2007/08/21

Les Ricains, eux, parlent rarement de Jack Chirac ou de Francis Mitterrand

Seven (or 20?!) years later, French journalists like Raphaëlle Bacqué and Ariane Chemin (or Philippe Bolopion) are so entwined in their nation's language that they have still not learned how to spell the names of two foreign presidents, Georges W. Bush and Georges H. W. Bush (or if they know the name of George Bush, they will mess up that of Gérald Ford).

Pas de quoi fouetter un chat, probably, but this is from the nation that is always speaking of understanding and respecting foreign cultures, honoring foreigners and diversity and multiculturalism, learning from foreign travels (the French make a fuss out of their accents being mishandled abroad but still refuse to use Spanish accents on Hispanic names and still call Beijing "Pékin"), and (especially)… pointing out that clueless, egotistical, and self-centered zombie-like Americans (!) are the people who routinely, regularly, and randomly can be expected to mess those things up.