If you install Office 2007, it will wipe out all the spell-checking dictionaries--except for French! Hat tip to the great Francophone website Technologies du Langage.

TL is also conducting a detailed linguistic analysis of the speeches of the major French presidential candidates. For example, how often do they say "Je veux" (I want) versus "Il faut" (it is necessary)? The former is "voluntarist and egocentric," while the latter is "collectivist and impersonal." The two leaders, Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal, prefer "Je veux," while the unexpectedly strong third-party candidate Francois Bayrou leans to "Il faut."

Another entry looked at how often the candidates used any form of "vouloir" (to want), compared to other common verbs. Again, Sarkozy and Royal led the pack in "vouloir" use. A follow-up examined the candidates' use of various forms of "vouloir" (e.g., I want, they want, he/she will want, etc.). Sarkozy and Royal, much more so than other candidates, used the first-person form (Je veux; I want).

I suggest that the linguistic analysis indicates that Sarkozy and Royal ought to start running anti-Bayrou commercials using a variation of "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again." How about "Bayrou just knows what you need, but I know what I want."

It would be interesting if some technologically adept linguists followed TL's lead, and began studying the word choices of the American presidential candidates.