Can French Be Made Gender Neutral? More Pc Cobras?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42073148
I's say no, the language is infused from top to bottom

[albaqwerty]

what a load of escargots.

What next? Getting rid of der, die und das from German?

[naomi24]

And let's not forget Italian ... and Spanish! Good grief!!

[douglas9401]

Did you mean 'sadder undies' alba? It came out garbled. :-)

[douglas9401]

Cistalk?

[Cloverjo]

That's just how the language has evolved. It's the same for many languages. E.g., 'girl' in German has the neuter 'das'

[dannyk13]

Are they also going to castrate all French males?

[bhg481]

Perhaps they're just copying the English language (we don't have chairman/chairwoman any more, just chairperson); you know how the French admire the English language.

[Old_Geezer]

Gender in language was always an insane concept. Let the public use whatever and hope one side all dies out. Good luck to them.

[bhg481]

OG - //Gender in language was always an insane concept// very useful for public toilet doors, though.

[Jackdaw33]

There is no neuter in French. Everything is either masculine or feminine.

[woofgang]

To my knowledge (admittedly old) french has changed a lot since I learned it at school.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8820304/Frances-Academie-francaise-battles-to-protect-language-from-English.html
and http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160215-the-circumflex-a-battle-over-an-accent-mark

[Old_Geezer]

That is surely sex rather than gender. But isn't it all going multi-sexual these days anyway ? Don't know how the women know where to look as they pass the urinals. Maybe they use them ?

[woofgang]

I am actually not sure that a language can be changed by decree (precisely why the Academie is afraid) Language changes as it is used according to the preferences of its users. If french people want a gender neutral language then it will happen regardless.

[Jackdaw33]

I remember as a boy on my first visit to France being fascinated by all the pissoirs. None left now.

[youngmafbog]

Some people have really lost the plot.

Of course it wont happen, the majority of people are not stupid.

[mikey4444]

I speak no other language other than English English, but I have never understood why other languages need genders in the first place ?

[AZardoz]

Mikey, English, as a Germanic language, used to have gender. As far as I know, the other European languages still do, but English had a unique history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_in_English
It wouldn't hurt you to study another language. At least pick up one of those guide books or hop the Channel. Ideas aren't always expressed the same way. Having only one language is severely limiting.

[Jackdaw33]

Russian has three genders but surprisingly this presents few problems as the gender of a word can be determined by the ending. There are very few instances where the gender cannot be recognised on sight.

[Baldric]

Mikey @ 09:19, you sound proud of your limited language skills.

[Jackdaw33]

He doesn't speak any Welsh neither.