"A French police union is taking the respected Le Petit Robert dictionary to court for including a reference to police as "bloody pigs" in its latest edition, a spokesman said Friday.
The Unsa-police union is asking for a court order to force Le Petit Robert to remove the reference from a section of its 2008 edition that deals with French slang spoken by immigrant youth. The dictionary borrowed a quote from the French detective novel writer Jean-Claude Izzo to illustrate the language used by north African immigrants in the French suburbs.
A second union, Alliance, called for a boycott of the dictionary, saying it was "outraged" by the use of the term "connard de flic" (bloody pig). Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie sided with police unions, saying she too "deplored" such language and conveyed her disapproval to the dictionary's editors. (Yahoo News, 7 September)
As yet we have not heard from the Porcine Liberation Movement, but we imagine they too will be "outraged" at being compared to French policemen. We would. RD
The Glasgow & Edinburgh Branches Blog. Towards a better understanding of the world, in order to change it.
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