Normally, that kind of language is associated with fringe politicians, who 'come from the people', but don't get very far.

I don't have the link, but I've read that the initial "racaille" remark was taken out of context, the first person to use the word was a resident of the suburbs who wanted to know what he was going to do about the "racaille" and he used the same word in his answer (and old tactic for building rapport).

I don't doubt that there is no shortage of legitimate greivances among the residents of those neighborhoods. But ... when they start burning buses and preschools, it's pretty clear that the rioters have worked past their initial rage, have no clear idea what they really want and are now just rioting for the sake of rioting. An excess of young men with nothing to do and no social connections outside of other young men with nothing to do is about the most dangerous things a society can have.

This is a group of young men created by wider society. Not intentionally, I don't think that, but rather my a complacent attitude towards the working class and immigrants which appears in French public discourse as a defence of repulicanism. Wasn't it Sakorzy who was chided by Chirac as "un-French" or "anti-republican" for suggesting that positive discrimination might be required? I am not actually saying that the old republican ideology is wrong - rather that it has been used in a negative way that has allowed French society to ignore the grinding poverty and degraded life of those trapped in the HLMs in the banlieus and the provinces. It's true that these kids don't seem to know what they want - that's how bad things are they don't even have any aspirations they can articulate. When the common experience of state intervention in your life is hassle by the police then when things get bad all you can think to improve matters is to scream "Cops out!". At times like this people grasp after moral analysis and they are naturally horrified by what they see but it's pointless to bluster outrage at this point. The situation demands a political response and one that has some hope of attracting leaders among the young people currently burning cars and fighting the police. I don't hold out much hope that any of the mainstream politicians can provide this. Perhaps Arlette would have a chance...

Jim, I'm with you here. Every country should have an Arlette.

Regarding the story of the "racaille" remark: you're right Michael, here is a link (in French) about it:

http://www.bigbangblog.net/article.php3?id_article=250

Daniel Schneidermann is a French journalist presenting a (very interesting in my opinion) weekly TV broadcast on France 5, called "Arrêt sur images", whose aim is to "decrypt" some of the week's news, and expose what may lie hidden behind certain images or speeches. Last sunday's theme was, of course, the coverage of the events presently occurring in the French suburbs, and the particular point regarding the "racaille" remark and its rather biased treatment (it seems) was evoked.

For those interested and fluent in French:

http://www.france5.fr/asi/

The last broadcast can even be viewed online...

If I might just correct this to "Kärcher". Interesting transposition of the French pronunciation of a German brand name into phonetic spelling.

Aaargh Chris you just put your finger on my (ever so slight) capital letter phobia... ok, ok, I'll change it.

Oh, I think it's perfectly fine to francisise to lowercase letters, or to drop the umlaut for that matter. Just the "ch" vs. "sh"...

I absolutely agree about the difference it makes who's speaking; this remind's me of Putin's notorious "mochit' v sortire" ('bump them off in the crapper') about the Chechens.

By the way, how is Kärcher pronounced? /kɛrʃɛr/? /karʃɛr/?

Second option, language hat. (Mental note to self: must ask LH to give me the code for phonetic symbols.)

IPAfying Céline: go here:

http://cf.linguistlist.org/cfdocs/emeld/school/toolroom/software/ipa-pop-up-1.html

... click-type, mark, copy, paste. I have a handy character insertion applet on my Linux desktop (I think there's one for MacOS, too).

The pronunciation in French seems to have stabilised to something like [ˌkɛʁˈʃɛ:ʁ] (the value of the first vowel floats around quite a bit, in the schwa direction). In German, the brand name hasn't become a common noun and the metaphor isn't used. You usually have to explain to Germans what a "Kärcher" is, though the brand is farily well-known. (I knew it, but found the French predilection for "kärcherising" very strange. German pronunciation: [ˈkɛʀxɐ]. The generic term is "Hochdruckreiniger" (high-pressure cleaner).

Wonder of wonders, I had no idea what a Kärcher was, and the other day I was hurrying to an appointment when I almost bumped into one, literally. It was just there, sucking dead leaves and detritus with its two rotating brooms. "Kärcher," it said on the side. Wow!

Hello, Basquette!
In English, the word "rabble" and the word "scum" are different in connotation. Rabble is very rude and condescending, but scum is actually "fightin' words". It would be really interesting to hear your interpretation of the true sociocultural connotations of "racaille" in this light, perhaps contrasting it with other similar words such as "canaille", etc.

Aaargh. I was hoping no one would broach the subject, let alone ask me my opinion. I've read in the English-speaking press that "scum", which has been used to translate "racaille" (and its non-identical twin "caillera"), was actually an over-translation which made "racaille" sound a lot worse than it is. I actually disagree, "racaille" is extremely offensive, and I would classify it in Elizabeth's category of "fightin' words". But I think it's one of those words which touch people in different ways, particularly if you feel targeted by it, whatever our dictionaries tell us.