Sophie Marceau
Date of birth (location):
17 November 1966 [sighs]
Paris, France
Posted on 05/20/2006 6:46:39 AM PDT by martin_fierro
French are rudest, most boring people on earth: British poll
Sat May 20, 3:17 AM ET
LONDON (AFP) - The French have been voted the world's most unfriendly nation by a landslide in a new British poll published. They were also voted the most boring and most ungenerous.
A decisive 46 percent of the 6,000 people surveyed by travellers' website Where Are You Now (WAYN) said the French were the most unfriendly nation people on the planet, British newspapers reported.
The Germans have no to reason to celebrate the damning verdict. They came second on all three counts.
WAYN's French founder, Jerome Touze, told the papers he had been stunned by the thumping condemnation of his compatriots and sought to blame it on Gallic love-struck sulking.
"I had no idea that the French would emerge as such an unfriendly country," he said.
"I think our romantic 'moodiness' is misunderstood and I will be sure to pass on the message to my family and friends back in France to be a bit more cheerful to tourists in the future."
Italy was voted the world's most cultured nation with the best cuisine, while the United States was named the most unstylish with the worst food.
The British did not feature in the top 10 of any of the categories.
"The British fit in nowhere -- good or bad. It appears that we are so completely average that the voters did not include us in any category," the tabloid Daily Express commented.
"And to our shame, four percent of respondents -- all British of course -- said they would only talk to other Britons when they are abroad."
This unwillingness to talk to the locals appears to go hand in hand with respondents' perceptions of foreigners.
While most said Spain was the foreign country where they would most like to live, they said the Spaniards were nearly as unfriendly and ungenerous as the French.
To add insult to injury, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph put the boot in on Saturday by saying in an editorial that the French stank.
"The French may like to think that Chanel No 5 is their scent but we all know that garlic and stale Gitanes are much more representative."
I think a nation that gobbles down bake beans on toast is quite beyond hope in the culinary department.
Sorry Savage Beast, you obviously missed the Scotts on your list. How else could you explain:
Haggis
Haggis is perhaps the best known Scottish delicacy, and it is wonderful stuff, with a rich flavour, although those partaking for the first time are often put off when they hear what it is made of... Robert Burns said in his Address to the Haggis:
Fair fa' yer honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the pudden race!
Haggis is made from sheep's offal (or pluck). The windpipe, lungs, heart and liver of the sheep are boiled and then minced. This is mixed with beef suet and lightly toasted oatmeal. This mixture is placed inside the sheep's stomach, which is sewn closed. The resulting haggis is traditionally cooked by further boiling (for up to three hours) although the part-cooked haggis can be cooked in the oven which prevents the risk of bursting and spoiling.
Perhaps the best known maker of haggis is the Edinburgh company of Charles MacSween & Son (now relocated to out of the city). Their haggis is widely available in the U.K. and they will happily ship it overseas, although note that the strict agriculture regulations preclude importing haggis into the U.S.
MacSweens also make a vegetarian "haggis", which is actually quite tasty, even though the only ingredient it has in common with the real thing is the oatmeal! For more information on haggis:
Let's also place it above those people who eat lamb's eyes. Yuck!
Another thing I could never bring myself to try is brains. I actually bought some one time when I was a teenager. (I've always been adventurous.) But I just couldn't do it. I just threw the whole thing out.
Then there are "mountain oysters." No thanks. And kidney; there's still residual urine in those collecting ducts etc.
Yes it would appear the entire English Isles is a food wasteland. England, Scotland, Ireland, the trifecta of bad food. Although Pub food isn't half bad with a nice luke warm pint. Are they finally serving brew cold these days?
Beer (well,real ale at least) was never meant to be served cold!
Don't know what you all have against British food. If you've got the money we have the best restaurants on the planet....
If you aint got the money we have McDonald's. (Thanks America!).
You should all try the classic English dish 'Black Pudding' with your breakfast. I love it!
"The French also have the worst b.o."
I only know one French guy, and he wears the same outfit for about 4 days in a row, then switches and repeats. Yes, he stinks after day 1.
Just remember, never get a hamburger in Britain. That's it! American food is bad the way it's made in Britain.
Sophie Marceau
Date of birth (location):
17 November 1966 [sighs]
Paris, France
Pissy, this thread isn't about you - why'd you post your picture here? :P
I think we should ship all the libs off to France. After all, misery loves company. They would all feel right at home!
I'm amazed too. Euroeans labor under the delusion that American food is peanut butter and hamburgers. Now, I'm Indian, from the South. And I love the prepackaged N. Indian fare I pick up at the supermarket on occasion. You can buy absolutely everything you want here. If I want S. Indian fare, I make it my blessed self. And if you can't find it, such as mozzarella, for instance, you have only yourself to blame. In this altar to capitalism, Italian immigrants should have built caseifici to make their cheeses. God knows buffalo milk is available. Hell, we can buy lion and bison steaks in this country. So, I have no patience with whiny Europeans complaining about the food. Don't like it, correct your inadequacy.
About the clothing, I can explain that, too. Electric power is inexpensive in the US. So we can do multiple clothing changes a day. Europeans always marvel at my elegance. I dress fabulously for work and then get in my 'uniform' in the evening - a tank top and jeans. I go to the supermarket and my local Home Depot dressed like that If anybody invites me out anywhere, I switch to a dressier top, stick my feet in heels, grab a long, wide scarf (to prepare for the refrigeration that passes for air-conditioning here deriving from cheap electric power) and go. Those Eurodopes go everywhere in the clothes they had on in the morning. And they're nice clothes. They buy 3 shirts/blouses/tops, 2 skirts/pants and wear the exact same thing, day after day, for the entire season. So, yes, they're 'fashionable'. But their choices as dictated by the price of power. In the winter, they visit others in their building wrapped in shawls - probably consider that elegant too.
Today, I read in an Italian newspaper that a couple whose combined income exceeds 27,001 euros a year must pay 465 euros a month to send their baby to the "state provided" daycare. So, Americans, when some European tells you about the services 'provided' by the government, ask them at what cost. God knows they're always flapping their gums about their services. Here's another instance. You can get Lasik provided by the state, but you must first get to -8 dioptres. You can get Herceptin provided by the state but its availability to you is determined by your zip code. You can get state provided dialysis, but not after age 55. NO, THANK YOU. I'll pay for my own services, in my high-wage-low-tax cowboy capitalist economy that I LOVE.
This legal immigrant will permit herself one more observation.
AMERICA ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!
When I was a teenager my mother worked at a nice restaurant in Wyoming. I washed dishes. One night, after the place was closed, I was finishing up the kitchen while the staff sat in the bar and chatted. When I was done I joined them at the bar for my evening "Roy Rodgers" and was offered a plate of fried food. After I finished one they laughed and told me what I ate. I put on a good show and casually ate two more.
They tasted like (and had the texture of) chicken gizzards. Not too bad. (My husband would've *loved* them. He has a weakness for gizzards.)
If you ever serve them to me, please don't let me know. I think I speak for your husband too. Sometimes it's best to respect the wisdom of the ostrich.
Has that been eaten yet?
This may very well be true.
However, the French tourist I came close to in South America smelled so bad with body oder that I never got a chance to see if they were uppity rude individuals.
Those tourist really did stink up the place with an underarm onion smell.
ROFLMAO
"The French have been voted the world's most unfriendly nation by a landslide in a new British poll published. They were also voted the most boring and most ungenerous."
Surprise, surprise..the only rude person I came across was a "youth". I suppose she thought she would be a French "elitist" someday. The food was quite good but very small portions for the money.
"The Germans have no to reason to celebrate the damning verdict. They came second on all three counts."
Again..the only rude ones were the "youth" driving by in their cars yelling for the Americans to get out of their country. Their food was generous and good.
"The British did not feature in the top 10 of any of the categories."
The British were just all business until my spouse and I told them that we were Americans. Then they were tripping over themselves to be accommodating. It was quite wonderful actually to be in the UK. (Sorry but the food was a barfer but the hotels were more spacious).
I've always kidded my English-born and raised wife that she should open up an English-style restaurant. I was joking, but lo and behold some Brit emigre opened one up not far from our home in western Wisconsin. Brit food is actually pretty good....haggis excluded. And the owner if the chef.
I guess that when you are nothing, you might feel the need to pretend you have everything...?
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