Re:Why isn’t there an English Academy? Blame the plague
by leephillips on Thursday August 26, 2021 @06:28PM
(#28321826)
Although it can have that connotation in English, it has to be activated by context: “Jim is not a leader, he’s a follower”. But in phrases like “a follower of the Chicago school of economics” it’s neutral. Maybe in French the negative connotation is more tightly bound to the word.
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Re:Why isn’t there an English Academy? Blame the plague
by jraph on Thursday August 26, 2021 @06:31PM
(#28321866)
Interesting. No, indeed, we can't use suiveur neutrally like this in French as far as I know.
We'd probably say un étudiant or une étudiante (a student) in this specific case. Or un membre (a member).
But we actually can follow a lesson (suivre un cours) without it being pejorative, so while the noun is probably always pejorative, the verb is generally not if not activated by context, as you say.