Our new Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, is making the French rethink their word gouverneuse for a female governor. The French word connotes either governess or the wife of the (male) governor, neither of which apply to Palin. The Québecois, ahead of the French in this realm, have added an e to the masculine gouverneur to make gouverneure. Is this a linguistic or a political issue? For the opinion of the author of the Le Monde article, catch the last sentence. (For less advanced readers of French, note the entire negative of the last sentence of the post: ne … pas que.)
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