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editorial

Quebec's language watchdog, l'Office québécois de la langue française, confirmed this week that a grilled-cheese sandwich can be called a "grilled-cheese" in French, and that, for further clarity, it is a masculine noun. Le grilled-cheese, s'il vous plaît.

The same goes for "softball," (n., masc.), "baby-boom" (n., masc.) and "toast" (n., fem.). Not only that, but the OQLF says these changes and others like them are, according to spokesman Jean-Pierre Le Blanc, "part of our linguistic enrichment."

Mr. Le Blanc also revealed that the language office, which has an annual budget of $24-million and a staff of 250, has recently "added a certain amount of flexibility" to its ability to accept the many English words and terms that are common coin in Quebec French.

For English-speaking Quebeckers, it's a bit much. Their mother tongue has been demonized, and even banned from public view, in their home province. To now be told that English words contribute to the "linguistic enrichment" of French is annoying (a feeling best expressed by an English word borrowed from... French).

For many francophones, though, keeping their language relevant is a critical effort, no matter how futile it can seem to others.

The OQLF is currently trying to get teenagers to refer to selfies as "égoportraits" and to ghosting – the digital-era practice of ending a relationship with an unsuspecting person by suddenly ending all communication – as "fantomisation." It might not go as planned.

But does that mean the OQLF shouldn't try to come up with novel French terms to replace viral English jargon? As silly as the exercise can seem (particularly given that, in France, English terms happily proliferate), coming up with a French word for "ghosting" may help keep the language vibrant.

The OQLF is not alone in its worries about the anglicization of everything modern. In 2009, language experts in Brazil and Italy teamed up with Quebec to develop a glossary – in Portuguese, Italian, French and English – of hundreds of words related to that trendiest of beverages, coffee.

That may strike some as trivial in the grand scheme of things. But it wouldn't take much at all in the global age for you to find yourself in Rio de Janeiro being asked if you want a French press to go with your grilled-cheese.

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