in high school, they said i needed it, i said i didnt. i was right. – by english dude
|goatguy>> (4:03am est wed dec 18 2002)
do you really believe having loads of guns, weapons and missiles does any good to a country ?
you are a really scary person. – by jar jar binks
|goatguy>> (4:18am est wed dec 18 2002)
do you really believe not having loads of guns, weapons and missiles does any good to a country ?
you are a really dumy person.jar jar binks – by adolphos
|ww2 veteran (4:28am est wed dec 18 2002)
if the british so-called allies didn't cowardly abandonned their french "mates" at dunkerke during the german attack, then the war would have been very shortened.
i't only justice that an anglo-saxon corrects the mistakes made by another anglo-saxon. anyway, it would just have been longer, but the history shows that any dictatorship falls sooner or later. so we could do it without you.
by the way, the french fought. they fought with lot more courage than any american soilder, cause they were defending their own country. they just made the mistake to forgot that the anglo-saxon's moto is traitorship. – by moule powaaa o/
|war (4:33am est wed dec 18 2002)
delenda est irako ! – by adolphos
|i really have no luck at all … (4:51am est wed dec 18 2002)
my brother in law is american.
and he is really dumb.
guess my sister chose the wrong one (anyway, i just hope she will divorce soon) … – by ronnnn ?
|re: moule powaaa o/ (8:22am est wed dec 18 2002)
yeah, the french fought…and as usual they lost. the largest army in the world at the time too…..they always loose….to the english, the germans, you name it and the french have lost to them.
loosers – by winners
|re: jar jar binks (8:26am est wed dec 18 2002)
come on, are you going to be in episode iii or not?
you obviously don't know anything about history so you should stick to being an annoying, babbling moron of an alien. – by mahat macoat
|winners (9:01am est wed dec 18 2002)
wanna speak about… vietnam?
you know? when the masters of the world got a kick in the ass never seen before in all the history of the mankind…
wanna speak about… ethopia?
you know? when the most technological army ever seen got a pain in the but, against undertrained people armed only with ak47…
wanna speak about… afghanistan?
you know? where an army pretends to have won, and is only able to control the main town where the us army, trying to bomb a rebellion in a forteress, bombed herself…
so, let me laugh. we got no lessons to recieve from an army whose intelligence service is unable to see the difference between a military objective and the china embassy. it's trully the only army able to do the worst with the best material… – by moule powaaa o/
|winners (9:10am est wed dec 18 2002)
oh, by the way, it was french troops only that liberated paris, strasbourg, toulon, and many towns. all were recovered intact. it's easy to know when a city was liberated by american troops: no more old buildings, no more history, the carpet bombing destroyed everything. it was french troops only that liberated corsica, giving the allies an unsinkable carrier that was decisive in the campaing of italy.
so dude, as the brits, the french fought from the beginning to the end, and won. it's ever easy to have fresh troops when you come only when the situation is stabilisated. the soviets does a lots more for the victory against nazi than the late comming yankees…
– by moule powaaa o/
|tiens, voil� adolfiotte. (9:15am est wed dec 18 2002)
qu'est-ce que tu attends pour aller retrouver tes copains d�biles de l'autre c�t� de l'atlantique, qu'on ait la paix ? – by jar jar binks
|breizh a tao (9:23am est wed dec 18 2002)
les �trangers, c'est mal.
les fran�ais, c'est mal, mais moins.
les bretons, c'est bien.
non-french people sux.
|mahat macoat>> (9:26am est wed dec 18 2002)
do you only know about history how it is taught in the us ? if it is taught at all… you know, there's not much difference between us nowadays and ussr at the darkest hours : lies, modification of history, misinformation in order to make the population accept unacceptable measures, organized racism, civilian murders to extend the country's influence area… all the same. you only need gulags – wait, oh, sorry, you prefer to murder people after parodies of judgments ! or to imprison them without any judgment in guantanamo, in awful conditions, but it is certainly not comparable to a gulag…
if you forget the past, you are doomed to revive it. did you forget what happened to ussr ? to germany in the 30's ? to south africa ? many of you are ready to trigger a war at the global scale, just like you didn't know the consequences – and, which is the most scary, maybe you really don't. – by jar jar binks
|annah c-h>> (9:27am est wed dec 18 2002)
you forgot the most important question : does kylie minogue suck ? – by moulasse
|winners>> (9:31am est wed dec 18 2002)
so what ? we lose a war, and you lost many wars in the past.
but you know, the war is lost for everybody, as soon as it is triggered. – by jar jar binks
|moulasse>> (9:34am est wed dec 18 2002)
kilie is not bretonne, so she sucks.
(but don't forget that some bretonnes sucks, i've the proof) – by annah c-h
|plop (9:36am est wed dec 18 2002)
american style: the bigger the better
– by pwet
|plop (9:48am est wed dec 18 2002)
except when it comes to brain.
in this case, the smaller, the better.
that's why the chose junior for president.
maybe another bretzel will finally kill him?
and the world will be more at peace. – by meodudlye
|britanny (9:48am est wed dec 18 2002)
i am briton and i am very prood of it. i think britons will invade this stupid city of paris. ooooopps !! already done :) – by shift
|stop this thread ! (9:56am est wed dec 18 2002)
make no mistake ! you are with us ! or you are against us ! – by doobia
|pwet (10:00am est wed dec 18 2002)
je suis 1 nain soumis – by pwet
|you are a gros cr�tin (10:16am est wed dec 18 2002)
– by coin coin
|stop this thread (10:16am est wed dec 18 2002)
definately – by george"alcooholic" b
|doobia (10:17am est wed dec 18 2002)
against – by moule powaaa o/
|broken english (10:38am est wed dec 18 2002)
speak it correctly or shut your mouth!
actually, why don't you shut your mouth anyway. twits! – by yada yada yada
|pwet va te faire sodo par tes potes les ricains (10:39am est wed dec 18 2002)
– by dacorsamoule
|gnp (10:42am est wed dec 18 2002)
hey dudes? what's your gnp? does it even come close to what usa's is?
i didn't think so. now sit back down in your seat children. – by stars and stripes
|ok, let's name it how we like (11:03am est wed dec 18 2002)
in north of france "escargot", and in south "pain au raisin".
(originally, @ symbolizes a bakery recipe).
and in the south, we will continue to call "chocolatine" what in the north they call "pain au raisin".
like a popular sentence says in french: i don't speak to stupid people, it can be learny for them.
|stars and stripes (11:05am est wed dec 18 2002)
hey dude, how many people threated like if they were less than dogs in your country? does it even come close to the due respect to human condition?
i don't think so. now sit back down in your seat children. – by moule powaaa o/
|stars and stripes (11:12am est wed dec 18 2002)
you don't know what is a really domecracy:
here we had 15 candidates to the presidential vote. what, only 2 at yours?
we even have an ecological politic party with leaders that fight between them, what? not you?
but you know what is poverty: homelesses don't have right to minimal revenue.
usa's gnp is a pity in front of sigapore's. but the last one is not a democracy.
but your country has marvellous kind of culture: britney spears, getting married, and right for anynone to furnish into re-cutted movies without any notice.
|stars and stripes>> (11:14am est wed dec 18 2002)
so what ? you have a bigger gnp ?
i don't care, as i have a bigger penis, and women love me.
go touch yourself with your gnp and investment rates. – by jar jar binks
|stars and stripes has big gnp? (11:23am est wed dec 18 2002)
but lot of people were ruined with your business fraud, weren't they ?
oh… about trivial speaking. try to speak or write french a little bit like i do in your english and spanish and japanese.
el mejor es que los eeuu tiene muchos que no s� leer o escribir – by dascritch
|s & s – go read my earlier post (11:24am est wed dec 18 2002)
it is not about gnp. its about trying to build and maintain both bridges and fences. its about taking down the damnable despots of the world, together, hands joined.
some part of europe hates the policies, the business-centric mode america has brought "to the party". as people – we genuinely admire each other. only "white, black, red & yellow trash" talks down another ethnicity, another nation as holding no value.
but i argue thus when eurotrash attempts to plaster america's involvement in their damn ww1 & ww2 as self-serving. we kept out of both wars as long as possible – just to honor the "internal political process". only when the bellicose acts against our own ships and people threatened… only then did we send troops, and pound a few heads.
europe has a long history of war occasionally punctuated by peace. sad, really. but ww1 and ww2, and the american overhaul the internal polity of europe (and rebuilding of her), does it today enjoy a pan-european union, an complete lack of border attainment. and for this, we're loved by some, hated by most.
the middle east has never had "our benign hand" at work – and look at it. rife with despots, charlatans, thieves, third-world academics. overpopulated, undereducated, nearly hopelessly backward. also, sitting on top of 90% of the world's precious crude oil. what to do?
if "we've" failed, it is by lassez-faire involvement. it is expedient to give all the money to the few camel jockeys that call themselves "royalty", than to try to micro-balkanize the oil holdings demographically. but you don't see europe leading the charge here, do you in "doing it right"?
friendly goats – talk is cheap. pissing on the 400 pound gorilla is easy, and entirely self-serving. to those that say "america, just get out", i say – "willingly! … just don't ask us back".
it will be a different world, to be sure. and europe + arabia will be a land of war, occasionally punctuated by peace.
– by goatguy
|i had an idea! (11:33am est wed dec 18 2002)
let's ask to every english-speaking people to pay 1 cent copyright contribution to microsoft, and i'm sure they won't say stupidities about terms in other langages anymore.
btw, why did you say "billions" instead of "milliards" for 10^9 ? everyone knows that it is 10^12 ! – by dascritch
|security (11:36am est wed dec 18 2002)
look at the track record. linux and open-source is more secure. not just because for now there is less of it in the market. it's because linux/unix is harder to hack. period. – by open mind
|(cf prec text by dascritch) (11:36am est wed dec 18 2002)
1 cent for every "window(s)", "word" and "money" placed in a sentence for microsoft.
and 1 cent to aol for "you have an e-mail" – by ops!i shplorkd again
|dascritch>> (11:38am est wed dec 18 2002)
americans use "billion" for 10^9 instead of the proper 10^12. – by jar jar binks
|jar jar binks (11:42am est wed dec 18 2002)
that's what i wrote.
et c'est pourquoi ils sont si minables en compte-habilet� et qu'ils se plantent dans les chiffres avec enron &co… – by dascritch
|bad spanish people (11:50am est wed dec 18 2002)
guys before you post something in spanish study basic spanish grammar man.i dont want to dissappoint you but spanish is one or the hardest language to learn.its 3 times harder to learn spanish than english.about learning english i prefer british english.about the @ sign we say arroba for it and we dont have any problems saying it.i dont know whats the big deal with the frenchies.probally cultural interchange.anyway if you want to see beautiful women and eat good come down to venezuela, we�re very peaceful people. – by venezolano
|goatguy (11:51am est wed dec 18 2002)
be careful!
laissez-faire is a purely french word!
please, choose another one.
we owe patent over it, and you did not pay your tax to use it. – by meodudlye
|venezolano (12:00pm est wed dec 18 2002)
blame me, but i'm better by phone with our spanish-speaking people!
and for spain, i go regulary in barcelona for saturdays, as i go in london for week-ends. and it's pure pleasure to meet different cultures in europe in only one hour plane.
not like tv week-end, mhh mr "stars and stripes" ? no comprend� ? matar tu americano futbol ? bebe tu cerveza, son las publicidades… baka-jin desu!
oh venezolano,just don't write girls are marvellous in venezuela, it's surelly true, but mr "stars and stripes" will go for drink and rape. like in this old 1890s years:) – by dascritch
|bring it on! (12:00pm est wed dec 18 2002)
come on people lets bring it to 350!lets make this forum into the guinness people.by the way proof that british sucks are spice girls.damn you have to forgive me but they came and went like the wind.they really suck. – by venezolano
|venezolano (12:05pm est wed dec 18 2002)
no, what is sucks is not spice girls, it's madame tchatcher, because
�lorsque le sport devient la guerre
y'a pas de gonzesses ou si peu
dans les hordes de supporters
ces fanatiques fous furieux
y'a pas de gonzesses hooligan
sorry, but this french singer is on his come-back and he has very funny lyrics.
|lol (12:07pm est wed dec 18 2002)
come on lets get it to 350.hey scritch dont know if you havent noticed but spain isnt the same as latin america.i am latino and hell im proud of it.spanyards piss me off cuz they think since they�re with the eu that they are better than us.i mean wtf?.by the way ask any person from spain about their language and they will say it sucks.they�re fed up with how they speak their spanish.you know its not the same spanish from spain than spanish from venezuela or argentina.by the way that dude stars and stripes may wipe my a$$, so imperialistic.anyway i dont like having ethnical or cultural fights.we are all human beings and live on the same planet. – by venezolano
|long live weird al (12:09pm est wed dec 18 2002)
long live weird al!! – by venezolano
|all your planet are belong to us ! (12:11pm est wed dec 18 2002)
we don't live on the same planet ! but we are living on the u.s. planet ! even the moon is a u.s. satellite … – by doobia
|damn copycat (12:20pm est wed dec 18 2002)
did you just see my other post for todays news?thats what i sayed except i rather not live in the u.s planet. – by venezolano
|venezolano (12:21pm est wed dec 18 2002)
so long french is spoken around the world. that why we laught at each "acad�mie fran�aise"' decisions.
like @ now written also "arrobe".
so ?
no one cares?
except some stupid american pseudo-reporter?
so let's flood it's forum.
c'est la f�te ! – by dascritch
|doobia (12:23pm est wed dec 18 2002)
no, it belongs to ussr. – by meodudlye
|how enimen says in french ? (12:27pm est wed dec 18 2002)
ah oui: �suce mes boules�
quels bouffons ces am�ricains. – by d'you speak normal?
|lol (12:44pm est wed dec 18 2002)
hey scritch you mean french and spanish.by the way i think the ussr doesnt exist anymore.and stars and stripes chupa mis bolas.long live the french revolution and our venezuelan revolution!peace! – by venezolano
|contribution (12:52pm est wed dec 18 2002)
a special dedicace to fabien penso who really sucks, and to the moules that rulez.
well, unintresting, isn't it?
i want 400 contributions! – by moule powaaa o/
|meodudlye … lol (12:55pm est wed dec 18 2002)
dunno about the patent, but i lernt 'bout laissez faire somewhere in the university. probably a good reason for more people to get their minds lifted in higher education.
now pardon my french but…
mon amour est pour les v�ritables fran�ais qui savent que quand le monde est unifi�, tout est possible. je tiens la m�me opinion pour tous les peuple de l'europe et le monde. vive a la france et l'europe et l'am�rique et l'monde!
– by ch�vrehomme gg
|posting removal (1:12pm est wed dec 18 2002)
this board has probably already passed 400 considering that several of my postings that came after the posting at the top of the page have been removed. i wonder who else had posting removed and why. – by johnny utah
|nerds and geeks (3:50pm est wed dec 18 2002)
hey, aren't we all supposed to be a bunch of nerds and geeks (what's the difference?). even if our governments are behaving like asses doesn't mean we have to.
rise above it. it's not worth it. 1s and 0s are a universal language where nobody cares what race, color or religion you are or what country you come from. – by geek pride
|geek pride (4:11pm est wed dec 18 2002)
�rise above it. it's not worth it. 1s and 0s are a universal language where nobody cares what race, color or religion you are or what country you come from.�
no, i heard it depended if your country used little or big indians. – by jayce
|indians (4:43pm est wed dec 18 2002)
little and big indians has been slaughtered. – by moule powaaa o/
|re: posting removal (7:37am est thu dec 19 2002)
your posts were deleted because you are saying insanities, bigger than you.
to be such an idiot is incredible.
in my humble opinion, you have to shut your mouth and go back to yours cows, witch are waiting for you.
you are racist, you makes false declarations about our land that you ignore so deeply that you'd better talk about what else.
go fuck yourself, little american sprankler. or come by our side, to be given your count.
we are waiting for you, we are expecting you for our slaves.
|you english speakers… (7:00pm est thu dec 19 2002)
… you don't get the sensse of the word culture… you guys all think in market and in industry loll look at the education in the usa.. it's the worst country on education policy… continue talking about market… us french will continue to be bright guys lolll – by frenchboy
|all the previous postings (11:21am est fri mar 14 2003)
wow! i don't believe i have ever seen or read a more horrendous abuse of language in my life! the grammar was awful, the spelling was atrocious, and some of the postings purporting to be in english sounded like a drunkard speaking pig latin. did all this mess really start over the @ symbol??? it is truly amazing how much hate-mongering, profanity, and filthy speech can be engendered by nothing in particular: but then again, that is why we continue to have wars, right? – by american peacemaker
|all your planet… (11:47am est fri mar 14 2003)
we don't live on the same planet ! but we are living on the u.s. planet ! even the moon is a u.s. satellite … – by doobia
hey doobia,
|democracy (11:55am est fri mar 14 2003)
just a small lesson in social studies… a democracy is "rule by the mob". the united states of america was founded as, and still is, a representative republic, contrary to the popular opinion that we are a democracy. we believe in democratic ideals, but democracy (in the purest sense of the word) has never been a good thing. mob rule is uncivilized at best, and brings out the worst in every person. the definition of representative republic was best given by the writers of the american declaration of independence: "government of the people, by the people and for the people". – by american peacemaker
|foolishness (1:32pm est fri apr 04 2003)
>it is truly amazing how much hate-mongering, profanity, and filthy speech can be engendered by nothing in particular: but then again, that is why we continue to have wars, right?
i read through the postings and came to the conclusion that they were much ado about nothing. my nephew thinks @ stanes for "amd". – by gramma
|foolishness (1:37pm est fri apr 04 2003)
that first entry of mine was sloppy … correction:
>it is truly amazing how much hate-mongering, profanity, and filthy speech can be engendered by nothing in particular: but then again, that is why we continue to have wars, right? you are so right!
i read through the postings and came to the conclusion that they were all "much ado about nothing". my nephew thinks @ stands for "and". and so it goes. – by gramma
|@ name controversy (10:25am est wed nov 19 2003)
yes indeed it is much ado about nothing. why so much hate towards a nation?
i'm glad to say that during my nine years of residency in london in the 80s and 90s (i'm a french citizen) i only encountered 2 unpleasant remarks about my nationality. people can only live and share things together if they are intelligent enough to tolerate differences.
i'm probably a dreamer but i like to think that one day we will all become intelligent enough to live and let live (and who cares who said what and who invented what. we're all happy to benefit from it when it suits us).
– by froggymag
|i understand (7:57am est fri nov 21 2003)
i now understand such conflicts between france and the us, that are driven by political interests only. the sadest thing to me is that young people seem so blind when they talk about another country than theirs. they know foreign countries only thanks to media, maybe the worst way to learn the true life.
especially seen is teenagers' behavior: intolerance, lack of critiscism and arguments, don't want to think and learn.
i'm talking as well about french people as american people.
|democracy (8:00am est fri nov 21 2003)
"government of the people, by the people and for the people".
this was first said and applied in ancient greece democracy. – by glattering
|arobase (11:26am est sat dec 13 2003)
being an english student studying in france this year, i've been suprised and, you could say, cultured in many ways. like you, i always wondered at the french academy, it's purpose and their possesive characteristic towards the french language. that was until i realised just how much english has penetrated their language. given that english and french, in many ways, are an intermingling of each other, french seems to be excessively dominated by english, not just in technical language which appears in every country around the world. how can we so easily forget the oxford dictionary that controls language evolution in the uk?
how did this forum fall onto an argument about which country is the better one? europe has as much to offer as america, asia, africa and australasia. but it cannot be seen until you experience it. that's the difference.
i fell upon this page trying to search for an answer to a question i have. knowing full well that the uk currency is � pounds, why is it often marked as a barred l? – by erasmus
|commentaire (2:52am est fri mar 12 2004)
moi je suis am�ricain et j'ai �t� d�go�t� par l'attitude de mon gouvernement envers la france et le reste du monde. il faut que les fran�ais et les citoyens du monde se rendent compte que cet imp�rialisme et barbarisme men�s par l'administration bush ne repr�sentent pas le peuple (m�me si beaucoup de mes concitoyens suivent trop facilement les mensonges du gouvernement). enfin, nous, les am�ricains, (en tout cas, moi et mes amis) sont contre la politique de ce pays et contre notre pr�sident/criminel bush. – by citoyen
|sigh… (6:48pm est fri mar 19 2004)
if the french people need to have things their own way then maybe they should make things their own way.
– by (neon)
|one shot, one opportunity… (7:20pm est fri mar 19 2004)
you only get one chance for world power… that's the chance that france and germany screwed up, however the usa did not!
napoleon and adolf hitler, is there a difference?
and what's so great about the french revolution?
let's get to the point, the french people are followers not leaders, that's why they started their revolution after the americans passed theirs… however the french one failed.
and that's why other countries turn on france because they know it does not have the spirit to defend itself anymore.
– by eminem
|french (8:45pm est thu apr 22 2004)
i want to learn french – by erica
|how do you spell jessica in french? (2:35am est wed may 12 2004)
for homework – by jessica
|this web site (11:00am est mon jun 07 2004)
this is the dumbest fucking web site ever yall dumb as shit – by unknown
|it's wrong ! (4:00pm est sat jun 19 2004)
hey !
where have you seen that french word for internet is internaute ?!!!
that's really false.
internaute stand for internet-user
internet is called internet, simply !
note : no one use arrobe, we use all "at" or "arobase"
|human right (4:42pm est mon jun 21 2004)
sont casses couilles les ricains quand m�me ! – by jok
|french change name of @ sign (12:19pm est fri jun 24 2005)
hello, well, well, well, i am french, and, as english is now the international language, i will express myself… in this language!
tomorrow i guess i'll have to learn mandarin as, look at history, the "international" language is always the language of the most powerfull(with money or military power), for example latin was an international language during the middle-age europe.
well, true that we do not do a lot of things, and, even so, we use english language, if we want to sell our stuff to foreign countries.
for example, catia, which is the international cad software used by 80% of the plane compagnies (boeing is using it, yes, yes, yes!), and a malority of car companies, is written in … english.
well, it is like that, we are not the strongest (and when i am seeing what does the stronger, i really not prefer to be that one!), but i hope we will keep enough strength, just to say : "bonjour soyez les bienvenus, notre langue est difficile, c'est parcequ'en chacun de ses mots et de sa grammaire se trouve le vestige d'un pass� mill�naire, mais pour qui la ma�trise, mon dieux qu'elle est pr�cise!".
and about our governement… well shorter to say "at", easier to say "ordinateur"…!
anyway, see you! – by samuel