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231 points rntn | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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alex_suzuki ◴[] No.35413018[source]
Italy really knows how to focus on what’s really important to address challenges like high unemployment and weak economy.
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borroka ◴[] No.35413140[source]
It is a very poor argument and ignores the fact that the lives of people, institutions and countries are not just about (the very important) jobs and economics.

I, who have lived in the United States for decades, cringe when English words are used instead of those of my native language to give a sense of respectability to those words.

A global culture and a world homogenized in ways of living is a much less interesting world.

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version_five ◴[] No.35413279[source]
Culture can still thrive without being nationalist or traditionalist or whatever you call it.

What would people think if there was an american movement to stop using foreign loan words in English because they're diluting our culture?

I live in Quebec, Canada, where there is extreme policing of the French language, including various unconstitutional legislation to "preserve" French (the Canadian constitution has an override clause). It's a purely populist measure that does nothing for culture. I find it ironic but typical how much Quebec focuses on superficial cultural aspects (language) while hardly engaging at all with real questions of celebrating heritage - and other than the language, the culture is way closer to english canada than anything European.

Anyway, these language things are shallow populist measures to whip up a base, they're not about serious stewardship of cultural identity.

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rcme ◴[] No.35413582[source]
And yet Qubec is one of the most culturally distinct places in the U.S. and Canada combined. Surely cultural preservation laws are part of that.
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dghughes ◴[] No.35414240[source]
We have many French cultures in Canada besides Quebecois. There are Acadian people in The Maritimes they are not Quebecois many forced to flee to Louisiana and are called Cajuns. Non-Quebecois French people in Ontario and the prairies, plus Metis (French+First Nations) on the prairies too.

Other distinct cultures in Canada would be Newfoundland a separate nation for years. Plus all the First Nations across Canada and Inuit in the northern territories and Labrador goes without saying.

You could even add the 500,000 Ukrainians on the prairies a culture going back probably 150 years.

Chinese culture too first starting in the province of BC since probably 1800 older than my own Irish culture the majority who only came here in the mid 1800s to 1870s.

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rcme ◴[] No.35414640[source]
And none of those cultures have cultures nearly as strong as the Quebecois, which is basically a global cultural brand at this point.
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1. dghughes ◴[] No.35421766[source]
Yeah Acadian/Cajun totally unknown of /s
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2. rcme ◴[] No.35428315[source]
https://www.theadvocate.com/curious_louisiana/curious-louisi...

> Some data suggest there are perhaps 120,000 French speakers in the state, down from about 1 million just 60 years ago. Of those, perhaps 20,000 speak Cajun French, others traditional French.

Sounds like the culture is thriving.