MONTREAL -- The Bloc Quebecois has offered a suggestion for Montreal store clerks accustomed to greeting customers with 'Bonjour-Hi!'
The Bloc is suggesting the more festive, and less English, 'Bonjour-Ho!'
Twitter erupted when the Bloc posted the suggestion, along with its campaign "2021: On touche du bois!"
"Montreal will also benefit from the 'Bonjour-Ho!" campaign, which promotes the use of French," the Bloc wrote.
Responses ranged from mocking the creativity to celebrating it, along with clever word plays.
"When they go hi, we go ho," wrote one Twitter user in response.
Athletica Lac Brome in Knowlton, Quebec, about an hour southeast of Montreal, got into the spirit and posted a Bonjour-Ho! sign in its front window.
"Screw it, someone needs to be the first," the business posted on its Facebook page. "It may as well be us. I mean, Ho'ing around with some Christmas cheer can't hurt."
The campaign comes on the heels of Quebec politicians trying to eliminate the popular "bonjour-hi!" greeting often used by sales clerks and business owners trying to accommodate shoppers in the metropolis who could speak either French or English as their first language.
The province's minister responsible for French, Simon Jolin-Barrette, said he plans to announce revisions to the province's language laws in the new year. He also spoke last year about ways to ban the use of the phrase "bonjour-hi."
Long-serving Bloc MP Louis Plamondon also spoke recently about French's demise in Montreal and the need to do more to encourage people to speak French.
"In Montreal, it's in very big danger," he said. "I was in Montreal three weeks ago and in each business that I went, they spoke English with me first and often they had difficulty giving me an answer in French."
Political analyst Tom Mulcair shares his thoughts on the Bloc suggestion on CJAD 800 radio. Listen here:
