WANT TO EBLABLA?
Always attentive to the invasion of the French language by English words, the Secrétariat d’État à la Coopération et à la Francophonie has announced the winners of a competition called Francomot that challenged students to come up with new words to replace the commonly used “chat,” “talk,” “tuning (of automobiles),” “buzz” and “newsletter.” And the winners are, respectively: “éblabla,” “débat,” “bolidage,” “ramdam” or “tchatche,” and “infolettre.” The jury was made up of Académie Française members, members of Parliament, journalists, and singer Sapho and rapper MC Solaar, and others. Among the losers for “buzz” were the clever “bruip” and “échoweb.” Announcing the results, Alain Joyandet, secretary of state for Francophonie, was optimistic about their adoption by French speakers, noting that “baladeur” and “logiciel” have effectively replaced the once ubiquitous words “Walkman” and “software.”
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