Canadian Railroads > Exo (Montreal) e-mail newsletter

I have an OPUS card, so I get on their mailing list. I had it do an English translation.:

https://rtm.quebec/fr/actualites/nouvelles-evenements/nouvelles/travaux-estivaux-CP-CN?_cldee=am9lbXA1NEBnbWFpbC5jb20%3d&recipientid=contact-85ab6468f3fae411a9f0005056bd39e1-a81c5f0573d04c1094501aae40623d9e&esid=d12bde95-766e-e811-b048-005056acbb08

I didn't realize that Canada calls cross ties "sleepers" like the Brits do.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/18 10:02 by joemvcnj.

French Canadians may call cross ties "sleepers" in French, but they are cross ties everywhere else.

Curiously, some "correct" European French railway terms have infiltrated into North American French railway language.

However, only civil servants use them. It is a class distinction thing. Some people in authority insist that the French language be "properly spoken" at all times, while the citizenry adopt words, some of which are "Frenglish".


Somehow, the railroad French in Quebec survives even in the face of official displeasure. As a railroader, it was always interesting to accuse a pompous civil servant trying to dissuade the use of slang, by accusing them of being less of a true "Quebecer" by using Parisian French.

To quote the late Jacques Pariseau , former Premier. "By Jove".

Indeed, listening to French-speaking crews working in Montreal on a scanner, you'll hear many English terms.

Michael