Aw Crap - The Beetle Lives
Seems I was so caught up in my excitement about the end of the VW Beetle in my post of June 23 that I missed a key point. It isn't the entire line that's coming (has come) to an end - just the old, original Beetle design that was still being manufactured in other countries. Due to safety and noise, that model hasn't been legal in the US since 1977. Unfortunately, this means we still have the neo-retro new beetle fouling our visual space.
Damn.
I knew it was too good to be true.

Language Cops Strike Again
The French freak out about the morons who pushed our misguided "freedom fries" yet they pull nonsense like this. Sigh.

French Government Bans Term 'E-Mail'
JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

PARIS - Goodbye "e-mail," the French government says, and hello "courriel" - the term that linguistically sensitive France is now using to refer to electronic mail in official documents.

The Culture Ministry has announced a ban on the use of "e-mail" in all government ministries, documents, publications or Web sites, the latest step to stem an incursion of English words into the French lexicon.

The ministry's General Commission on Terminology and Neology insists Internet surfers in France are broadly using the term "courrier electronique" (electronic mail) instead of e-mail - a claim some industry experts dispute. "Courriel" is a fusion of the two words.

"Evocative, with a very French sound, the word 'courriel' is broadly used in the press and competes advantageously with the borrowed 'mail' in English," the commission has ruled.

The move to ban "e-mail" was announced last week after the decision was published in the official government register on June 20. Courriel is a term that has often been used in French-speaking Quebec, the commission said.

The 7-year-old commission has links to the Academie Francaise, the prestigious institution that has been one of the top opponents of allowing English terms to seep into French.

Some Internet industry experts say the decision is artificial and doesn't reflect reality.

"The word 'courriel' is not at all actively used," Marie-Christine Levet, president of French Internet service provider Club Internet, said Friday. "E-mail has sunk in to our values."

She said Club Internet wasn't changing the words it uses.

"Protecting the language is normal, but e-mail's so assimilated now that no one thinks of it as American," she said. "Courriel would just be a new word to launch."

I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself
Here's a letter to the editor that ran in the Salt Lake Tribune on Monday, 7/7:

The July Fourth holiday is a time to stand up and show our patriotism. For those who are confused about what it means to be patriotic, here is what I've learned from our president, his administration and other True Patriots:
A true patriot never questions or criticizes their president; would gladly surrender their civil liberties for the purpose of security; would never be opposed to a just war; would never put plants or animals above economic prosperity; would never vote against increasing defense spending; would never support socialist ideas like guaranteeing health care for all; would never let their country be subject to the United Nations, international law or international efforts to do things like reduce greenhouse gases or ban land mines; knows that we are a Christian nation, subservient to the laws of God; does not believe in giving women, minorities and gays "special privileges;" understands that democracy is synonymous with capitalism; knows that it is wrong to regulate business or interfere with its ability to make money; knows that campaign contributions are free speech, burning a flag is not and, finally, a true patriot knows that their individual freedom is the most important thing -- with the following exceptions: when it interferes with "national security," what one does with their own body or anything that interferes with business.

Jon Glenn
Salt Lake City