Je sais que là c'est une vieille affaire, mais une des mes connaissances de Yulblog, la confondatrice de Yulbiz, Michelle Blanc, était sur Tout le Monde en Parle il y a un an, une des émissions québécoises les plus populaires. Ça me fait tripper un peu, connaître une personne assez célèbre de passer sur cette émission.

J'ai une idée. Il y a un gros problème d'offrir des services psycho-sociaux et supplémentaires aux jeunes adultes atteints du cancer en français (comme en anglais, c'est très bon, more on this later) à Montréal et au Québec. Si je peux faire une différence, pourrais-je être sur cette émission aussi? :)

I was talking about the word "nègre" with Julie last night. We looked it up in the dictionary and found some interesting usages. Beyond the most obvious ones were:

• Nègre en chemise, now just called "noir et blanc"
• Nègre, meaning "ghostwriter". (Think about that.) The OQLF changed it to "auteur fantôme".
  

And in Quebec:

• Plan de nègre: An especially ugly expression describing some kind of underhanded plot
• Juif: This means "Jew", but, as in English, the way it is used is actually quite offensive. For example, you say to your little girl, "Eille, ma juive!" when she is doing something sneaky. This is something that an older generation is far more likely to say, but then again, maybe not. I also really dislike the English usage (to be "jewed" = to be cheated out of something).
  

I'd like to know of more of these types of expressions in Quebec and elsewhere in the French-speaking world.

Maison typique du Plateau

Selon Wikipédia, un gentilé est un terme par lequel on désigne les habitants d'un lieu, d'une région, d'une province, d'un pays, d'un continent, ou une identité nationale ou ethnique. Le mot pour une personne du Québec est québécois; celui pour une personne de la France est français. Mais quel est le mot qui décrit une personne du Plateau Mont-Royal? Je vous propose un des mots suivants: prétendant, arriviste ou poseur*.

Aujourd'hui les Montréalais (un autre gentilé) ont profité du premier jour à ressemblance estivale de 2009. Et naturellement, les familles sont allées en masse aux parcs, dont Julie et sa fille. (Moi j'étais à Montréal-Ouest pour ma session hebdomadaire de l'acupuncture.) On va souvent au Parc Laurier quand il fait beau dehors puisque le parc est propre, il y a une piscine et beaucoup de monde, mais pas trop.

One of the most obvious criticisms of the Canadian health care system (and Quebec system, and it pains me that I have to separate the two) is that it can take months to get important appointments such as checkups, scans and surgeries. But since being diagnosed with cancer, I haven't had to wait at all for anything, really. For example, I spoke to Suj last April and got an appointment with a GI on May 3. It took about two weeks. On May 4, I spoke to my surgeon. On around May 14, I had a diagnostic laparoscopy. On June 7, I started chemotherapy. When I got an infected blood clot, I was almost immediately sent to a room in the hospital. My surgery was scheduled only three weeks in advance. Post-operative care has been within three weeks whenever I needed it, and often much sooner than that. This latest round, my appointment with the oncologist was within two weeks, and my chemo (which is tomorrow) was scheduled within a week of that. Easy.

People say that those who get treatment as good or better than mine are considered or assumed to be privileged, as in rich; they get what they need when they need it. Everyone else can go to hell, it seems. First of all, who is everyone else? Am I privileged because I am close to a major Canadian health centre? Is that it? I think that's partially the reason, certainly. Someone in Kuujjuaq probably wouldn't have the same care as someone here, certainly. But what else sets me apart? Am I privileged even for those within a short driving distance of a major Canadian health centre? Are there people in Scarborough or Pointe St-Charles that have to wait and wait for weeks and months for care, while I have to just call or walk into the hospital and get what I want, sometimes even before I want it? Maybe the staff just likes me, I don't know. I think I get along pretty well with nurses, actually.

Can anyone comment on these phenomena? Who is not getting served properly in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, etc.? I know that I had an advantage at the very beginning getting into the system, and perhaps that made ALL the difference. I was able to get referred into the system, possibly because I knew someone. I can't say for sure if that's true or not, but it may be true. I was examined by this specialist. But I don't think that that explains the treatment I have received since then.

First name basis, of course. Me, posing with Patrick Huard himself. He was being interviewed by Penelope McQuade. While I didn't get an autographed copy of Bon Cop, Bad Cop, I did get to speak with him backstage and get this picture!

Oh, and check this out for more recent drawings.