Posted on 03/06/2014 10:01:48 PM PST by Slings and Arrows
Well, I only went to France once as an adult in the mid-Seventies when I was in the Navy, to Brest. The people were damned rude to us and sure gave the outright impression they hated us.
It could have been the uniform. Who knows. But my everlasting impression of that place was typically passing an older French couple who openly glared at me.
And it wasn’t just me. It was a homogenous impression. Without exception, every guy I spoke to when I got back to the ship had the same experience.
I went there as a young teenager in the Seventies, and I don’t remember anything like that. But as an adult, my overriding impression of being in France was black dislike.
If these people were going to fly-over country instead of the coast, either one, this would be quite a different story.
Hahahaha...I laughed when I read that! “White man...”
Some of the comments here are hilarious...
But I don’t know how real or not this article is, but I will say this: I found it flattering as an American.
There are many things about being an American that other cultures dislike, and as far as I am concerned, they can go pound sand. I am not going to intentionally become more of a douchebag just to suit their culture or customs.
I laugh when Euroweenies speak disparagingly about someone being a “cowboy”. As far as I am concerned, I can’t think of a higher compliment that could be paid to me by a foreigner than to be disparagingly called “a cowboy”.
And I like it even more because they think it is an insult.
From Road Trip:
1.) Get your French Toast:
2.) Complain about too much sugar on your French Toast
3.) Cook takes French Toast back to kitchen and cleans sugar from French Toast
4.) Warms them up by putting on slice down front of sweatpants...
5.) Warms the other slice by putting it down the back of sweatpants...serves several other customers to get them nice and warm:
6.) Gives you back your New French Toast:
7.) Express to fellow diners how good your French Toast is:
I think the best hotels and stores have the violent flushing systems. I love them - it much more hygienic. Never notice this in my foreign travels.
In Paris, I was always helped. A woman pulled me through the turnstile on her own metro card in the subway when it absolutely refused to let me through the turnstile. Nice girl. The Parisians have always been nice to me and my husband.
You want to learn about waiting in lines, serve as an enlisted sailor on an aircraft carrier. You wait in line for EVERYTHING, especially chow or liberty. I’ve even waited in line to take a dump!!
So what do they do in France? Just throw a handful of pills in a bag?
I doubt those tips actually come from a Frenchman.
Isn’t this something that people ordering cakes from bakers who don’t like their lifestyles or celebrations should take to heart? I would!
In what way?
Do Americans in fly-over country fail to help others? Do their toilets flush more softly? Do they not shake hands? Do they steal your stuff? Do they not use bottles to take their prescriptions home?
How would the story be different?
And chatting with strangers, wow, did i get into trouble doing that in France. Guys getting totally wrong impressions, lol. And blowing peoples minds if I asked them about products they were buying in the grocery store. They dont really talk to strangers like we do. One of my work colleagues said it best: if you sit next to an American on the metro or bus, you know his entire sex life before you arrive. Lol! We are more open than we know.
_______________
Quebec city is like this too. Very cold people.
I’ve got the book. It’s a tiny one. A friend gave it to me, and initially I couldn’t believe the title, but then again, it was Ben Franklin who wrote it, so in retrospect it made sense.
Although I've never been there I have two stories about France.
1) A dentist I saw a few times a few years ago was French.I told him that my parents had been to France and they hated it (which is true).I told him that the people were rude to them,among other things."Did they spend most of their time in Paris?",he asked."Yes,I think they did" was my reply."Ah,well there's the problem.Even Frenchmen hate the Parisians.They're known throughout the country as being rude".
2) My neighbor was born in France and left as a young woman...to marry an American serviceman.She,too,says that Parisians are hated by the rest of France for rudeness and snottiness...among other things.
Here in the states we have a single lever. Supposedly if you give it a quick press you get a small flush and if you give it a longer press you get a larger flush. But what happens is that the lever never quite works that well and either always gives you a small flush or always gives you a large flush.
A single lever is cheaper to make than two buttons. A single lever thrown together with cheap materials is even cheaper.
In America you pay through the nose and get quality, or you get crap for cheap. There are fewer and fewer middle ground choices where you can get something that is well made for a decent price.
My brother has had the same experience. He’s driven around Europe a few times. He told me he’s met some of the nicest people in rural France, and some of the rudest in Paris.
Hahaha...I can understand that. Kind of how many of us view New Yorkers, even other blue state Northeasterners!
... So, there are drink rests everywhere: cinema seats, baby strollers, shopping carts at the supermarket, in cars, some bike handlebars.
I visited a theater in Germany that served a full meal with the movie. You could watch the movie and enjoy a schnitzel with pommes and a side salad along with a beer!
One of the Star Trek New Gen movies were playing. I can’t remember which one but it was the one where they were on some magic healing planet. Dr Crusher and Deanna Troi commented that their boobs felt firmer so Data asked Worf about his boobs. All this happened in German.
The entire experience was surreal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.