Blasphemy on election night, by Pierre Lemieux

The French word “con” means “cunt” or, in a derived sense, “idiot.” It is such a vulgar word (perhaps because, to a French tongue, it is nearly blasphemous) that, in our language, you never hyphenate after the “con” a word that starts with these three letters – like, say, “consommateur.” On election night, the Canadian Press identified the Conservative Party as “CON” in both English and French. I was surprised to find that the CBC, which used to be on top of linguistic matters, did the same.

Is it just crass ignorance, or something else?

Blasphemy on Election Night by Pierre Lemieux

Blasphemy on Election Night
by
Pierre Lemieux