Posted on 07/09/2009 11:10:01 AM PDT by Publius772000
OK. Where is that picture of the bear in the woods?
Hasn’t it been official for a few centuries now?
I had always thought so... they could have just as easily done a poll on the chances of the sun rising. Some things just are... but it’s still humorous.
*whew!* I’m glad that’s been settled.
I’ve never met someone from France like that either. The one man I personally knew was a scientist I worked with in a summer job years ago. When he found out I spoke French, he treated me very well. Everyone else, he treated like garbage.
I just remeber the two who kept pushing in line at disneyworld. Rude & didn’t look like that either.
The French reaction to this news has been received.
Listening to candidate Obama's admonition to speak more French, when French visitors visited and I ran into them. I asked them in French why bother visiting where they were (it certainly wasn't any big tourist attraction)? The young lady responded in english to my french with the unstated air of who are you to try to speak our language with your thick American accent -- schmuck?
It certainly did not feel like a pleasant experience, but the young lady did speak english to me and did explain why the tourist group would stop where they did -- a library (bibliotheque).
They can be very polite. Much of western France politely left for parts east (and south) when Germany, um, visited in 1914 and 1940.
Much like our uninvited "visitors" from South-of-the-Border.
I’m betting Germans were a close second.
Don’t encourage them. They take their rudeness as a compliment and a sign of their own superiority. The interesting thing about the French is that they don’t really care what other people think of them.
During several summers in France back in the 1970s, I met quite a few mademoiselles in Provence who looked that good. Cap D’Antibes along the Cote d’Azur brings back very fond memories.
I feel the rudeness is the physical manifestation of the frustration brought out by the accent that develops when one speaks French primarily. Sort of a complex, rather.
A few years ago we took a family vacation through Europe by car. Every country we visited the border guards would try to converse with us in English when they realized we didn’t speak the native language. All except France. We I gestured to him I didn’t speak French he launched into a two minute diatribe in French. The only word I thought I understood was one that sounded like “declare”. I assumed he was asking if I had anything to declare so I shook my head no and he let me pass.
A few years ago we took a family vacation through Europe by car. Every country we visited the border guards would try to converse with us in English when they realized we didn’t speak the native language. All except France. We I gestured to him I didn’t speak French he launched into a two minute diatribe in French. The only word I thought I understood was one that sounded like “declare”. I assumed he was asking if I had anything to declare so I shook my head no and he let me pass.
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