Adieu mademoiselle

Sir, – You are right to say only some French feminists have a problem with gender in the French language, as indeed they are…

Sir, – You are right to say only some French feminists have a problem with gender in the French language, as indeed they are very much in the minority (Editorial, March 3rd).

Most French feminists, as indeed the whole francophone world, see two genders as perfectly natural, all of nature is based on duality and complementary, the same richness and diversity is found in the vast majority of world languages, except English. Your Editorial was written very much from the perspective of someone trapped in the anglophone mindset, telling other languages how to conduct themselves, very much in the spirit of Basil Fawlty. This is ideological imperialism of Orwellian newspeak proportions.

On a lighter note, before giving lessons to the French on the French language, your Irish anglophone newspaper might perhaps consider the Irish language: I believe your local celtic language is just as ideologically incorrect as any Latin language. – Yours, etc,

MARIE-JEANNE KREMPP

(Mademoiselle),

Cour du Bain des Juifs,

Strasbourg,

France.