author
Jules Fabien Gingras
1826–1884
A 19th-century Canadian writer, translator, and typographer, he is best remembered for an early and influential effort to defend French in North America from everyday errors and anglicisms. His work offers a vivid glimpse of the language worries and cultural pride of French-speaking Canada in his time.
1 Audiobook
Recueil des expressions vicieuses et des anglicismes les plus fréquents
by Jules Fabien Gingras
About the author
Born in Quebec City on December 13, 1826, Jules-Fabien Gingras began his career as a typographer before moving to Ottawa, where he worked as a translator for Parliament. He was part of a generation of French-Canadian intellectuals deeply concerned with the future of French in North America.
Gingras is best known for Manuel des expressions vicieuses les plus fréquentes, first published in 1861 and later revised in new editions. In that book, he set out to identify faulty expressions and common anglicisms, reflecting a broader 19th-century effort to strengthen written and spoken French in Canada.
He died in Ottawa on February 6, 1884. Although little biographical detail survives compared with better-known writers of his era, his work remains a notable document in the history of Quebec and Canadian French.