FR 311 La pureté de la langue française

I often ask the French what they think about the Academie Française and have yet failed to get a very passionate response. After pressing my friend Adèlie about the subject, I finally got the response, in a sing song, almost joking manner, "Grâce à l'Academie Française, nous avons une jolie langue." However when I ask more specific questions, like, "What do you think about English words that are used on a day to day basis in French, like 'parking' or 'tee-shirt' or 'email,' compared to the proper French words like 'un stationnement?" I get a more satisfying response (more than just a shrug of the shoulders and a blank stare). Of the people polled, they prefer the English words. These are English things or ideas, so it's just as well to use the English words. No one expressed any fear that the French language is being currupted by foreign infulences. Maybe they never considered it, maybe the people I asked are too young to see how much French has changed in the last fifty years. They all seemed to hint at the idea that if everyone uses the English words, it's just one less thing they have to learn how to translate, one thing that is a little bit simpler and universal. However the teachers Italked to said that they are required to know and teach the more "correct" words to their students, even if they use the English word normally.
     On a different note, I was always taught that in Québec the people are quite strict about preserving the purity of their French, and insist on using the "correct" French words. This made sense to me, seeing as geographically they're not at an advantage to maintaining the language's purity, and if they don't work hard to keep it, they'll surely lose it. With liscense plates that read, "Je me souvienne," or, "I remember" (my French heritage) it seemed to me that they were a bit obsessed with maintaining this purity. However, recently I attended a Jeunes Adulte Conference for all the single people in French speaking Europe, and a Québécois had wandered his way over across the ocean to join us. I noticed him using English words in an otherwise completely French sentence, like, "Si seulement j'avais mes running shoes...." I assumed this was just for my benefit becuase he is bilingual aswell. I asked about it, however, and he said that no, that's really what they call them. Running shoes. Even in French. I was baffled, and asked about their purity of langue. He says he always prefers to speak French, and that was one of his goals in coming to this activity was to speak only French. He speaks French with his family, English at work, but it's common to walk down the streets in Montreal and hear two men talking, one in French and the other in English. And they just carry on like that as if it's perfectly normal. I guess they're losing their battle. Ils se souviennent pas. I am of course on the hunt for another Québécois to confirm that I need to reevaluate all that I learned from my textbooks about those in Québec being more strict than the French about speaking "proper, and correct" French.