Quebec’s language watchdog has changed its tune on whether it’s acceptable to use the word “go” to cheer on sports teams.
In a new guideline posted in its online dictionary, the Office québécois de la langue française says that while “allez” is the preferred term, it’s now “partially legitimized” to use the English word to show encouragement.
The flip-flop comes after the office took a hard line with Montreal’s transit agency, pressing it for months in 2024 to scrub the word “go” from the electronic signs on more than 1,000 city buses.
The watchdog confirmed it had changed its position after The Canadian Press obtained a series of emails through access to information legislation, revealing it gave the transit agency a green light to use “go” in June.
The reversal followed a public outcry on the eve of the Montreal Canadiens’ first playoff home game in April, when the Montreal Gazette reported how the transit agency had replaced “Go! Canadiens Go!” with “Allez! Canadiens Allez!” to stay on the watchdog’s good side.
The revelations prompted French-language Minister Jean-François Roberge to intervene, declaring that the expression “Go Habs Go” is part of Quebec culture, and that any future complaints about the slogan would be dismissed.
That statement verged on political interference and placed the watchdog in a difficult position, according to one expert.
“The office had to respond to a political order,” said Benoît Melançon, emeritus professor of French literature at Université de Montréal. “The minister said, ‘You will accept this,’ so the office had to find a way to accept it.”
The transit agency says it hasn’t decided whether it will put the word “go” back on its bus displays.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson said the agency is now “beginning its reflection on the subject.”
‘Go’ is a ‘partially legitimized’ word: OQLF
In an April statement, Dominique Malack, the president of the language office, agreed that the slogan “Go Habs Go” is anchored in Quebec’s history.
Still, she went on to say that the word “go” is an Anglicism, and that public bodies have an obligation to use “exemplary” French, which includes using only French words in their signage.
Emails released to The Canadian Press show the transit agency asked the watchdog in May, following the uproar, for authorization to start using “go” again.
A month later, on June 6, the language office directed transit officials to its new entry for the word “allez” in its online dictionary of terminology, a reference guide for the proper use of French in Quebec.
The page notes how the Anglicism “go” has been used in Quebec since at least the 1980s and is “well-established” in common parlance. “It is considered to be partially legitimized,” the entry says.
When asked by The Canadian Press to comment on the newly released email correspondence, the watchdog confirmed it had updated its position.
“The office now considers that a public body can use the interjection go in a context of encouragement without this compromising the duty of exemplarity incumbent upon it under the Charter of the French Language,” spokesperson Gilles Payer told The Canadian Press in an email.
Payer confirmed the entry was newly published on May 30. “The media coverage of the case concerning the use of the borrowed word ‘go’ in a sports context led the office to officially assess the acceptability” of the word, he said. Melançon, the French literature professor, said the new rationale — especially the term “partially legitimized” — suggests the office was uneasy with the change.
“This must have given rise to some pretty intense internal debates,” he said. “‘Do we take into account what the minister is telling us or do we not take it into account? If we don’t take it into account, what are the consequences? If we do, how do we justify changing our minds?”’
At least one transit agency official felt dubious about the original complaint, which related to a bus displaying the words “Go! CF Mtl Go!” in support of Montreal’s professional soccer club.
She called the issue a “grey zone” in a June 2024 email to colleagues.
“We’ve been using the word ‘go’ for years without a problem,” she wrote. “Are we going to change everything because of one complaint?”
But by later that month, the agency had decided to scrap the word, which involved manually updating the display on each of more than 1,000 buses over a period of months.
The agency has said no further change will be made before the buses undergo regular maintenance in the fall.
The language office has received at least two other complaints about the word “go” in the last five years, according to a response to a separate access-to-information request.
In 2023, someone complained about the slogan “Go Habs Go” appearing on an outdoor billboard.
That complaint was dismissed because the expression is a trademark.
A similar complaint in 2021 targeted the hashtag GoHabsGo that appears in oversized letters outside the Bell Centre in Montreal, the home arena of the Canadiens.
The person who filed the complaint suggested that to comply with Quebec’s language rules, the expression “Allez les Habitants allez” should appear alongside the English slogan, in larger letters. “And yes, I’m serious, if the law applies, then apply it!:)” the person wrote.
According to the language watchdog, that complaint was resolved following an intervention, though it provided no details.
A spokesperson for the hockey team declined to comment.
The GoHabsGo sign remains in place.
