Dire Comment

Linguistic chauvinists among the beastly French are taking legal action over the signage at what is left of Notre Dame Cathedral, on the grounds that the text is not foreign enough. In fact, the Défense de la langue française is opposed to English on principle, and is hoping that the presence of an extra language will postpone the inevitable replacement of French by the best tongue in the world. Aside from this quixotic rearguard, the association has also proved a stalwart opponent of Franglais, working to prevent the national postal service from calling its banking service Ma French Bank. The signs at Notre Dame are printed only in French and English, in contravention of a rule which specifies that at least two non-French languages must be used: a requirement which would certainly discombobulate that voluble majority of the master race which can barely cope with its own.