> A counter to this is the Académie Française

Which happens to be the laughing stock of the rest of the world, good call.

But without them, how would we have figured out if Covid was male or female?

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/13/le-la-covid-co...

This is the French thing that I'm the most ashamed of. I'd rather defend Napoleon post 4th coalition or any king post Henry IV than the 'académie française'

If you ignore the Académie Française's overblown sense of self-importance and just treat is as publishing a style guide to be followed by official publications, you'll see it as fairly reasonable. Most countries have a style guide for official publications, don't they?