WWE TV March 20 - 26

[DMJ]

At a house show in Montreal, Sami Zayn gave an emotional post-match speech that (based on what I read) congratulated Owens and talked up their history and even made Owens get a little misty. I didn't watch the video (too busy enjoying the new GBV record), but just reading about it left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

Its not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things or anything, but it's these little things that keep pushing me towards believing The Miz and Charlotte are the only two heels in the company who "get it" because instead of getting emotional, Owens should've kicked Sami's teeth down his throat.

[stro]

It doesn't come off that way watching it. Sami said he hated KO, but respected him and where they came from to be two Montreal kids main eventing a show in Montreal after KO had been the guy carrying Raw for the past 9 months (lol). This caused the fans to chant for KO, who got emotional and said something in French that I presume was something like "fuck off".

[Loss]

Zayn and Owens have always gone out of their way to not talk about their friendship publicly, even though they are friends and everyone knows it. Little things, like when they both visited Enzo in the hospital after Enzo took that nasty bump on PPV, but made sure there were no social media photos of them visiting at the same time, and Zayn going on Talk is Jericho and shooting on every other topic (except acknowledging that he was El Generico) but kayfabing his Owens relationship.

[El-P]

This caused the fans to chant for KO, who got emotional and said something in French that I presume was something like "fuck off".

 

I actually had to look out for the translation, because I just could't grasp what he said. And people still are surprised when I tell them French people don't understand Quebecers sometimes and this was a clear case of this here. So yeah, he said "You know I hate you."

 

From what I gather, Zayn, at least, is definitely from the English-speaking community of Montreal. Not sure about Steen, although I guess he is too. Neither have the very recognizable french-canadian accent when they speak English (the kind Rick Martel has for instance).

[stro]

I disagree. They both have that accent very clearly to me. That sing songy flow. KO has it more pronounced, but English is his second language.

[The Thread Killer]

Since they were both born in Quebec, I would imagine both Steen and Zayn were raised bilingually, but having said that there really is quite a significant difference between the Parisian French dialect and Quebecois. I'm not surprised when somebody from France cannot understand a Quebecois, or vice versa. If nothing else, people from Quebec tend to mix in a lot of English, since the province is Bilingual.

 

I always laugh when somebody who speaks Quebecois gets in a huff when they go to Paris and people don't understand them perfectly. I don't say this as an insult, but Quebecois is actually kind of a bastardization of the more grammatically proper form of Parisian French.

[stro]

Lol that's similar to one of my friends who is Mexican got in a huff watching Logan because the girl in the movie was speaking Spanish and actually IS Spanish, so despite the character supposed to be Mexican, it sounded completely off to him.

[El-P]

Since they were both born in Quebec, I would imagine both Steen and Zayn were raised bilingually, but having said that there really is quite a significant difference between the Parisian French dialect and Quebecois. I'm not surprised when somebody from France cannot understand a Quebecois, or vice versa. If nothing else, people from Quebec tend to mix in a lot of English, since the province is Bilingual.

 

I always laugh when somebody who speaks Quebecois gets in a huff when they go to Paris and people don't understand them perfectly. I don't say this as an insult, but Quebecois is actually kind of a bastardization of the more grammatically proper form of Parisian French.

 

First off, average French is not "parisian French".

Basically, Quebecois is deriving from older French mixed in with some English influence. On one hand, Quebecois speak "more French than French", translating in French words tons of expression we (French from France) use in English (like "week-end" for instance). On the other hand, they use some English structure sometimes and lots of other English words, not to mention tons of purely "Quebecois" stuff. With the amazing, lovable Quebec accent. Average, normalized Quebecois is absolutely comprehensible at 95%. Joual, well, give me subtitles. That being said, two guys from Marseille speaking together using slangs and shit, good luck to your average guy from Quebec city, he'll get nothing out of it.

 

Lol that's similar to one of my friends who is Mexican got in a huff watching Logan because the girl in the movie was speaking Spanish and actually IS Spanish, so despite the character supposed to be Mexican, it sounded completely off to him.

 

 

Exactly. Not sure if the difference is more or less pronounced, but that's the same thing. That's why La Resistance was the most idiotic gimmick ever (on every level). They sounded French like I sound Italian.

[The Thread Killer]

Pardon my phraseology. Many moons ago when I studied French, my teacher went to great pains to explain the difference between Quebecois and what he called "Proper Parisian French" meaning the French which would be spoken in France. I have heard that are differences between the French spoken in the Montreal area, and that which is spoken in the parts of Quebec where English speakers are in the minority. I wouldn't know about that - I live in the Toronto area, I only took French in Grade School and as a result my French is useless, really.

 

My one foray into Quebec outside Montreal was years ago and quite disastrous as it was around the time of the French Separation referendum and I had wandered into a rather militant part of Quebec City. My French is quite poor, and my efforts were less than appreciated by my countrymen who were either unable to speak English, or not inclined to do so. Needless to say, they were not interested in speaking English or attempting to understand my feeble attempts to speak French. Which is unfortunate, because all I was doing was paying for gas and buying food for the road...but as I said, things were tense between French and English then.

 

I assume the La Resistance gimmick was intended to imply that all French people are from France, and all French people are bad...or something? I also never understood how Dino Bravo waving the Quebec flag around in the early 90's was supposed to bother Americans, either. I know it would get great heat with English speaking Canadians, especially out west, but I don't know why it was supposed to bother American fans.

[El-P]

Pardon my phraseology. Many moons ago when I studied French, my teacher went to great pains to explain the difference between Quebecois and what he called "Proper Parisian French" meaning the French which would be spoken in France. I have heard that are differences between the French spoken in the Montreal area, and that which is spoken in the parts of Quebec where English speakers are in the minority.

 

Yes, there are, but I wouldn't be able to grasp them I think. To us in France, all Quebecois speak like Céline Dion. (she's hilarious)

 

There was a very distinctive Parisian slang and accent, but it has mostly and sadly disapeared over the years, since most "Parisian" now aren't from Paris anymore. I should now, I've been a Parisian for 16 years.

 

My one foray into Quebec outside Montreal was years ago and quite disastrous as it was around the time of the French Separation referendum and I had wandered into a rather militant part of Quebec City. My French is quite poor, and my efforts were less than appreciated by my countrymen who were either unable to speak English, or not inclined to do so. Needless to say, they were not interested in speaking English or attempting to understand my feeble attempts to speak French. Which is unfortunate, because all I was doing was paying for gas and buying food for the road...but as I said, things were tense between French and English then.

 

That's sad. I always say to my students (yeah, I'm actually teaching French to foreigners) that they should always try to speak the language, even if it's just very basic and simple stuff, that's it's appreciated. But I understand the situation was a bit different at that point, especially since "fighting for French language" is somewhat part of the Quebec identity.

 

I assume the La Resistance gimmick was intended to imply that all French people are from France, and all French people are bad...or something?

 

It was during the ridiculous "Freedom fries" era, so it was a xenophobic gimmick. But these guys were not French. And using "La resistance" as a name was idiotic, as if there's *one* symbol of the US-France friendship, it is the French Resistance fighting the Nazis on the occupied field during WWII. There are soooo many gimmick I can think of to make fun of French people and get heat.

 

I also never understood how Dino Bravo waving the Quebec flag around in the early 90's was supposed to bother Americans, either. I know it would get great heat with English speaking Canadians, especially out west, but I don't know why it was supposed to bother American fans.

 

Every flag other than the Union Jack was booed I guess. I loved how he was using a slowed-down, looped version of La Marseillaise too. Raising the Quebec flag and using the natinoal anthem of another country ! The only successful "quebecer" gimmick was the Fabulous Rougeau to me. The song, the mini-US flags, it was brillant. Well, I admit I loved Jean Pierre Lafitte too.

[Jmare007]

Lol that's similar to one of my friends who is Mexican got in a huff watching Logan because the girl in the movie was speaking Spanish and actually IS Spanish, so despite the character supposed to be Mexican, it sounded completely off to him.

 

I actually came out of the movie having no idea what her first language was