Left-wing Speech Control

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It looks like someone was up past his bed time last night.

Since you requested it...

Dennis Prager, the author of the article that we are discussing, seems not to be afflicted with an excessive level of intelligence. For him, every shift in language or public sensitivities is a matter of "Leftist Language Control", and emblematic of the "Totalitarian Leftists" taking over the world.

Leftist political leanings aren't required in order to understand, for example, that "Redskins" might not be an appropriate name for a football team. Even the most fossilized conservative might be able to figure this one out. All that is required is a level of intelligence that exceeds that of a moron.

And, uncritically agreeing with Mr. Prager's every point, and participating in his silly orgy of false-Leftist bashing, would suggest a level of intelligence that was lower than that of Mr. Prager's himself.

It's interesting that you were the one to latch onto the naming of sports teams aside in the article and now you are using it to establish your own level of intelligence while deriding others for having thoughts in opposition to your own.

Its what the Francophone Canadians tradtionally called themselves. So the team's name could be take to mean just Quebecois French speakers, or could be taken to mean all Canadians. But even if you take it to mean the latter you're still naming your team after a nationality.

It may be interesting that he's doing it, but it is really unsurprising.

Why, just because pandabear's been doing this for a couple years now without a pause to take in some oxygen?

Ever since George W. Bush took office in January 2001, or when Fox News first was on the air, or further back when Rush Limbaugh first hit the airwaves the left wing has started to behave in a more and more deranged fashion, where we see fewer and fewer liberals behaving in a rational fashion. I mean seriously there was a leftist group calling for the lynching of a Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recently.

Don't you know, they've won all the debates by defining all the terms for them and so now all that's left for the left is to declare their version of a "holy war" against conservatives, just because they know in their heart of hearts that all of their causes are just?

Though its 4 pages later, just to clarify, 'Canadien' refers to the original settlers from France from before 1763. After this the province of Quebec was created

From whence did the term "Canadien" derive? Prior to that, the whole area was Called "La Nouvelle France" or some such thing (from Louisiana to gulf of the St. Lawrence), wasn't it?

Anyway, if anyone has seen anything wrong with naming a team after them, I haven't heard about it.

I'm pretty sure that it comes from an early native word for the land (though we aren't sure) 'Kanata'. Eventually many Coureur de bois (fur rangers) and settlers identified themselves as 'les Canadiens de Nouvelle France'. Louisiana and Acadia were two separate French colonies and they didn't refer to themselves as 'Canadiens'. The French word for 'Canadian' the nationality is also 'Canadien', but in terms of the hockey team or pre-1763 Quebec history 'Canadien' refers to the settlers and fur traders of the St. Laurence valley. Early settlers also called themselves 'Habitants' and as a result the Montreal Canadiens are often called 'Habs'

Well, "habitant" simply means "inhabitant."

I've heard the term "coureur de bois." What exactly does that mean, "runner of wood?" Does that mean that they are running through the woods? That they are running while carrying wood? Or that they are runners who were made of wood? And, why were they running so much?

lol!
I think it mostly has to do with the fact that they adopted many native American lifestyle fashions and lived out in the woods, 'running' fur down the Ottawa river while often under attack by the Iroquois

It does strike me as a rather odd expression, "coureur de bois"

Can "courir" be used as a transitive verb, though?

Sounds as though Coureur is probably related to the term courier, and perhaps even to the term carry. Spanish "correo" means "I am running" though.

I think a direct translation would be 'Runners of the Forest'
Courir in French does mean to run; coureur is a descriptive, as in 'runner'
Considering how close French and Spanish are you are correct. I have been exposed to French for most of my life and I am pretty much fluent, and I can sort of pick up on other Latin-based languages that have cognates with French