Courriel, oui, mais pas de pourriel, s'il vous plait!

[Harold F. Schiffman]

>>From the New York Times, July 11, 2003

World Briefing: Americas


     CANADA: YOU SAY `E-MAIL,' I SAY `COURRIEL' Quebec has convinced the
French to streamline their Internet language, and "e-mail" will be
"courriel,"  rather than the clumsy "courrier electronique" that the
French Culture Ministry had insisted on. " `Courriel' went down well here
so we made the abbreviation official," said Florence Desmouliere of the
Culture Ministry. But the ministry rejected other words that have been
used in Quebec for a decade, for example, "pourriel" for spam, mixing
"poubelle" (garbage) and "electronique."

(Reuters)