'Il m'a envoyé un texto pornographique!' France's linguistic police decree new Gallic interpretation of word for 'sexting'

Authorities propose string of French versions of often-used English words

Other translated terms include 'prenuptial agreement' and 'happy slap'

Authorities across the Channel have decreed that the English term 'sexting' is to be henceforth known in French as 'textopornographie'.

L’Académie française made its pronouncement earlier this month, ruling also that the imported gerund's associated noun, 'sext', must to French speakers become 'texto pornographique'.

And if that's a bit of a mouthful for heavy breathing French lovers the Académie has also suggested a ready-made contraction, 'sexto'.



'Ooh la la! Un sexto!' Sexting, or textopornographie, is the act of sending sexually explicit messages and photographs, usually between mobile phones, that has become popular with the rise of portable technology

The decision came among a wave of rulings that proposed new French terms for 'prenuptial agreement', 'happy slapping' and 'child grooming'.

L’Académie française, which is France's linguistic watchdog, has been fighting a long war against the infiltration of English terms and idioms, advising countrymen to replace such words as 'le weekend' with 'le fin de la semaine' and so on.

But their latest fightback against the Anglophonic invasion is to coin a new term for something you might have expected speakers of the language of love to invent in the first place.

Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit messages and photographs, usually between mobile phones. The English term, a portmanteau of sex and texting, first rose to popularity in the early 21st century.

As the spread of technology encouraged the risque practice around the world, many languages adopted the word too. But France's authorities have now decided to crack down on its usage.

Technology has proved a potent Trojan horse for smuggling English words into French, previously spurring authorities to invent new terms for email (courriel), software (logiciel) and walkman (baladeur).

Last year, they famously ruled that the Twitter-inspired term 'hashtag' be replaced with the more elegantly French version 'mot-dièse'

L’Académie française was founded in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, then chief minister to King Louis the XIII, as the preeminent authority on matters pertaining to the French language.

According its founding documents, the role of the Académie is to 'to labour with all the care and diligence possible, to give exact rules to our language, to render it capable of treating the arts and sciences.'

Its 40 members, elected for life by other members of the Académie, are known as immortels and wear an elaborate Napoleonic uniform of long, black coats and black-feathered cocked hats richly embroidered with leafy green motifs.

L'Institut de France, which houses L¿Académie française: France's linguistic watchdog has been fighting a long war against the infiltration of English idioms, including such words as 'le weekend', 'le podcast' and 'chat'

The Académie's General Commission on Terminology and Word Invention made its pronouncement on sexting in a communique published on December 5.

Other English words and terms given a Gallic reinterpretation included 'child pornography', which is now 'pédopornographie'; 'child grooming', which became 'pédopiégeage'; 'happy slapping', which was given the more appropriate-sounding description 'vidéoagression'; and 'prenuptial agreement' is now 'accord prénuptial'.

The French Government commissioned a report into English usage three years ago, which warned that the global domination of Anglo-Saxon culture had plunged the future of the French language into a 'deep crisis'.

The report said: 'English-speakers have a vision of the so-called English-speaking world, but an equivalent concept does not seem to exist in France.

'Despite having 200million French-speakers on Earth, the idea of a French-speaking world is becoming obsolete.