Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
I do expect this will die out eventually, but I too am surprised at how long it has persisted. 20-25 years ago this is not what I would have expected for 2020. Demolinguistics have a mind of their own I guess.
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Yeah, wouldn't have thought. And I keep getting surprised. Just last year I found that the Stewartstown town clerk (the neighboring town) was fluent in French, and later in the year I also found one of the bankers at Citizens' Bank in Colebrook was fluent in French. That's in addition to several realtors I know in the area. They're always super happy to have an occasion to bring their French out of the mothballs, and I always accept to switch.
Every single one of those people is at least 40-50 years old though. I have never met any Yank of my generation or younger - even the ones with traditional Québécois surnames - who can speak any French, even the ones who literally live / grew up on the border.
So it's pretty much guaranteed that by the time you and I are very old, this feature of northernmost New England will be a thing of the past.