Okay, I admit it; the French are just better at it -- at the jingoistic, nationalistic, cultural superiority thing, that is. Pour example:
One of our great "weaknesses" is that we do not, alas, have the kind of gutter mentality, rubbish-bin culture, which could enable us to reply in kind to the amiabilities which the Anglo-Saxon press pours on us at the slightest sign of a divergence of interests.
We cannot create a gutter press, Anglo-Saxon style. French people are (still) too well educated for there to be any readership for such a publication.
That's French government official Olivier Dassault. Yeah, "bone swar" to you too, buddy. How come, in the discussion of the dreaded beast Patrioticus Americanus we never hear anyone pipe up about the intense and often overbearing nationalism of the French? Not that there is anything wrong with that, but at least we don't have campaigns to protect the purity of English from foreign words.* Hell, if we did that, there would be no English language.
*The "English only" campaign is a whole other thing entirely. Don't bring it up; it is unrelated to the subject. Seriously, I'll delete any comments on that.
(Via Tim Blair.)
Note: this post has been edited because I somehow hit "enter" before it was finished.
Posted by Andrea Harris at March 14, 2003 01:23 AMThe French are superior to all the rest of us in one area, chutzpah.
Posted by: Michael Lonie at March 14, 2003 at 02:04 AMThere not being any ethnomorphological reason for the F****h all to have that look on their faces as of someone just smelling a plate of escargot gone bad, Andrea's explanation makes as much sense as any.
Posted by: Kevin McGehee at March 14, 2003 at 07:28 AMbut they sure enough will read that crap when abroad.
last Sunday i was in a Stop and Shop here in my new home town of Greenwich. i ended up caught behind a couple in the "Express Checkout" line. the woman was reading a one of the tabloids and blocking the entire damn aisle (BUY IT OR PUT IT DOWN, AND GET OUT OF MY FUCKING WAY SO I CAN PUT MY GODDAM PURCHASES ONTO THE BELT) while her companion was already paying their bill. i said (fairly politely, given my annoyance) "excuse me, please, i want to put my groceries down."
she turned to her companion - a man with almost no hair and a VERY "French" face - and said something in French, out of which i caught "Americans." she glanced at me and then slowly tucked the tabloid back into the rack and moved out of the way.
ARG.
Posted by: chris at March 14, 2003 at 07:51 AMChris, if you really need to piss off a frog, just mention that the Italians taught them to cook. Then step back.
Posted by: Ken Summers at March 14, 2003 at 09:16 AMKen,
You mean tried to teach them...and failed.
Posted by: David Jaroslav at March 14, 2003 at 10:24 AMChris: they might have been French Canadians. Dowen here in Florida the French Canadians have a reputation for being rude and tipping badly. This is only hearsay, though -- personally all the French Canadians I have met have been nice enough. But then I have carefully avoided going into the hospitality industry. Vacations seem to bring out the beast in people.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at March 14, 2003 at 10:57 AMI was working the front desk of a motel my parents managed when I was a teenager. (this was when we lived in Victoria B.C.) and we always had French Canadians coming in. I can't remember one pleasant experience with any of them. As an adult, I worked at various hotels as a front desk clerk, concierge, reservations agent before I moved into accounting. German tourists were the worst, followed closely by lawyer groups, and women's groups. The best guests were those attending scientific conferences. Rare to ever have a snooty scientist. and Japanese tourists were always great too.
I am so glad I don't work in a hotel anymore!
Posted by: Ith at March 14, 2003 at 11:54 AMOne wonders if the absence of a lively "gutter press" has more to do with control-freak laws protecting the high and mighty from ridicule, than with high-mindedness.
Posted by: Moira at March 14, 2003 at 12:23 PMActually, Moira, that's so true that one really doesn't wonder.
Posted by: David Jaroslav at March 14, 2003 at 01:44 PMImagine the reaction if an American govt official said something equally condescending about the French. The French would really have a hissy fit then.
Posted by: PAUL at March 14, 2003 at 02:31 PMImagine the reaction if an American govt official said something equally condescending about the French. The French would really have a hissy fit then.
Posted by: PAUL at March 14, 2003 at 02:32 PMSorry, Paul, but "F****h hissy fit" is so redundant that even for me to point out its redundancy is redundant.
Posted by: Kevin McGehee at March 14, 2003 at 03:48 PMDid`nt you know they are still pissed-off about Waterloo.
Posted by: Paulm at March 16, 2003 at 12:52 AM