In praise of … the Académie Française

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/08/in-praise-of-academie-francaise

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While the compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary annually capitulate to, and even celebrate, the arrival on our shores of monstrosities such as "selfie", "binge-watch" and "twerk", across the Channel in Paris the guardians of French take a very different view. There, the 40 lifetime members of the Académie Française have been debating and defending the integrity of the language of Molière for almost five centuries, occasionally dressed in the natty combination of long black coat, cocked hat and sword that they wear on ceremonial occasions. The latest Anglo-Saxon barbarism to incur their displeasure is the abbreviation ASAP, which they have dismissed in a new ruling as "modern junk", advising instead the use of the elegant, and more importantly French, <em>dès que possible</em>. Who could fail to appreciate the Canute-like resolve of the self-styled <em>immortels</em> of the Académie to face down the tide of evolution? RSVP.

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