It seems no matter from whence my French-speaking friends come - be it France, Belgium, Canada or Switzerland - they universally correct me when I wish them "Bon Matin!"
Unlike most French-Speakers who are often curt - one kind Belgian fellow gently advised me at a Hotel in the Mountains -
"Matin is indeed French for Morning, but we do NOT say 'Bon Matin'".
Well, why not? How does the universe of French Speakers intuitively know that this is "Bad French"? AFAICT, they agree that there is no specific RULE that prohibits greeting "Bon Matin, yet it's KNOWN that this "franglais-ism" will NOT pass for French. Jamais! "Ils ne passeront pas!"
Yet, we have Halachic "Progressives" who push the Franglais envelope daily, they insist that absent any specific rule, it is permitted to speak as one wishes in the field of Halachah. Strange - n'est-ce pas? - to incorporate foreign idioms into French simply because there is no contrary rule. They seem to say that - without a definite rule to the contrary, why- "C'est un moreceau de gateau!"
As my Choveir R Michah Berger has stated, Halachah has its own language - or technical jargon - and we CAN intuitively know franglais from authentic francais even "sans" a contrary rule
Shalom,
RRW
2 comments:
Actually, I can't take credit. It is R' Dr Moshe Koppel's comparison (Metahalakhah pg 39). Halachic rules are an approximation of something that is inherently more complex in kind than rules and algorithms. Much the way grammar is only approximated by ever more complex rules which still never get a foreigner studying the language in class to the same feel for grammar that the native-speaker has.
-micha
This is why our Oral Torah can never be fully committed to writing, regardless of our intentions; its original, essential character lives on.
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