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Comment by OnlyMortal | Hacker News Reader

I met French speaking Quebecois in Paris. They were complaining the Parisians didn’t understand them.

They weren’t enamoured to France.

Also that Parisians treat them like a backwater colony. That really doesn't sit well with the narrative that Quebec was always an independent people who were only ever under colonial rule after the evil English came along. Oh, and there were never any issues with the natives until the Brits.

Source: my grade school kids' history texts

Nobody in France is treating Quebec as a backwater colony, not even as a colony. It is all in your head.

Quebec has a very good image in France.

You'd be surprised. Though I think you've misunderstood the parent's comment. THe parent doesn't literally mean that they think of Quebec as a colony.

He means that they look down upon Quebec people, as if they are "ploucs" [from some backwater colony], without their French "sophistication" and accent.

But parisians think that of the whole world, so it's not particulary meaningful.

If you're hurt by parisian attitude, you've failed the "I shouldn't give a fuck" test they're making you pass ;)

It's ironic because Quebecois French might be closer to the pre-Revolutionary King's French than the speech of the sans-culottes.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220829-the-royal-roots-...

just one example but I did meet a french guy once who said that all Quebeckers were racist backwater hicks who drank moose blood for fun

All my teachers in French throughout middle school and university (Canada) were France French. In college, my first TA was Quebecois French & it took me a few classes before I actually started understanding what she was saying. It’s a very difficult accent and I don’t think it’s a snobbery thing - just requires extended exposure. By comparison Quebecois seem to more easily understand France French whether it’s because there’s more exposure through media or whatnot.

There’s a similar effect in the maritime with English btw - there’s plenty of North American, Australian, New Zealand, Irish, Scottish etc accents that can be difficult to understand even though they are native speakers.

To me, taking offense that someone doesn’t understand your accent is similar to someone who makes fun of someone else for their accent. It says more about you than the other person.

I studied French French in school and eventually got to a point where I could follow along a bit to TV or music and have simple conversations. I remember Quebecois French being totally incomprehensible to me, though.

I agree, but no one is being offended by a frustrating but understandable "sorry I didn't catch you, can you please repeat?". It's very specific, very condescending fun which I've witnessed. Being Italian-Canadian anglophone from Montreal my French accent is very unique - mix of American and Italian and it usually sparks good conversation because they want to know where did this come from? My friends who are Quebecois, on the other hand, are subjected to all manner of mean-spirited ridicule, from the innocuous "aww you're so cute too down like that!" to "you must miss your moose blood when you visit"

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