"France is removing the hat-shaped accent known as a circumflex in some cases. For example: the word for "to train" will be spelled s'entraine, and not the circumflexed s'entraîner.
The spelling changes apply to around 2,400 French words, and The Guardian reports they're mean to "simplify them for schoolchildren." But the move has "brought accusations the country's Socialist government is dumbing down the language."
French headlines quickly picked this up: "The Death of the Circumflex" and "Farewell to the Circumflex, Spelling Reform Will Be Applied in September," to name a few.
Social media users launched an angry campaign using the hashtag of #JeSuisCirconflexe ("I am circumflex"), a nod to the #JeSuisCharlie campaign following the deadly shootings at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris last year.
But France is not completely hanging up its circumflex chapeau.
As the BBC reported, "France's education minister has said the changes will not culminate in the end of the circumflex, and that old and new spellings will both remain correct.""
Source:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...umflex-accents
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