Truck Stops That re Full 24/7

Over in Canada, the Quebecois call a driver a camionneur, and the truckstop is usually referred to by the English word (although a fuel stop with only a store can be called a depanneur..). A set of long doubles (2 48' trailers, the second on a dual-axle dolly) is called a train routier.

 

A few I HATED going into over the years:

Pilot Minooka, IL
Pilot Roanoke, VA

Heck all the old Pilot stops, just to small and crappy.

 

Yes, in reality the term Routier is short for Chauffeur Routier. The first word is from Chauffer (to Heat) and originates way back in the days of steam lorries when the driver had to heat up the water for steam before he could set off on the road.

No idea what we call doubles because they are so rare in France and only allowed as far as I know within certain areas of container ports so they can carry 2 x 20 foots on 2 trailers. If ever I have been in a discussion with French drivers about my time in Australia they always understood me when I used the term Road Trains.

A bit surprised that they use English at all though, for truck stops that is, most of those I have met here have been very anti English (one lives just down the road and is a miserable git, especially with me but also to the French around him) and detest the language. Perhaps that's why they returned to the 'old country', they thought there were no English speakers here. Oh dear !

I should say that I am not anti Quebecois though, they are not all the same. My son works at a Canadian school in China where most of the staff are Canadian and at least half Quebecois. They are good friends and he has no trouble with them at all.

 

The reality is that nearly everybody in Quebec has learned English in school (except maybe for the occasional bucheron who lives WAAAAY out in the northern forests..), and most of the First Nations people speak English before French, except for the Algonquins. Also, many of the northern parts of Ontario are predominately francophone. But, once you enter Quebec, ALL the signs are in French, even terms which generally use an English equivalent when spoken (Example; You can find a place to send a fax, but the sign will say telecopieur, a word which is never used in conversation).

The Quebecois pride themselves in being different. When you receive change in Canada, you will sometimes get a coin where somebody has scratched the living daylights out of the image of the sovereign; those coins went through Quebec at some point. When getting change in paper money, in Quebec they usually give you a LOT of $5 bills but no $10's, since the 5 has a picture of Oscar Laurier on it whereas the 10 has Malcom MacDonald. Also, when you go into a restroom, often you will find the "C" knob moved to the right side, and the "H" knob moved to the left, mounted with the "H" sideways, then a Sharpie was used to make that "H" look like an "F". I won't even try to explain how Quebec drivers try using priorite adroit as the ONLY rule of the road. If you are in France, you probably already have an understanding....

 

Without really getting to deep like anywhere else there’s a huge difference between city and country
The Montreal morons are just that…but I’ve dealt with many small businesses out of the big cities and we do just fine AuRevoir

 

I remember my first load to the Montreal area back in the early 90's. I needed to get 50 gallons of fuel at a small fuel stop and couldn't get the lady at the fuel desk to understand how much i needed. Another driver there said to get 185 liters and that would be about 50. So, i go back into the desk to pay and the lady was talking to some guy in perfect english. She then started to act like she couldn't understand me and another truck driver said something to her in french and she apologized and finished the transaction. I just don't understand her actions.

 

It's a bitter national memory for them, the English and the English language, and I understand it. Although not to the same extremes, many of us older English people rile at the the way American English has forced its way into the minds of our youngsters. American forms like 'hi' instead of 'hello' don't matter but grouped together with other words and phrases like 'can I get' instead of 'can I have' it does get a bit overwhelming. I do my best on here to use language you all understand but sometimes if I have to say 'guy' it is between gritted teeth and I use words that I am sure you understand like 'bloke', often.

But the French in France do not suffer from the same thing in their minds. Their STOP signs say STOP not ARRET for instance and nobody minds. What does get to me here is when the French think they are speaking English in business because of all the English people here. I shout at signs that say 'center' for instance 'it is spelled (spelt?) 'centre' for goodness' sake, the same as it is in French.

We all have out hangups I suppose, and language is the most basic. Even Americans, the thread about drivers needing to understand English for instance. In Europe it is quite normal for drivers not to understand the local language and we get by without mayhem. But then we can pass through half a dozen different ones in a single day.

But there is no need for rudeness like refusing to understand a language we know someone understands perfectly, just to make a point. The French don't do it to us here, if they have a little English they use it out of politeness, but, I did feel a bit uncomfortable, as I said once before I think, when our lone Quebecois in the village was mocked for his accent. They don't do that for our attempts at French.

Edit: Forgot to ask, do the Cajuns still speak French, or only when they are singing. I just love their music, and their accents.

 

1: Actually, in eastern Canada, "British standard English" spellings are mostly preferred (i.e.; centre, labour, but NOT gaol or kerb...), but when you get to Manitoba and provinces west of there, American Standard spellings are used.

2) Most American drivers are so ignorant of French that my company had drivers cited almost every month for bypassng a sign by the La Fontaine tunnel which said "Materiels dangereuses intedit dans le tunnel"..... And metric height restrictions? Fugettaboutit.!......

3) My ancestry (and my last name) is partly French, from an area now in Maine which only differs from being Quebecois because they were on the other side of the border constructed after the Webster-Wellburton treaty defined our northern border. Before that, the area was called "Maskinonge", but now my ancestry would be defined as more Franco-American. But my name is one which is extremely common in Quebec, so when I worked there, people were always addressing me in French, even though my family had been anglophones for at least 3 generations. So, I figured I really should make an effort to learn my ancestral tongue.
FWIW, to speak "Joual", you must ALWAYS use the familiar verb forms, and to get the accent correct, try speaking with a cigarette dangling from your lips...

4) Essentially ALL Cajuns speak English, except when with other Cajuns. But Cajuns rarely want to talk with 'outsiders'...

 

Most English people, even older ones like me do not normally use 'gaol', I only do it partly because it is officially correct but also because I like winding people up. But 'kerb' ? Never knew that was a point of departure, what do you use in N. America for the edge of the pavement (sorry sidewalk) then? There is even an offence in the UK of 'kerb crawling' which is the action of drivers driving really slowly to pick up street walkers (I don't know if that is the same in N.A. for prostitutes)

Talking of names, although my own originates from Denmark, we have been in Wales for many generations. Both my Grandfathers were Welsh speaking and the language now, after years of banning and punishment is now obligatory in all schools in Wales. I would love to learn the language but it is way too difficult, apart from terms of endearment (I was always called by them 'Daffydd bach' (pronounced Davuth, little David, when very young) but they never spoke it to me otherwise.

My Great Grandfather, on a trip to Cornwall (also Celtic with its own language now largely disappeared but close to Breton in the NW of France) met and married a local girl and brought her back home with him to Llanelli. The family, although they could speak English never used it in front of her except when speaking directly to her, and she, a very strong personality, said her children would never learn Welsh, They did though, of their own accord.

 

Depends on who you define as "cajun." A lot of people "think" they are cajun because they were born in south LA, but have no cajun ancestry. I do. My dad is 100% cajun and my mom 0 so I'm 50%. The older cajuns still speak french but they are quickly dying off. The next generation, my dads, were not even allowed to speak it in school. So my dad knows some french but can't speak it. Me, I know like 2 words. I know more spanish than french.

Cajun songs are sometimes french but that's it. Most people under 50 don't even know what the words to the french cajun songs are. We also don't all sound like Troy Landry from swamp people (I actually used to work at the hangar his rented private jet was located, and I did some maintenance to it with his pilot assisting) with his strong accent. I've had people tell me they are shocked to find out I'm cajun from Louisiana. They all say "You don't sound cajun." No, we don't all sound like swamp rats. So the accents are going away with each generation. You can still hear it a tiny bit in some people my age, and very very few kids under 30 still have any cajun accent. My grandfather had a strong cajun accent, my dad has none. I have none. None of my aunts or uncles have a cajun accent yet all are 100% cajun. Their kids don't either, of course.

For some reason people think everyone from Louisiana is stupid. I, for one, have multiple college degrees, I'm a licensed pilot, aircraft mechanic and General class Ham radio operator. All of that before my 30th birthday. Of course that excludes my CDL and associated endorsements. We're not all morons. It seems some people feel cajuns with their accent come across as stupid. The accent is just that, it has no reflection on the intelligence of the speaker.