(JEWISH GROUP) Quebec's language watchdog targets popular brunch spot over Yiddish word 'nosh' [View all]

[Behind the Aegis]

Over the years, as Quebec’s language laws have tightened, the province’s language watchdog has taken issue with all kinds of non-French words on storefronts and elsewhere, from “pasta” to “Burgundy.”

Now it is grappling with the Yiddish word “nosh.”

The Office québécois de la langue française has contacted Arthurs Nosh Bar, the popular St-Henri brunch spot known for its Jewish comfort food, after receiving a complaint about the word “nosh” displayed on the restaurant’s window, OQLF spokesperson François Laberge confirmed to The Gazette.

It marks the latest dispute stemming from the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s drive to bolster French in Quebec public life. Under rules that came into effect last June, businesses must make French clearly predominant when trademarks and company names containing words from another language appear on exterior signage.

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