Esquire Awards

[HenryM]

What is it with the Franco(phono)philes? Very defensive in France and
Canada. Nobody speaks French anymore. Nobody reads French or eats French
Food. Reminds me of the USA South, where they say "The South's Gonna Do It
Again." What? Lose? Get over it!

Keep cool, but care.

AsB4,

Mu
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Colin" <thomas_colin at hotmail.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 10:57 PM
Subject: Re: Esquire Awards


> Spencer wrote :
> Hum... Sorry, but I don't agree anymore. First of all, if English is now
the
> predominant language it has not "always" been and will not "always" be the
> case. Since languages circulate and evolve and cross-fertilize, u.s.w. it
> seems to me reasonable enough to say so.
> Second. I don't know when the fabulous enterprise of the O.E.D was
started,
> but there are equivalents in other languages, among which at least one
that
> I know of, hmhm... sorry again, French. French lexicon and grammar started
> to be scientifically studied and referenced in the 17th c. if I remember
> well, especially by a group of scholars at the College de Port-Royal (they
> were Jansenistes, a Protestant sect) who produced countless grammars and
> dictionnaries. The most comprehensive French dictionnary is now the Littre
> (acute accent on the "e"), which is both diachronic and synchronic. I can
> tell you, it's BIG (and has just been released on CD-ROM, good idea).
> There's also the Dictionnaire de l'Academie Francaise, a work that has
been
> in progress for quiet a few years (they must be tackling the words
beginning
> with an L by now, but you have to keep in mind this academy is the
retiring
> home for a bunch of doting though eminent scholars with Alzheimer whose
> views on la langue are not particularly progressive. They must be thinking
> that French is and has always been the most important language because
THEY
> started THEIR dictionnary).
>   My conclusion : Que viva Die polyglossie Pynchonian!
>   Best,
> Thomas.
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