Trust the French to defend their language to the hilt.

The French government has banned the word 'email' and has replaced it with 'courriel'. Official documents have already started referring to electronic mail exchanges as 'courriel'.

The ban on the word extends to all government ministries, documents, publications and, websites. This is the latest step to stem an incursion of English words into the French lexicon.

The ministry's General Commission on Terminology and Neology insists Internet surfers in France are broadly using the term 'courrier electronique' (electronic mail) instead of email.

 Industry experts, however, dispute the claim.

"Evocative, with a very French sound, the word 'courriel' is broadly used in the press and competes advantageously with the borrowed 'mail' in English," the commission has ruled.

'Courriel' is a term that has often been used in French-speaking Quebec, the commission said.

 The seven-year-old commission has links to the Academie Francaise, the prestigious institution that has been one of the top opponents of allowing English terms to seep into French.

Agencies