Twitter Reacts To Viral Tweet About Kentucky Fried Chicken’s French Translation in Quebec
Yesterday, a Twitter user from Melbourne, Australia was shocked to discover that many brands translated their names into French when launching a location in Quebec.
In disbelief, the user, whose handle is Mathaiaus, found a KFC location that had a sign that read “PFK” above its entrance.
“Someone told me that the French laws language in Quebec are so strict that even KFC is PFK (Poulet Fris Kentucky) so I had to check on Google Maps for myself and now I’m screaming into a pillow,” they wrote.
“Not even in France is it PFK why are Quebecois so fucking psycho about this,” they asked in a reply.
Naturally, many Quebecois folks landed in the user’s replies to defend and bash Quebec’s strict language laws.
Several people didn’t seem fazed by Quebecois people wanting to have brand names available in French.
Is QC the only place facing hatred and ridicule for trying to preserve its own language, at the sake of nuisance for anglophones who can’t bother to learn it? We applaud and support language preservation in every part of the world, but why is it not cool when QC does it? Ian Joo
— Cynthia Roxane Angel (she, she/her) = 2 wings! (@CynthiaRoxane) September 12, 2023
Others pointed out how other stores, including Staples and The Body Shop, followed suit and changed their names to follow the laws.
While many people compared the situation to France, which kept the original KFC name, others pointed out that KFC had been translated into Cyrillic.
In 2012, the New York Times even wrote an article detailing certain aspects of Quebec’s laws language and how KFC and Staples both changed their names to reflect the province’s French-speaking majority.
Still, neither KFC nor Staples were forced to change their names due to the language laws. One user pointed out that “they did this of their own volition” and that “they weren’t legally obligated to” translate their brand names.
Yeah and Staples is “Bureau en Gros”. However, there is a loophole because the law doesn’t apply to trademarks.
— nemanja (@nemanjaYVR) September 12, 2023
Correct. KFC did this of their own volition, they weren’t legally obligated to.
— nemanja (@nemanjaYVR) September 12, 2023
The tweet has so far reached over 10,000 retweets and over 110,000 likes.
