Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Street language in the office

It has been 6 weeks I'm in the French corporate world, and I'm just so disturbed by the street language using in the office. I don't know how long I could resist before I become one of them.

I'm not sure whether it applies to all the fields and in all offices, but the one I'm in, I keep hearing words equivalent to "fuck", "shit", "bitch", "slut", "holy cow"...something that my French professors prevented us from saying, but something that the French themselves employ in their daily life.

Maybe because I was mostly working with women or people were kind of polite, I hardly heard anyone around me saying all these. When people got angry at their work they will usually say "Gosh", "oh my God", "oh dear"... or "alamat" in Malay.

For a country who tries so hard to protect their language from the invasion of foreign languages, it is just too astonishing that they allow the street language permeating into the corporate world and slowly into schools. The president as well got caught saying bad words to his people. So who's next? Are we going to hear a judge saying "slut" in a court session? I really hope someone is doing something to "purify" this beautiful language.

7 comments:

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  3. hello ;D ,

    Long time has not drop any comment in ur blog. how r U ?

    Agree what u said, currently am work as temp in a france company. They speak very fast but u manage caught the street language during the conversation easily.

    Like what the older ppl said, b good is difficult, but learn bad may within a few seconds / day....hihi.... ;p

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  4. Anonymous2:18 PM

    I agree with you. It is getting worse although what is bad in English is mild in French. What is very bad in English is bad in French and so on. Although, I think there is unacceptable in both of course - my problem is that my children understand all these words and I don't...
    We are near neighbours I think. I believe you are in 44 - I am in 49!

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  5. my,

    I'm fine, tks. Which part of France are you in?

    Hi Jean,
    Oh I didn't know bad in English is considered mild in French. So it is not that big deal actually if they keep using those words. Still I won't want to talk like them.
    Yes exactly. I live in 44.

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  6. Yes, i agree! It happens in NZ too.. where everywhere i go I'll hear fuck, shit, etc.

    I guess, these words have become so commonly use that has been integrated into their language.

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  7. Anonymous4:58 PM

    haha.. agreed not saying in france.. actually I have to adapt to different languages in different company in Malaysia too

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