Figure 1.--This French Canadian boy in 1942 had his photograph taken for his first day of school--he doesn't look overjoyed about the idea. He wears short pants (culottes) and long stockings (bas longs). This was a requirement at the Catholic public school run by nuns. This was how all the boys dressed, although there was no uniform. Uniforms were required only in boarding schools. School began in September and the weather was still warm. The long stovkings sere not needed to keep him warm, but the nuns required all the hildren to wear them. He also wears a white shit with a Peter Pan collar. A wool sweater buttoned at front completes his outfit. Note the straps on his shoulders and waist for his book and pencil satchel. Long stockings were not commonly worn in France. Click on the image to lear more about the boy.

Canada was of course founded as a French colony in the 16th century. The original French colony was centered on the fur trade, but in the 18th century, the French and English struggled over control of North America. The French loss of Quebec in the French and Indian War (7 Years War) sealed the future of Canada and in fact North America as an English-speaking cultural area. At the time of Confederation (1867), there were 3.25 million people settled in the provinces that comprised Canada. Over the next three decades hundreds of thousands more arrived. Few of these immigrants came from France or learned French as their new language. The political leadership in Canada, however, continued to be dominated by English, Protestant Canadians. The French in Canada were thus relegated a second-class role and until after World War II were generally dscriminated against, in large measure explaining current Quebec demands for independence. The French in Quebec maintained their cultural and longuistic identity and this has included differences in clothing trends, French Canadians being more influenced by France than English-Canadians. Just as with English, there are differences between French usage in different countries. A French-speaking HBC reader reports, for example, that there are many differences between the French language in France and Quebec (not to speak of the delicious Canadian accent) these differences being not only in an other meaning of a given word, but also the numerous old French words lost in France and jaleously kept in Quebec.

Historical Background

Some basic historical information is needed to understand the differences between French usages in Canada and France.

French language

France since the 17th century began to promote the use of one language based on the French spoken in Paris. Under Richelieu the "Académie française" began the writting of the first French Dictionary (1636). Everywhere in the Kingdom of France, this "langue d'oil' was proclaimed the only lagage to be taught and and spoken. In Brittany (langue bretonne) and in southern France (langue d'oc or provencal), it became a violation of the law to use those languages or any "patois" (vernacular language).

New France

Canada was discovered and explored by French and other European explorers, but a colony was not immediately established. A major interest of European explorers was finding a Northwest Passage. French and other European fishing fleets in the 16th century made annual visits to the rich fishing (cod) gfrounds off the Atlantic coast of Canada. Gradually as a sideline of the fishing an at first unorganized fur trade and the traffic in furs developed. The value of these furs and the growing popularity of beaver hats gradually led to the French participation in the fur trade founding of New France. The king of France granted a royal monopoly to trade in furs to Troilus de Mesgouez, marquis de la Roche (1598). New France developed with the fur trade at its heart in the 17th century. (This is one of many examples where fashion and clothing have played an important role in history.) The focus on the fur trade caused New France to develop along different lines than the English colonies further south. Most of the French people who settled Canada came from the area around Paris and Normandy. Thus the language spoken in French Canada in the 17th and early 18th centuries was Parisian French or what was evolving as standard French.

British control (1763)

Today we think of Canada as primarily as an English-speaking country and former British colony/dominion. In fact, Canada was founded by the French as the colony of New France and only became British a few years before the American Revolution. Britian seized Canada in the Seven Years War (French and Indian War) (1763). (There were two more important outcomes. Britain also seized India. The removal of the French from Canada also set in motion a process in the English Nort American colonies that led to the American Revolution) French Canadians may have been assimilated by the English and Scottish immigrants after 1763. (With the British seiuzure of Canada, French immigration ceased.) Apparently there were many marriages of British soldiers ith French-Canadian womem. Many of these families became French speaking families, in pat because the wives seemed to have insisted on raising the children as Catholics.

The Act of Quebec (1774)

The Act of Quebec (1774) permitted French to Canadians to freely speak French and practice Catholocism. They were not required to adopt English and convert. The term " Canayen " became widely used. The French in Quebec thus managed to retain their culture, language, and religion. Compare this toBritishpractices in Ireland or even the Acadians in Nova Scotia whoi were deported south, many windingup in Louisiana. This was an important reason tha Canada remained British rather than joining the disaffected American colonialists in the American Revolution (1776).

Isolation from France

After the British seized Canada, ties with France were broken. There was virtually no communication between France and Lower Canada. A series of wars between the British and French lasted until the defeat of Napoleon (1815) making any kind of communication difficult. I am not sure to what extent the British allowed communication or trade after 1815, but there was nothing like the commerce and communication that continued between America and Britain. As a result, the French soken in Canada stayed similar to the French soken in France before 1763. As many settlers arived in the 17th century, Canadian French might be better described as the French spoken in France at the time of Louis XIV.

Confederation (1867)

After Confederation (1867) Québec obtained control over provincial education. This meant that the Catholic Church was given a major role in the ducted of French Canadians. Th Church had founded schools earlier, but now state funds were available to finance a much larger system of French-language schools. Slowly contacts were reestablished with France. Wealthy families began sending their children to France for education. By this time Canadian (Quebec) French (had becomne interwoven with English terms, but was still essentially 17th century French.

20th century Canadian French

French Canadians in the 20th century, especially after World War I, increasingly expoanded ontacts with France. The development of a French litterature in Québec was an important development. Movies, radio, and after World war II television also helped to facilitate exchanges between Québec and France. As a result, the French spoken in Québec became increasingly like the standard French of France. Old French is less and less used here The 17th century vocabulary and usages have now largely disappeared. The main difference today is more in the accent or the use of some anglicism than in the French language. French speakers are easily understood on both side of the Atlantic. (Much like American and British English speakers.) Any french speakers coming from Europe (France, Begium, and Switzerland) or elsewhere in the world (Haiti, Congo ex-Zaire, and Vietnam) do not learn to speak Parisian French but "québécois" with the typical accent of Québec which is original. It is just a variant of French like the difference between " behaviour or colour " in Britain and "behavior and color" in America. Today, most "Quebecers" are bilinguial. This fact is really valued in France where a lot of engineers or teachers from here know both languages and give them a real advantage. Culturally, Québec is a kind of synthesis between North America and Europe. If you come to at Québec or Montrèal, you will feel how is is the same as Boston or new York but also paris or London.

French-speaking Population

At the time of Confederation (1867), there were 3.25 million people settled in the provinces that comprised Canada. Over the next three decades hundreds of thousands more arrived. Few of these immigrants came from France or learned French as their new language. Most settled in Anglo-Canada. This imigration significantly diluted the French propotion of Canada's population. The Catholic share of the population, however, was not diluted because of the large number of Irish immigrants.

Minority Status

French Canadians

The political leadership in Canada, however, continued to be dominated by English, Protestant Canadians. The French in Canada were thus relegated a second-class role and until after World War II were generally dscriminated against, in large measure explaining current Quebec demands for independence. The French in Quebec maintained their cultural and linguistic identity and this has included differences in clothing trends, French Canadians being more influenced by France than English-Canadians. Once again, you have to make a distinction between French Canada and Québec. French Canada is a cultural minority in Canada. It includes those French speaking people living mainly in New Brunswick but also in Ontario and Manitoba. Other than in New Brunswick, other French Canadians are completely assimilated.

Québec

French speakers in Québec are not a minotrity and, at least in modern times, so nt have the outlook commonly adopted by minorities in other countries. Québec is a social and political entity which has the power by the constitution to make laws about linguistic trends. There is an "Office de la langue française" which function is to give to people the right term in French. Anglophones call this Office "a liguistic police" Few years ago, people working in a car garage said: "Changer un tire" or " "son dash est cassé: (dash is broken), or "son muffler a pété" (muffler is out). Today, we say "changer un pneu", "son pare-brise est brisé" , son "silencieux est crevé". Québec and Quebecers are the right terms used in any anglo newspaper in canada for talking about french Quebec and also about english-speaking who live here. That is why we speak about French-speaking Quebecers (80%) and English speaking Quebecers (20%). I can understand it is puzzling for American people but in talking about french canadians, you are talking about French minorities in Canada which does not include Québec. Here too is a complex question about "distinct identity" for Quebec. There are more and more French poeple coming here for visiting our country. More and more are also immigrants and they feel at ease to hear and speak french . After 2 generations, they get the "accent" . Paris is not a good criteria for comparing french. When having traveled in Normady, I felt at home because there are a lot of roots and togetherness. To the American "melting pot" and the rising of a Spanish identity in California and Texas, Québec offers a nice alternative. "

Sound of Canadian French

British English sound cultured or scholarly to Americans. We wondered what Canadian French sounded to the French. Canadian French in the 19th century would have sounded dated or old fashioned, perhaps a bit quaint to the French. This was because of the isolation of French Canadians in the 18th and 19th century as described above. During the 20th century, Canadian French lost much of its "quaint" character and moved closer to modern French. The Canadians do have a destinct accent esily recognizable by French speakers. A French Canadian tells us that that they do not now sound "old fashion" to the French. Canadian French does have more Anglicisms than standard French, make it destinctive. A French reader writes, "French-Canadians are very conservative in maters of lanaguage. They have a lot of Anlicisms which they have thoroughly integrated into their speaking. When I watch a French Canadian television program, I understand without any problem. Their accent is pronouced with a delightful old French intonation. Also there are some older words still used. French Canadians say ' charabanc ' for car or bus. This is from 8th century French when charabanc meant a waggon with a bench."

French Language Differences

Just as with English, there are differences between French usage in different countries. A French-speaking HBC reader reports, for example, that there are many differences between the French language in France and Quebec (not to speak of the delicious Canadian accent) these differences being not only in an other meaning of a given word, but also the numerous old French words lost in France and jaleously kept in Quebec. One French reader reports that actually French is quite similar around the world. The primary differences have developed in Canada, presumably because under British rule, French Canadians were seperated from many cultural as well as political contacts wkth France. Tne Canadians still used some old french words as well as many English words adopted from the United States. One French reader reports that French Canadians, "... also have a beautifull accent and the French are fond of the Canadian people." The French as contacts were restablished with Canada tended to look down on Canadian French, primarily because so many sentences were full of English words. Just a funny example. Any French Canadian is able to understand such a term like: "enfirouaper". This French Canadian word means " to cheat somebody". When indians sold furs to whites during the 19th century, they sold them in packs with some of lesser quality in the middle. They "in fur wrapped" their shippings; so in wrapping bad quality furs in hidding them was equivalent of cheating the buyer which lead to the word "ENFIROUAPER". It is the same in England when Normand nobles ate "mutton" (from the French "moutons" )which were the same that Saxons had to keep an eye on in fields as "sheep" which is a German (Saxon) term. As a written language, Québec French is the same as the French of France. Some terms are different like "stationnement" in Québec and "Parking" in France or "arrêt" in Quebec and "stop" in France !!! In Québec, we were near from being strangers to ourselves for long time because we were a little population speaking french with an anglophone sea. Even if we don't use "socquettes" we know what it is because there are a lot of English speaking using "socks". In Québec there is a Goverment Office translating English terms into French for everyday life. I often write to a French lady from the south of France who write "un petit mail" for a short mail. The right term in French is "courriel". It is Québec now who tell french how to speak french !!! Differences like "chaussures" and "souliers" are just amazing. But you will find the same in Belgium or at Marseille. A French reader writes, "About the vocabulary mentioned on the HBC page, in France for roadside stop signs one uses very often in speaking the term " arrêt " just as in Canada. Instead the word " Parking " we can use the term : aire de stationnement , ( a bit to long to say ) or simply ' stationnement ' The verb ' enfilouter ' is known but rarely used. Canadians still sometimes usw old words or expression, which are not used in France, but understood."

Clothing Terms

French and Canadian French are very close. French speakrts in both countries easily understand each other. Very few word are different. Some of these differences between French and Canadian French include clothing terms. We have just begun to collect information on these differences. Many clothing terms are identical in Canada and France. For some reason, many terms for hosiery and footerar are different. HBC is unsure why there are such differences for these specific types of clothing. Of course in fashion there is a continual evolution of styles and terminology. Some former words are not anymore used today; others apear, often coming from abroad.

Spelling and Grammar

A French reader writes, "While there are differences in vocabulary between France and Canada, thre are no differences in the spelling and grammar." This isinteresting because in America, there are not only vocabilary differences with England, but also spelling differences. (Although there are not any important gramatical differences.) It is interesting to consider why spelling differences did not develop between Canada and France. The principal reason for this is that in America after the Revolution, educational systems developed indpendently from Britain. Teachers and academics were trained in America. The Canadian education system was to a substantial extent influenced by Britain which is why English spellings have been used in Canada. The French-languge schools in Canada were at first established by the Church, a Church composed largely of French trained priests, thus explaining the similarity od selling. Even as Canadian-born priests became mnmore important, they often studied in France or in Canadian semanaries opertd by French priests.

Main Canadian Page

Canadian boys clothing is in many ways similar to American styles. There are some differences. Many of the differences that do exist relate to the colder climate. Other differences are affected by the closer attachment to England. This has been more clearly associated with affluent families. Any French fashion influence is much less notable.

Sources

Visual Dictionary of English and French Terms (Montréal: Les Editions Québec-Amérique).

Dictionnaire des expressions québécoises.

Michel Coron and Charles Camard