Quotes of the Day

After two months of unruly protests, a new specter haunts France: assaults on its beloved langue française. Not from encroaching English this time, but rather from changing French sensibilities.

Last week, the daily Libération carried an editorial by feminist Emmanuèle Peyret that lashed out at the title mademoiselle. Derived from a medieval identifier of age and social standing that applied to both sexes, mademoiselle today, she argues, is a signal to men that a younger woman is either unwed — and thus "pick-upable and bedable" — or an "old maid who obviously hasn't seen any action since 1963." She urges a generic use of madame for all women, like Ms. in English. The attacks don't end there. Use of the formal vous (you), for example, is losing ground swiftly to the more personal tu — especially in the workplace. Once reserved for family and close friends, tu has become so common — and arguably hip — that some companies, including Microsoft, IKEA and Club Med, have even encouraged its use between workers and executives, arguing it cuts hierarchy and stimulates exchange.

Never mind, opines Académie Française member Michel Déon. "All these changes suggest we're all the same, on the same level, equal and close," he says. "The world doesn't work that way. We're different. Why deprive ourselves the language tools that acknowledge that?" Et tu, mademoiselle?

• BRUCE CRUMLEY
• Hit or miss? A formal debate forms over the correct form of address