Académie de la Carpette anglaise

The Académie de la Carpette anglaise, which may be translated as the "English Doormat Academy" (the word "carpette" means both "rug" and "fawner"), awards an annual prize to "members of the French élite who distinguish themselves by relentlessly promoting the domination of English over French in France and in European institutions." Whether admired or despised for its tongue-in-cheek rhetoric, the Academy has captured the attention of many in the French-speaking world who genuinely fear that the growing pervasiveness of English will lead to the decline and ultimate demise of French.

The Academy, whose members include well-known literary, scientific and political personalities, was created in 1999 by a group of four French-language associations.ref num|a|1 In 2001 a second award was introduced to spotlight "key figures and constituent bodies among the European and international nomenklatura who actively conspire to promote the use of English within European and international institutions". As one member of the Academy put it, its aim is "to reward all those obscure geniuses (...) who are only too ready to say: "Welcome to our dearly-beloved invaders!" as Ceramix proudly proclaimed in the album Asterix and the Big Fight.ref num|r|2" Like the Ig Nobel Prize, the English Doormat Award heaps ridicule on its recipients.

Winners of the English Doormat Award

*1999: Louis Schweitzer, CEO of Renault, for imposing the use of American English in its internal meeting reports. The runner-up was Claude Allègre, French minister of education, for declaring that "French people must stop considering English as a foreign language."
*2000: Alain Richard, French minister of defense, for making it compulsory for French military personnel to speak English within the Eurocorps, which has no English-speaking nations among its members.
*2001: Jean-Marie Messier, CEO of Vivendi Universal, for his unconditional promotion of English for all internal communication purposes.
*2002: Jean-Marie Colombani, editor of Le Monde, for publishing a weekly (untranslated) selection from the New York Times in English.
*2003: The HEC Group, whose general manager, Bernard Ramanantsoa, declared: "To say that French is an international language of communication is laughable in this day and age."
*2004: Claude Thélot, president of the Commission for National Debate on the Future of Schools, for declaring that English as a language of international communication should enjoy equal status with French in the school curriculum, and for recommending that undubbed American soaps should be aired on French television as an aid to learning English. Another nominee was Claude Simonet, president of the French Football Federation, who adopted the Jackson 5's hit "Can You Feel It" as the anthem of the French team.
*2005: France Telecom, the telephone company run by Didier Lombard, for putting in place services and products with English descriptions ("Business Talk, Live-Zoom, Family Talk..."). This entry defeated, by a vote of eight to four, the entry for Yves Daudigny, president of the consul-general for the département of Aisne, for his publicity campaign "L'Aisne, it's Open".

Winners of the special Jury Award

*2001: Lego, the Danish toy company, for showcasing its products in English, in France and all over the world, with slogans such as "Explore being me", "Explore together", Explore logic" and "Explore imagination."
*2002: Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, for defying community rules by never missing an opportunity to promote English as the one and only language for labelling food products and negotiating with other European countries.
*2003: Pascal Lamy, for his systematic use of English in defiance of community rules, while acting as European commissioner.
*2004: Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, for presenting the ECB's policy statements in English at the European Parliament and for declaring "I am not a Frenchman" (in English) when taking office.
*2005: Josep Borrell, president of the European Parliament, for favouring English at a session of the Euro-Mediterranean parliamentary assembly after having just presided at Rabat in Morocco without having translated the working papers.
*2006: Ernest-Antoine Seillière, president of the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe, for having delivered a speech to the European Council in Brussels in March 2006.
*2007: The police of Geneva, for an advertisement "United Police of Geneva" (title in English).

References

# "Avenir de la langue française", "Association pour l'essor de la langue française", "Défense de la langue française", "Le droit de comprendre". [http://www.langue-francaise.org/] [http://perso.wanadoo.fr/avenirlf/Adressesutiles/Assocliees.htm#AFAL]
# "Radio France Internationale", 14 November 2002. [http://www.rfi.fr/actufr/articles/035/article_19699.asp]