Ce cuisinomane, il est fou, dis !? – Opinions sur un néologisme et anticipation de son implantation dans l’usage

Abstract

Innovations and new trends associated with the culinary world have led to the creation of new concepts, such as “foodie”, in English. In Quebec, where linguistic policy has made French the only official language in the province, the Office québécois de la langue française recently proposed cuisinomane to replace this borrowed word. This case study contributes to a better understanding of the factors that help or hinder the implantation of terms in language use by extracting initial opinions expressed by Twitter users regarding the term cuisinomane. The results show that discussion pertaining to these terms seems to occur over a very short period of time and also reveals indicators that have influenced speakers’ acceptance or rejection of these terms. While the general reception of cuisinomane was more negative than positive, the reasons differ based on the language in which the tweets were published. Finally, positive reception was generally linked with the desire to see “foodie” replaced by another term.