Enlarge image i In Quebec, a restaurant's use of the word "pasta" on its menu sparked a government agency into action. Officials who enforce rules that guard French as the official language now say "exotic" words can be permitted in some circumstances.
In Quebec, a restaurant's use of the word "pasta" on its menu sparked a government agency into action. Officials who enforce principles that guard French as the official language now say "exotic" words can be allowed in some scenarios.
A government company in Quebec, Canada, has come below extreme criticism following attempting to get pasta stricken from a restaurant's menu. The move had nothing to do with the food : Officials mentioned Italian words such as pasta, calamari, and antipasto should be replaced with French words to conform with the law.
Immediately after Quebec's office that enforces the predominance of the French language sent an official observe of infractions against Quebec's Language Charter to the Buonanotte restaurant earlier this month, co- proprietor Massimo Lecas posted a photo of his menu, with "pasta" and other offending phrases circled.
The incident led to disbelief, outrage, a barrage of jokes, and finally, a promise from Quebec Language Minister Diane De Courcy that her company would critique how it enforces a law requiring that no language requires precedence over French.
In a separate incident, officials also asked a Montreal restaurant named Brit Chips to rename its signature dish fish and chips poisson frit, et frites.
For its portion, the Quebec government has admitted that its agents had acted with an " excess of zeal," even though it maintained that they have been responding to complaints from citizens. The agency now says Italian phrases this kind of as "pasta" can be permitted on menus.
"If it can be only the identify of the dish, if it can be an exotic title in the language of origin, that would not be a difficulty," OQLF spokesman Martin Bergeron advised the CBC. That could open the possibility of exceptions for some dishes, the report concludes, supplied they have exotic names such as "fish and chips."
The flap sparked a flurry of information stories. And on Twitter, the pastagate hashtag attracted everything from serious debate to jokes about the language police "gnocching" at people's doors.
To many of his supporters, Lecas tweeted a common response: "Grazie...oooops MERCI!"
Monday, Lecas explained that he received an official letter in French, of course notifying him that the inquiry into his restaurant's menu was now closed.
Despite the agency's retreat from its first position, the publicity generated by "pastagate" led other restaurateurs to come out with their personal stories of the government's efforts to cleanse them of languages other than French.
At Brasserie Holder, owner Maurice Holder tells the CBC that the Quebec company faulted a grocery checklist, written on a kitchen chalkboard. While words this kind of as salade, oeuf, and sucre passed muster, "steak" would need to have to be replaced by bifteck, he was advised.
"The restaurateur mentioned he was also asked to cover up print on a scorching water switch that read 'on/off,'" the CBC reviews."When a initial layer of opaque tape failed to cover up the English words, Holder said he was told to add a second layer of tape."
"I enjoy Quebec... but it's not receiving any less complicated," David McMillan, proprietor of Montreal's Joe Beef, tells National Publish. McMillan speaks both English and French. "My wife is French, my organization partner is French, my little ones go to French college, but I just get so unhappy and depressed and wonder, what is incorrect with these individuals ?"
As Canada's CTV reports, an agency's examination of media coverage of "pastagate" led to "60 occasions far more coverage in information reviews outdoors the province than a current trip in which Premier Pauline Marois attempted to drum up foreign company for Quebec."
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