Americans Don't Know Nothin' 'bout Canada
Dec. 22nd, 2011 08:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
danalwynI have a stupid Canada question (to which Jackal probably knows the answer, but maybe somebody else does too):
Upon visiting the RCMP website, I note that in English RCMP stands for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (common knowledge). However, the French title is the Gendarmerie royale du Canada. Now, I can't speak French (I'm American after all), but the best translation I would give for this would be the Royal Canadian Military Police (military police is a bit of a misnomer, the proper English term for gendarmerie is gendarmerie and is used when discussing force organization in foreign countries).
Now, certainly the RCMP has acted as a gendarmerie force within its history, but it seems odd that the term "Mounted" has slipped out of the French version. Do the RCMP walk in Quebec? Is there a "mounted" connotation to gendarmerie in French from its original origins that lasts to today (as I said, I don't actually speak French)? Or is this just one of those "That sounds stupid in French" "Oh yeah? Well that sounds stupid in English" conventions?
In short: I know nothing about Canada and am reduced to asking stupid and totally irrelevant questions on the internet. This sums up a great deal of my life.
Upon visiting the RCMP website, I note that in English RCMP stands for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (common knowledge). However, the French title is the Gendarmerie royale du Canada. Now, I can't speak French (I'm American after all), but the best translation I would give for this would be the Royal Canadian Military Police (military police is a bit of a misnomer, the proper English term for gendarmerie is gendarmerie and is used when discussing force organization in foreign countries).
Now, certainly the RCMP has acted as a gendarmerie force within its history, but it seems odd that the term "Mounted" has slipped out of the French version. Do the RCMP walk in Quebec? Is there a "mounted" connotation to gendarmerie in French from its original origins that lasts to today (as I said, I don't actually speak French)? Or is this just one of those "That sounds stupid in French" "Oh yeah? Well that sounds stupid in English" conventions?
In short: I know nothing about Canada and am reduced to asking stupid and totally irrelevant questions on the internet. This sums up a great deal of my life.