The Francophones are a bit touchy about language purity. A Computer is L'ordinateur in French. Television and Automobile snuck through but they are being very watchful about new terms.
Weblog?
Misanthropyst has the story -- he points to an article at
Loic Le Meur Blog and offers:
Well, the Journal Officiel, eh? That settles it, then. "Bloc Notes" it is:
"You know we want to preserve French. Well, our "Journal Officiel" has given an official translation to the word weblog:
"Weblog" should be in French "Bloc Notes"
Literally, "Bloc Notes" in english translates back to "Note Pad".
The "Journal Officiel" even thought about a short version, equivalent to "blog", it should be "bloc" which should translate back to "pad". "
...Note Pad? -- sounds familiar. The cursed Hegemon strikes again...
Heh...
Hi, saw your posting via boing-boing. Just one detail; according to the Oxford English Dictionary, automobile is a French word in origin; it was first used in French in 1876 and first used in English in 1883. (I looked it up in the dictionary because I thought it sounded French.)