British commentators poke fun at Chirac's walkout

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2006

LONDON (AFP) — British newspapers have poked fun at President Jacques Chirac for walking out of the European Union summit over a speech delivered in English by a fellow Frenchman.

Several dailies used sprinklings of French to liven up their editorials but The Times went as far as to write its entire column in a wackily comic French and franglais under the English headline: "Diplomatic Language."

"The traitor provoked your immediate walkout with your ministers. Bravo! All of us countrymen must repel this monstrous anglophone wave and give the French language back its legitimate place within the European Union," The Times wrote.

However, caricaturing a haughty Frenchman, the Conservative daily warned that foreign diplomats would end up conversing in franglais,...