A Web site of the French Ministry of Culture revels in a page called "Museum of Horrors," which is meant to render Madame Tussaud's museum of grisly murder tame by comparison. The Web site gathers the latest English language advertisements found on billboards and posters at train stations, airports and the Paris Metro. Le Big Mac, le Mickey Mouse, le drug store. Mon Dieu! Quelle horreur!
Once a year, as part of the campaign to promote the French tongue, the "English Doormat Prize" is awarded to identify English offenses against French. Last year the "prize" went to a teacher who promoted the teaching of English so students could get an early advantage in the world of public affairs and business. In 2002, it was awarded to the Paris newspaper Le Monde for offering readers weekly excerpts from the New York Times - in English.
Offenses are being documented now for this year's prize, and early contenders include Dior, than whom you can't get any Frencher, (cq) for advertising scents in English, and a European bank president who gave a speech in English.
The campaign against English seems suspiciously like a campaign against all things American, beginning with the war in Iraq, and definitely including le cowboy in the White House. The other day an adjunct professor at Georgetown University gave a talk at Alliance Francaise, which sponsors cultural events for French residents in Washington. Jean-Francois Seznec, who teaches political economy and who lived and worked for years in the Middle East, called his remarks "Franco American Relations and the War in Iraq." It was mostly about how bad the Americans really are. When he equated al-Jazeera, the Arabic television network, with Fox News, his audience, few of whom are likely to watch either al-Jazeera or Fox News, applauded wildly.
Well, you can't blame anyone for trying to protect his culture, but the campaign against English, a language that now belongs to the world, isn't likely to work any better than the Maginot Line. An Internet blogger said it best: "The French are going to have to learn to speak either English or Arabic. And that's that."