More diplomatic niceties

On the heels of Jacques Chirac's rude comments about English food, the governor of Tokyo prefecture has said "French is disqualified as an international language because French is a language which cannot count numbers." Apparently he meant the fact that French does not have a separate word for 80, using instead quatre-vingts or "four twenties."

Up in arms, 21 French teachers and researchers in Japan are suing Shintaro Ishihara, saying his comments endanger their livelihoods. They're suing for 500,000 yen which, by the way, is trois mille six cents quatre-vingts trois Euros.