Some advice for the OQLF

Re: “Language inspectors eat their words” (Gazette, Feb. 22)

You report that Minister Diane de Courcy says similar mistakes wouldn’t be made in the future.

Citizens must be free to live without harassment from the government. Pastagate, cupcake gate, benand jerrys gate — the Office québécois de la langue française swings into action following a single complaint. It’s clear the office is too sensitive and is wasting valuable resources on pointless pettiness that could be spent on things that actually develop the use of French, like education or cultural events.

Considering that thousands of people pass through even the smallest businesses every month, the OQLF should wait until they receive at least 20, maybe even 100 complaints before harassing citizens.

One complaint isn’t indicative of a problem, it’s indicative of a crackpot. William Raillant-Clark

Montreal

Maybe next time, the OQLF should try using its noodle! We can only hope the language police won’t go after themselves. After all, “Office” is an English word, too! Sharon Golt

Outremont

Is the OQLF not concerned about the STM buses that read “Go, Habs, Go”? Susan Philip

St-Laurent

News that Quebec’s now infamous OQLF has “backtracked after controversy boiled over regarding its attempt to change the menu” at Buonanotte restaurant” should be considered a powerful victory for democracy and common sense.

Historically, the OQLF has had many other ridiculous visits to businesses, claiming there is an overuse of English in a bilingual city. Many can recall the visit to a Montreal sex-toy emporium, livid over the fact that a $5.85 condom-shaped device had only English on its packaging. After a six-year fight, the OQLF forced the store owner to pay a $500 fine. But now, thanks to media and social media of all forms — and their power to give people a voice that can be heard around the world — we can all eat “antipasta” in peace. Nathan Friedland

Roxboro

What a joy to open the paper to Friday’s cartoon and let out a belly laugh: Pauline Marois with a pasta coif !

Aislin certainly captured the whole enraging, ridiculous incident and tied it up with a neat spaghetti strand. Let’s just hope the OQLF goes after restaurants listing the words “hamburger” or “hot dog” next. I’d love to see what kind of hairstyle he could conjure up with those. Patricia Enborg

Kirkland

Aislin missed the chance to put meatball earrings on Pauline Marois’s head. Frances V. Bondoux

Montreal

The justification is that if French doesn’t predominate in every venue, francophones may be enticed to “integrate” into the anglophone minority rather than “integrating” stray anglos into the majority.

This argument is archaic, not because French should be protected — it should! — but because the argument about “integration,” like the way we count the language identity of our population, assumes a forced choice (franco or anglo?) rather than the multiple choice that really exists.

Quebecers increasingly live in families of multiple cultural heritages and are unwilling to declare themselves exclusively francophone, anglophone or allophone. They are Quebecers who happily function in the majority language of the province.

But if the PQ were to recognize this reality, it would put itself out of business. And so the idiocy continues ... Elaine Bander

Montreal