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These two words finally managed to make their way to the general public in France because they were used *before* new communication technologies got widely used in France (yes, France was (is?) lagging behind most other European countries in this field, and certailly behind USA)...
So people beginning to know computers as "ordinateurs" and learning to use "logiciels" (not "software"), got easy used to these funny terms... and they use them today in common language.
Well, with e-mails things are different, IMHO. People are using *e-mails* currently and I seriously doubt that a ridiculous governmental decision would determine them to say "couriel" instead of "email", from one day to another.
BTW, there is another funny term used - actually not used, but just invented by some other French language defendant who was definitely smarter that the authors of the "couriel" idea). This term was "mèl", which reads exactly as "mail", but has a French connotation: the accent on the letter "e".
Nobody uses this one either, anyway
| Originally posted by Sugano-san The French have a long tradition of creating French words in the wake of technical progress, examples are "ordinateur" (hardware) or "logiciel" (software). |
These two words finally managed to make their way to the general public in France because they were used *before* new communication technologies got widely used in France (yes, France was (is?) lagging behind most other European countries in this field, and certailly behind USA)...
So people beginning to know computers as "ordinateurs" and learning to use "logiciels" (not "software"), got easy used to these funny terms... and they use them today in common language.
Well, with e-mails things are different, IMHO. People are using *e-mails* currently and I seriously doubt that a ridiculous governmental decision would determine them to say "couriel" instead of "email", from one day to another.
BTW, there is another funny term used - actually not used, but just invented by some other French language defendant who was definitely smarter that the authors of the "couriel" idea). This term was "mèl", which reads exactly as "mail", but has a French connotation: the accent on the letter "e".
Nobody uses this one either, anyway
