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March 4, 2013
Pasta: a linguistic crime
Pasta: a linguistic crime

In France, L’Academie francaise has always been pretty zealous about guarding the purity of the French language. Nothing is more likely to make an Academy member throw up his mains in horreur than hearing mention of le weekend or, Mon Dieu, le chewing gum.

However, according to this story in The Guardian, sections of Montreal’s Quebecois are just as vigilant when it comes to policing the French language.

Buonanotte restaurant in Montreal has been hauled over the coals by the language police by referring to a bottle as ‘bottiglia’ rather than the French ’bouteille’ and also calling pasta, well, ‘pasta’ as opposed to the French word ‘pâtes’.

Using foreign words when there is a perfectly good French one is, apparently, illegal in French-speaking Quebec.

Sensibly Buonanotte has responded by bringing out a range of slogan T-shirts to make their case.

One wonders what would happen were someone to open a Scottish restaurant in Montreal. Would haggis have to be described as the very literal ‘panse de brebis farcie’ or stuffed sheep’s stomach?

Italian restaurants in Glasgow

Whether you prefer pasta to pâtes or would rather duck the issue and order a carbonara, 5pm Restaurants has a fantastic range of Italian restaurants which would be delighted to serve you fusilli, spaghetti or penne – however you choose to pronounce them.

Big Deal at Viva Ristorante

5pm Big Deal is also running a tasty offer with Viva Ristorante on Glasgow’s Bothwell Street. The full details are here but, essentially, the offer is £10 for two people to have a pizza or pasta dish from the a la carte.

There are supplements on ravioli and seafood dishes.