Xref: utzoo can.general:1820 can.politics:2823 Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watmath!ubc-cs!van-bc!uunet!microsoft!alonzo From: alonzo@microsoft.UUCP (Alonzo Gariepy) Newsgroups: can.general,can.politics Subject: Re: postings in the French language Message-ID: <7923@microsoft.UUCP> Date: 2 Oct 89 01:26:57 GMT Reply-To: alonzo@microsoft.UUCP (Alonzo Gariepy) Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA Lines: 26 I think this meta-discussion is getting a little silly. Communication is voluntary. People choose what they say and to whom they say it. That includes the subject, medium, language, and destination. When you see someone (in this case a man) post a message in French, you can assume one or more of the following: * He speaks only French. * The message requires a degree of precision only achievable in his native tongue. * He knows there are some French speakers who will read his message. * His question is specific to French speakers. * He is in France and doesn't know how to limit distribution. * He prefers to discuss certain subjects with speakers of French. * He is perfectly bilingual, but feels that using a language only partially understood by his audience confers some tactical advantage. * It was easier for him. I support anyone's right to use this public network. If I could eliminate a category of messages from the net, it wouldn't be on the basis of language. So let us get back to how the rest of Canada is helping to obliterate the few remaining dregs of culture in Quebec. Alonzo Gariepy alonzo@microsoft