Are French people generally assholes?

fricatus

I've lived in France, speak French and must admit I've long been a Francophile. They're certainly not all smiles by any means, but I think they just have a particular interpretation of what constitutes manners, and they behave pretty icily to anyone who doesn't conform to that.

One good example is how in Ireland, if you're blocking the corridor, you're expected to get out of the way for anyone walking, and the "walker" is not expected to say anything (except "sorry" if they don't see you). In France, you can't just do that - you have to say "excusez-moi".

My brother got a bit thick over there one time when a clutch of people blocking the hotel lobby didn't just part for him, but I just said that the next time, he should just try the magic words, and lo and behold, problem solved! He quite enjoyed putting on the accent and saying "excusez-moi" after that!

I'm not defending that way of "putting manners on people" like that, but that's what it is, as opposed to plain rudeness or being an a55hole. Certainly once you get beyond the rules people are expected to follow in public, and begin to know people as individuals, you find they're just the same as everyone else - 90% sound, with what they refer to as the "10% de cons, qu'il y a partout" (10% of pricks that you find everywhere).

Part of the reason why we think this of the French is the disgraceful portrayal that they get on US TV shows. You routinely hear all this sh1t like they're rude, smell of garlic, don't shower, women don't shave their armpits, cheat on one another, scratch their holes all day in work. John Kerry's ability to speak French is seen as a handicap, rather than an asset, FFS! :eek: If they said the same things about Africans or Jews, there would be an outcry.

I think the reason is that it's the one country that makes a point of not following the Americans like a little Tony Blair lapdog, and they just don't like that, which is why you get these little digs all the time. Good luck to them!

OP banned.

Generalisations thread closed.

Merci.