Mademoiselle from Armentières, parlez-vous?

According to the tv show I am just watching the Minister of the Interior wants to forbid the police from tutoyer-ing the public while on duty.

Glad to hear it. The alternative is unpardonable, IMO.

It was news here some years ago when, in an effort to instil more discipline in local (Quebec) schools, it was announced that students must address their teacher as "vous".

I was a teacher here in States and students often addressed teachers with You - yup just plain 'You' like in Hey You!

"the Minister of the Interior wants to forbid the police from tutoyer-ing the public while on duty."

Does "the public" include suspects in custody? They generally get tutoied by the police (but do not respond in kind) in the <i>romans policiers</i> that I've read (all of which are probably 40 years old or more).

"Does "the public" include suspects in custody?"

Especially suspects in custody. It is supposed to improve the relationship between people and the police (don't laugh).
However the Minister of Interior hasn't specified if the suspects will be required to stop using the f word when talking to the police.

There's nothing stuffy about it. It gives the speakers much more information about their relationship with each other rather than throwing a blanket over it.

tu kerouac ou vous kerouac - pour moi c'est sure c'est "vous"!

The English way is far more egalitarian. Everyone speaks on the same level. Simple>

rubbish - there is the Queen's English and such accents as the Midlands dialect that is not nearly so posh - rather in the UK there are great differences in the English spoken - even in England and do not say that hotty tots like those speaking the Queen's English do not look down on the likes of Midlands dialect.

His Highness is correct.

Someone asked about using 'monsieur' all the time. This week I had sole workers over and we absolutely referred to eachother as Monsieur and Madame throughout the afternoon. 'Would you like a glass of water, Monsieur?' 'Madame, please look at this problem.' 'You need to fix that now, Monsieur.' And so on. It may nit be Flaubert's epoque, but we were not going to be on a first name basis and in French, you often add something to indicate who you are addressing.
As for English dialects v the vous. Dialects define the speaker, the vius defines the speaker's definition of the relationship between two parties. Subtle, but pretty different, all the same.

do not say that hotty tots like those speaking the Queen's English do not look down on the likes of Midlands dialect.>>

hotty tots???

do you mean hoity toity, Pal? [more likely]

or hottentots? [not likely at all, but with you you never know].

BTW i speak the Queen's English but hail from the midlands. what does that make me? [a hotty tot, probably!]

What I have found fascinating in the UK over the past couple of decades (since this thread has long since wandered) is how a form of speech somewhere between Cockney and Clapham has become popular among young people whose parents sent them to the poshest of schools.

It's quite funny, really, how someone whose great-grandfather didn't have his aitches has adopted a mode of speaking that the immediately preceding generations assiduously worked to eliminate.

It may be related to that search for "authenticity" or rebellion against one's parents that results in the vast majority of Rap music in the States being sold to middle-class suburban white boys.

BTW i speak the Queen's English but hail from the midlands. what does that make me? [a hotty tot, probably!]>

makes you someone who jettisoned your native dialect in favor of the more acceptable Queen's English - why did you abandon your native tongue - how many folks who speak the queen's English jettison it and adopt a Midlands' dialect? Nuff said.

'rather in the UK there are great differences in the English spoken - even in England and do not say that hotty tots like those speaking the Queen's English do not look down on the likes of Midlands dialect.'

Dare I say that Palenque's knowledge of English language (hotty tot rather than hoity toity) is about equivalent to his knowledge of French language and customs. Not always very useful.

makes you someone who jettisoned your native dialect in favor of the more acceptable Queen's English - why did you abandon your native tongue - how many folks who speak the queen's English jettison it and adopt a Midlands' dialect? Nuff said.>>

neither of my parents had a midlands accent, which may explain why I don't and never did.

but have you never heard of legendary BBC DJ and broadcaster John Peel? He had a perfectly normal RP accent but adopted a liverpudlian one.

nuff said indeed.

Eureka! I think he's heard the expression "posh totty" and it has churned around to become "hotty tot"
Palenquologists are surprised that he has been silent about the Jubilee. The Royal Family is usually one of his trigger points.
BTW, Tony Blair abandoned his posh public school accent for Estuary

annhig - do you think there would be absolutely no difference if say in Court - I think you are a barrister - one who wears those ridiculous wigs - that addressing the Court in Coronation Street type language you would be as effective and erudite as in RP accent?

Perhaps with a jury but not IMO a judge - stereotypes come into play - like recently I was a scorer on a standardized test from the State of Tennessee (I work part-time as a test scorer for a firm here in Michigan that contracts with Tennessee - and the Tennessee State Department of Education sent a top official up to look over what we were doing and when she opened her mouth to address us Man what a hill billy drawl - just like in the Beverly Hillbillies - it caught all of us by surprise and we were chuckling inside and it did affect our judgment of her as a 'country yokel' - she even was using improper English as hill billies normally do - so I think your dialect could well make a difference in many situations, whether it should or not. Someone using Queen's English perhaps being perceived as more educated, etc than someone not?

PQ, I beg you, never use the phrase "hotty tot" in the UK. It's hardly one any of us actually uses, and to the extent that a meaning can be discerned, it might land you in a whole heap of trouble (think about it).

>> Someone using Queen's English perhaps being perceived as more educated, etc than someone not?<<

Yes, indeed, and it is not unknown for such a perception to be true in many cases and sadly deceptive in many others. There used to be a comedy character on TV called "Tim Nice-But-Dim", for example. And there are very well-educated, erudite and clever people who nevertheless make a complete Horlicks of many a situation - particularly those who go into politics.

I would never add 'monsieur' or 'madame' to every sentence, but some people do. I figure that once I have said it in the original greeting 'bonjour monsieur,' one size fits all.

I would like to make sure at this point of the discussion that everybody remembers to say 'bonjour monsieur' (or madame) to the driver when boarding a bus or a taxi. It is highly important. (Well, maybe not so much for bus drivers to whom half of the passengers are not properly polite, but really this is quite an important nicety of daily life in France.)