The way ej speaks

| March 29, 2023 | Art | No Comments

The way ej speaks

DAY

We had a lot of fun advertising the CAQ government's peregrine falcon, with its “sick”, “chill”, “quick”, “watcher”, “skills” and “sketch”. 

But we have to admit that it worked at a hundred miles an hour: millions of Quebecers now think twice before using an English word! And every time I hear a host talk about the “vibe” of the evening or a politician say that he's going to “shake” the health sector, I feel like I'm not the only one cringing.< /p>

But while we become aware of Anglicisms and turns of English phrases, there are those who glorify them.

THE WORLD IS SKETCH

Do you know what “linguistic insecurity” is?

“Linguistic insecurity is the thing that happens when external forces make you feel so bad about em> the way that you speak, that you end up to censor yourself and you stop expressing yourself in an authentic way. »

You don't understand much of this explanation? 

However, it is signed by a non-binary poet from Acadia and published in the very progressive/woke /trendy magazine Nouveau Projet, March edition.

Here is another excerpt from Xavier Gould's text, titled L'euphorie dans ma bouche…

“The term ''linguistic insecurity'' can be used< /em> in many contexts. Usually though, we use it when people in a position of privilege in the French-speaking hierarchy make us feel like shit, we others who don't speak ''proper'' French. But, why would I use a term that encourages a narrativeof victimization making me responsible for the ignorance of others?  

Ej could spend a lifetime recounting the various microaggressions that made me feel insecure in my language kindergarten, but the worst that comes up most often, it's when Quebecers barf up bad caricatural impressions of me, right in front of my face, unprovoked. Are you kidding me? However, whileQuebecers are corrected by a Frenchman and zeux feelent frustration, we do not blame the victims, we acknowledge their microaggression. »

(…)

That's why from now on, ej will leave the other dealers with their own insecurities about the way ej speaks, and me, ej goes leader with linguistic euphoria. »

LOUISIANIZATION?

Far be it from me to “barf up” caricatural images of people who massacre French. But I'm trying to understand what Xavier Gould writes and I find myself faced with a fundamental question: if language is used to communicate, how can we understand each other if we don't speak the same language? 

I'm not talking here about local expressions that we can explain in a few seconds to our interlocutor. I'm talking about a sentence structure, I'm talking about words, I'm talking about pronouns, I'm talking about the very meaning of your remarks which escapes the understanding of the other.

Xavier Gould claims the right to speak one's “speak”, as some Quebecers claim the right to speak Franglais because “Tokébekicitte” and “I have the doua”.

But by dint of speaking a language riddled with words that one is the only ones to understand, we risk folklorizing ourselves. 

Is that what we wish?

The way ej speaks

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About The Author

Wilson

Rob Wilson has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Gal Times, Rob wilson worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my rob@bobrtimes.com 1-800-268-7128