My buddy was on a wine buying expedition for his company on May 15th near the Rhine. He said it was like a national US holiday there. It may be almost 60 years since VE day but those from those areas love the US. Perhaps those in Paris feel otherwise but their distain for non French speaking peoples is universal.
Well, you said something there.
Why people refuse to speak a little bit of another language is most embarrassing.
I was in a shop and two American women were so snobby and rude, condescending it was mortifying.
I said, ‘the word you might want to use is ‘Merci’. The shopkeeper smiled at me.
I was outraged at the disdain Americans think they can get away with.
And yet, here, I am treated in the same way, in my own country for not speaking Spanish. I am a war veteran, no one could care any less that I don’t agree with giving our language away.
I see clearly that is the French had given way to English it would be their language , the way we Americans are giving away ours.
The WWII Vets would be disgusted with us.
If you go to the French countryside and of the regular path in Paris, and say Merci and s’il vous plait, and ask them to just decide for you what lunch to eat and smile, you would see a difference.
The Germans are nice to Americans, and when they have to endure our terrible driving, butchering of their language and snobbiness, they talk about us behind our backs. The French just like to be snobby back to us on the spot.
I have never been to the Eiffel Tower and I avoid Notre Dame, and the Louvre.
There ARE other places to go where the locals are not burnt out on pushy Americans and where they are very happy to see us being slightly curious about what makes France interesting.
It’s like the difference between NY City and rural NY.