A 00:11 99-05-29 -0700, Geoffrey Waigh a �crit :
>
>
>Alain wrote:
>>
>> A 14:36 99-05-28 -0700, Geoffrey Waigh a �crit :
>Bell Canada use to use YYYY MM DD, but switched to a May 5, 1999
>type format some years ago (and may have changed again in the last
>three years.)
[Alain] In French they use the normal French long dates too for billing,
��5 mai 1999��, not the numerical format, but that is then normal. The
numeric format ��1999-05-05�� does not invalidate normal French grammar.
[Geoffrey]
>Obviously if Alain knows otherwise for Qu�bec, I won't dispute it.
[Alain] That is indeed the case that Qu�bec uses the international date
format infinitely more than in the ��rest of Canada��... The reason is very
simple: American companies often used a numeric format "mm/dd/yy" before
(for example Esso on credit cards still does that even if they use French
in Qu�bec!!!). It is already ambiguous for English speakers even if it
grammatically makes sense in this language when translated one-to-one to
plain English, but in French it makes absolutely no sense, while being also
numerically oddly ordered.
I had said in my mail that I believed it was less used in the ROC, but you
yourself reassured me when you said it is also used there, while making
English-speakers uncomfortable (which I find a little odd given the
ambiguity in numerical dates in English in Canada [American preference
versus British preference format -- the British preference of course
corresponds to the French [and generally European] format -- the ISO format
solves this ambiguity].
[Geoffrey]
>As for the ROC remark, while I have heard it used in the media and
>by some people, I and my friends certainly don't and those that do
>seem more likely to use it in discussions of Qu�bec separation.
[Alain] Thanks for this valuable info. Seeing this frequently in English
media indeed when I go to Ontario, I was under the belief that it was a
general language usage. So now I will understanda that when English Canada
talks about the ROC ("rest of Canada"), it's in the context of political
discussions involving Qu�bec separation issues. That said it is a
historical fact that the Canadian English-speakers outside of Qu�bec named
themselves with this acronym, whatever the context... Obviously ROC does
not seem to include English speakers in Qu�bec (8% of Qu�bec people are
English-speaking natives), does it?
Alain LaBont�
Qu�bec
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