Rainy Day

Chris Erb: 3rd Aug 2006 - 03:35 GMT

Nice set of pictures. At least you had some rain in Montreal to cool you off. We just had horrible humidity.

I'm assuming all these pictures are taken downtown. I do recognize some of the places. I found that I wasn't a huge fan of downtown when I was in Montreal. It seemed to lack the human character that other areas of the city had and was too expensive for me (I might have simply just been completely overwhelmed too).

Three more weeks and I'll finally be there too!

joey: 3rd Aug 2006 - 03:42 GMT

the hat in the first photo? is that an inflatable hat?{http://www.stupid.com/stat/INFT.html}

Chris Erb: 3rd Aug 2006 - 03:56 GMT

I see a language law violation in picture four! Somebody call the language police!

EvilGentleman: 3rd Aug 2006 - 04:39 GMT

Far as I could tell, the hats in the first photo were either straw or bamboo.

I have no clue what the writing on the green light says, I was hoping someone here could read it.

It will be good to have another citynoise regular here, Chris. I'm looking forward to it.

As far as language law violations go, I see the following violations:
Pic 1: The word "Stoneridge" is probably illegal, unless there is a contextual explanation
Pic 4: The strip club's name "Downtown" may or may not be illegal
Pic 4: The word "welcome" being both above and larger than "bienvenue" is definitely illegal
Pic 4: "Bar Crystal" is probably illegal
Pic 4: The sign that says "ATM" may be illegal as well. ATM in French is "Guichet Automatique"
Pic 4: "Mr Steer" is probably illegal
Pic 4: "Steerburger is probably illegal
Pic 9: The "apostrophe s" of "McDonald's" is definitely illegal, but I think the government is afraid to prosecute that one, since McDonald's can afford big-time lawyers that may get the language laws stricken down. Same thing goes for Future Shop and TOYS "Я" US. I know Eaton's was forced to change their signs to "Eaton" back in the 1990's.

Chris Erb: 3rd Aug 2006 - 13:57 GMT

I thought store names were allowed to be in English. I seem to remember something about Second Cup stores being bombed when I was a kid and there was talk about forcing all businesses to have French only names. I might be mistaken though.

EvilGentleman: 3rd Aug 2006 - 14:28 GMT

Thanks, jack.

You know, I am not 100 percent sure about that, Chris. You may be right, but I distinctly remember Eaton's having to become Eaton, and a few weeks ago, the town of Mount Royal gave in to pressure from the Language Police and started painting over the word "Stop" on all their bilingual stop signs. Many communities are also being told they will face stiff fines unless street names with words like "Lakeshore" and "Industrial" are translated to French.

The great irony is that in Paris, all the stop signs say "STOP".

Chris Erb: 3rd Aug 2006 - 15:47 GMT

I heard about what was happening in VMR. I understand the language laws but they often go too far. The idea of not allowing bilingual stop signs in a largely bilingual town is just plain silly.

Chris Erb: 3rd Aug 2006 - 15:55 GMT

One thing I don't understand is why parking lots in Quebec are always signified by a large "P". Is there another word in French for parking that I don't know of?

EvilGentleman: 3rd Aug 2006 - 16:58 GMT

Parking is the same in both English and French, so far as I know, but in French, as you probably already know, they pronounce it "parrrr-king". Oh wait, I think the other word is "stationnement". I think "parrrr-king" is like "awt dawg" for "hot dog" or "am-burger" for "hamburger". One of those blended phrases that is distinctly Quebec, same as the English Quebec usage of the word "dep" for depanneur, or convenience store. Unfortunately, I think it is this same blending of languages that triggered the whole Quebec phobia about preserving the French language, and hence the creation of Bill 101, the infamous language law.

What I find silly about the stop sign debate is that Quebec is erasing the word used in France. They are trying to be more French than the French.

Chris Erb: 3rd Aug 2006 - 17:17 GMT

I was thinking it was stationnement too, that's what confused me. I've heard of other examples of Quebec trying to be "more french than the French" but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

One thing I think I'm going to have a problem with is the fact that I've been taught French by both Quebecers and Acadians so I will probably need to change a bit of how I speak so people will know what the hell i'm talking about. I'm most comfortable speaking chiac* but I don't think that would go over too well outside of New Brunswick.

*For those who are unfamiliar with the Chiac language, the Wikipedia article has a pretty good description. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiac

EvilGentleman: 3rd Aug 2006 - 17:56 GMT

Without looking at wiki, I will guess that chiac is a blend of chaleur and shediac? Therefore the range of chiac would be from the Baie des Chaleurs to Shediac, in the east?

Now lemme look up the wiki...

I see I was half-right, it was Shediac. Looking at the examples in Wiki, I think I too, could easily become comfortable with this dialect, if only I were given a proper chance.