Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 9, 1990 TAG: 9004090037
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ed Shamy
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Why, when I was a boy, we visited museums to stare at retired department store mannequins outfitted to look like Leni Lenape Indians or pilgrims. Total cost: $2.95. Lunch: Bag.
Shows you how old I am.
Nowadays, I hear of field trips to hone language skills, journeys to places like Eagle Rock, where English is not spoken. There is always the threat that your kid will join the French club and be invited on the annual trek to Paris. Total cost: $3,599. Lunch: Poitrine de boeuf braisee au gingembre et coriandre. Visa and MasterCard accepted.
Now, as part of my continuing effort to use this medium as a public service, I will present a much less expensive alternative to the annual Paris pilgrimage.
In one fell swoop, I will: a) help Virginia youth master French, b) boost the Roanoke Valley economy, c) curry favor with a potential advertiser and d) teach you a bit about the workings of the international economy.
This year, the French club will be spending a day at U.S. Factory Outlet in the Plaza of Roanoke-Salem.
As part of my never-ending quest for hot investigative journalism topics, I ambled into the new store recently to scrutinize egg beaters (two for $3).
Instead, I was transfixed by the eplucheur rapide (quick puker, in English). In the bag was a potato peeler. There was a sack of racloirs en caoutchouc (raccoons in Chappaquiddick), filled with four spatulas; an ensemble de decapsulateur en bois (boys' decapitation kit) which included cork, can and bottle openers; and a protecteur d'eclaboussures (clobber the catcher's mask), a splatter protector.
Hundreds of items on the shelves bore labels and instructions in French.
I called the Cheswick, Pa., headquarters of Action Industries Inc., the company that had manufactured or distributed most of this French-language stuff.
Lyle Davis, a company vice president, said that Action sells products in the United States and Canada, among other places. To comply with Canadian law, all Action products carry labels in both English and French, in equal-sized letters. Products in only one language are barred from Canadian store shelves.
We Americans are likely to see more and more French labels on our shelves. A free-trade agreement that took effect last year between the United States and Canada is steadily eliminating tariffs and trade barriers between the two countries.
To cash in on the newly opened Canadian markets, American companies are - you guessed it - printing labels in French and in English. Likewise, Canadian firms are selling their dual-labeled goods here.
This affects the average consumer in many ways. Cold fronts, no longer hassled by zealous border guards, are moving more freely from Saskatchewan into North Dakota. But more importantly, the French club's trip to Paris has been canceled. The club will instead be traveling to the U.S. Factory Outlet on Melrose Avenue.
At the store, students will parlez-vous with supports pour mais en epie (epic mace supports). In Virginia, we call them corn-on-the-cob holders.
by CNB