News

Here's how Montrealers are reacting to replacing Bonjour-Hi with Bonjour-Ho

'Tis the season, right?

JP Karwacki
Written by
JP Karwacki
Bonjour Ho
Image: Time Out
Advertising

This past weekend in Montreal was cold, gray, wet and windy. Montrealers were largely stuck indoors if they weren't freezing their butts off waiting in line to go shopping at malls, at Christmas markets and praying their kids were getting bored with snow-less winter villages over the weekend. Bleak, right?

Thankfully, the Blog Québecois party of Quebec helped everyone out over weekend with a gem of an announcement:

In the tweet, the political party suggested that they wished to offer using 'Bonjour-Ho' instead of Montrealers' usual 'Bonjour-Hi' greeting used to find out if a client is an anglophone or francophone as part of its "2021: Knock on wood!" campaign. 

Twitter wasn't having any of it.

This morning on CJAD 800, former NDP party leader-turned-political analyst Thomas Mulcair could even point out the glaring error: "You can't make this stuff up," he told the host. "The Blog Quebecois is going to be in downtown Montreal today encouraging people with signs to say 'Bonjour-Ho'. There has to be one person in the Bloc Quebecois to tell them, 'no, if a woman walks into the store and the first thing they hear is Bonjour-Ho!, it might not go so well.'"

Montrealers were, for the most part, were having fun with the suggested greeting since the announcement was made over the weekend.

While Montrealers will likely be using this ironically throughout Christmas—who knows, maybe for years to come—it doesn't mean that they're not confused by the suggestion.

The campaign—for the uninitiated—comes from Quebec politicians trying to stop the usage of "bonjour-hi" among sales clerks and businesses in general who are accommodating shoppers using both English and French as their first language.

Ultimately, however, it comes down to who has to say it.

The latest from Time Out Montréal

- Old Montreal's Auberge Saint-Gabriel fireside Christmas market returns for another weekend

- Joe Beef announces rallying cry to Montreal restaurants and bars: Sell your wine

- Saint-Henri's latest arrival Teochew Foodie is gem of regional Chinese specialties

- Chinatown's huge Christmas market pop-up is back for another edition this weekend

- Montrealers have spoken, and this is their city's most iconic dish

More on Love Local
    You may also like
    You may also like
    Advertising