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Maybe you'll read Quebec swears by its English curses, but don't believe Sean Gordon when he tells you that "If anything, the francophone ear typically mistakes the oath for "phoque," which is the French word for seal." Many people are not too clued about how intense the word is in English, but they aren't dumb as shoes either.
Also, he's exagerating how restricted swear words are on TV. In Victor Lévy-Beaulieu's L'héritage, a télé-roman that played for years, each character has his or her own favourite swear word, which they used profusely. Some characters had given a twist to the original expletive: for one of main characters, it was "hostie toastée des deux bords", wafer toasted on both sides. The comical twist did deflate the impact a bit, but there was so much swearing on that show, one of Radio-Canada's flagships written by one of Québec's most important and prolific authors, that you can't pretend that foul language, religious variety or not, was kept off the air.
The article also mentions Tout le monde en parle, Québec's top-rated TV show which attracts 2 million viewers, in a population of 7 million, and most of them probably from the francophone majority. I don't know how many "points" that would be in the American ratings system, but I don't think any other show on television in North America right now attracts such a high viewership in its market. Depending on much the guests like or dislike each other, the two-hour long public affairs and culture show sometimes degenerates into a rather vulgar insult fest.
Two weeks ago, Guy A. Lepage stepped down from his seat as the show's host for a night, as he became one of the show's guests, touting re-released material from his previous television show and humour troupe, Rock et Belles Oreilles. For years, it was Québec's top vulgar TV show, delivering scatological attacks on anything that moved in Québec. The catholic vocabulary was not in short supply there either. Lepage and his chums made this episode of Tout le monde en parle particularly low-brow, and complains have been flying for a while. (I did not actually watch the episode, but that fact that I can talk like this about it is a hint about how it's been written about...)
In its defense though, TLMEP is one of the smartest shows in Québec. The concept was licensed from the French TV show of the same name, but Lepage made it into his own. The guests are from all layers of Québec society, often the actors of the main political and cultural dramas going on, and a politician would be stupid (or already quite embattled) to refuse an invitation to the show. Publishers that have their authors go on the show on Sunday night start new printing runs ahead of time because they know their books will become bestsellers on Monday.
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compasspoints: à 20h à Radio-Canada. Watch it. :]
I need to find a Québec icon.
Also, he's exagerating how restricted swear words are on TV. In Victor Lévy-Beaulieu's L'héritage, a télé-roman that played for years, each character has his or her own favourite swear word, which they used profusely. Some characters had given a twist to the original expletive: for one of main characters, it was "hostie toastée des deux bords", wafer toasted on both sides. The comical twist did deflate the impact a bit, but there was so much swearing on that show, one of Radio-Canada's flagships written by one of Québec's most important and prolific authors, that you can't pretend that foul language, religious variety or not, was kept off the air.
The article also mentions Tout le monde en parle, Québec's top-rated TV show which attracts 2 million viewers, in a population of 7 million, and most of them probably from the francophone majority. I don't know how many "points" that would be in the American ratings system, but I don't think any other show on television in North America right now attracts such a high viewership in its market. Depending on much the guests like or dislike each other, the two-hour long public affairs and culture show sometimes degenerates into a rather vulgar insult fest.
Two weeks ago, Guy A. Lepage stepped down from his seat as the show's host for a night, as he became one of the show's guests, touting re-released material from his previous television show and humour troupe, Rock et Belles Oreilles. For years, it was Québec's top vulgar TV show, delivering scatological attacks on anything that moved in Québec. The catholic vocabulary was not in short supply there either. Lepage and his chums made this episode of Tout le monde en parle particularly low-brow, and complains have been flying for a while. (I did not actually watch the episode, but that fact that I can talk like this about it is a hint about how it's been written about...)
In its defense though, TLMEP is one of the smartest shows in Québec. The concept was licensed from the French TV show of the same name, but Lepage made it into his own. The guests are from all layers of Québec society, often the actors of the main political and cultural dramas going on, and a politician would be stupid (or already quite embattled) to refuse an invitation to the show. Publishers that have their authors go on the show on Sunday night start new printing runs ahead of time because they know their books will become bestsellers on Monday.
compasspoints: à 20h à Radio-Canada. Watch it. :]I need to find a Québec icon.
