Local News

'Bonjour-Hi!' Quebec's National Assembly Says 'Au Revoir' To English Greeting

Vermont Public | By Melody Bodette,

Published December 13, 2017 at 9:22 AM EST

Montreal city in the snow — A coalition of lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution asking store owners in Montreal to welcome customers by using only the French greeting.

Quebec's National Assembly has discovered that what's in a greeting can contain multitudes.

A coalition of lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution asking store owners in Montreal to welcome customers by using only the French greeting "bonjour" rather than a combination of that salutation along with the English equivalent "hi" as in "bonjour-hi," which has become somewhat customary in recent years.

But that decision has many Montrealers rolling their eyes, as CBC reporter Kate McKenna explained.

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Melody Bodette

Melody is the Contributing Editor for But Why: A Podcast For Curious Kids and the co-author of two But Why books with Jane Lindholm.

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Mitch Wertlieb

A graduate of NYU with a Master's Degree in journalism, Mitch has more than 20 years experience in radio news. He got his start as news director at NYU's college station, and moved on to a news director (and part-time DJ position) for commercial radio station WMVY on Martha's Vineyard. But public radio was where Mitch wanted to be and he eventually moved on to Boston where he worked for six years in a number of different capacities at member station WBUR...as a Senior Producer, Editor, and fill-in co-host of the nationally distributed Here and Now. Mitch has been a guest host of the national NPR sports program "Only A Game". He's also worked as an editor and producer for international news coverage with Monitor Radio in Boston.

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