Only Ken Livingstone could have agreed to French being given priority language status at the London Olympics. According to documents released under a Freedom of Information request by The Spectator, French will take precedence at medal ceremonies and on all signs displayed throughout the capital. The British capital. Merci, Ken.
This makes perfect sense. After all the English word for everything important is French. toilet, for example, dames, and the ultimately necessary accoutrement at an Olympics, the French Letter or condom are French in origin.
ReplyDeleteEnglish is a superfluous language that the world could well do without. It should be banned, just as it was after the Norman Conquest, and only be displayed to entertain tourists visiting museums or theatres.
We should all be made to study repeats of Allo Allo and perfect our French from there. The arm movements will take a bit of getting right, but it will be fun, ne'est-ce pas?
ITYF French is the official first language of the Olympic Games because they were (re)founded by Philippe de Coubertain (a Frenchman).
ReplyDeleteNot a lot to do with Ken.
Whoops, that should have been *Pierre* de *Coubertin*
ReplyDeleteBut the point on language stands.
It is blog policy to blame Labour for everything, however tenuous the link and regardless of whether or not the party even holds the relevant office.
ReplyDeleteDaily Mail fodder-feed. French is always the premiere langue d'Olympique. Still, don't pass up a chance to knock Ken with brainless slurs - after all, Boris is going to need lots of help next time given his pretty lamentable performance to date.
ReplyDeleteTraitorous Ken strikes again. Remember his love affairs with IRA, Chavez, etc etc?
ReplyDeleteTim
ReplyDeleteIt was Pierre de Coubertin.
Apart from that you are correct.
However, the languages rank pari passu, the host language having equality with French.
Some facts:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.olympic.org/Documents/Olympic%20Charter/Charter_en_2010.pdf
Page 53/(24 Languages)
i.e. There is no official first language.
The likes of Coe and Livingstone et al would have happily sold their first born to get the right to stage this God awful waste of time and money. The IOC are even more bent than Fifa...
ReplyDeleteNothing should suprise us once snouts are in the trough
We do remember Ken's love-ins with the IRA Unsworth - as I recall, those he met with are now in government! Or am I mistaken? However, I was always sceptical as to the purity of Citizen Ken's motives on that one. It was of course completely co-incidental that he was MP for Brent with it's very large Irish population. Ahhh. Politicians. Don't you just love them.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of another great pure socialist, T Benn Esq. His adoration of Concorde, the chosen transportation of the masses, was second to none. Built by loyal labour voters in his constituency.
I could go on and there are lots of Tory examples too.
Iain - Norman French is still used in the UK Parliament, shouldn't that be changed first?
ReplyDelete"Although English is the language used in Parliament some of the formalities of a Bill's passage through Parliament are written in Norman French. This is because these traditions date back to a time just after the Norman Conquest when Norman French was the official language of Government. Many of the words and phrases used are similar to modern day French."
http://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/norman-french/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337328/London-Olympics-2012-Union-Jacks-sidelined-roads-closed-VIPs.html
ReplyDeleteInteresting article.
Honi soit qui mal y pense.
ReplyDeleteDisparingLiberal - Boris currently is miles ahead of Ken in the polls.
ReplyDeleteKen won't stand a chance