As a matter of fact the French think all other races are a load of fuckers except maybe the Germans. They get on well with them
Kettle out
I’ve never been to France, but my longtime girlfriend is from Nice. Based on my experiences with her and her family, I offer these elements of truth in the ‘French-are-rude’ stereotype, from an American perspective:
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The French are more formal and have more reserved public manners than we do. To Americans who think it’s a virtue to be casual and friendly (as I do), this can seem stand-off-ish. If the French only held others to this standard, it would be snobbery. But I can attest that they hold their own to it as well: when we first started dating, my honey would get POed when we’d be walking in public, with me more than three feet away from her, and I’d call out to her, “Wow, look at that sunset”. The way she’d react, you’d have thought I yelled “Hey baby, how about a blowjob when we get home tonight?” from across the street through a megaphone.
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Psychologists say that if we really hate someone, we probably have a lot in common with them. Like the French, Americans think we’re the coolest people on the planet, and that everyone wants to be one of us. We differ in that, while we try to convert everyone with Baywatch reruns and McDonald’s, the French revel in not letting anyone become one of them. So while they have third-generation Muslim ‘immigrant’ communities, if you move to the US and buy a cowboy hat, and people will start to call you American.
you’ve never been to New Jersey have you? If I was told i had to live in New jersey for the rest of my life or become a french citizen I’d be a frog leg eating snail chomping mother fucker in two minutes. If the world needed an enema they’d have to stick it in new jersey.
Other than that, there are jackasses everywhere, of every race, color, creed and nationality.
Insular. You called them insular. You called them insular. I get it. Irony, right?
No, you jackass, we Europeans owe your Grandfather respect and gratitude for his services during the war (however self-motivated the US government might have been, those soldiers really did a wonderful job). You, on the other hand, not so much. Did you land on Juno beach, storm Berlin? Didn’t think so.
I see this fallacy all over the place and it fucking pisses me off. Would you treat someone with contempt because of what their forefathers did? No? It works in the reverse too, you know. By now, the “greatest generation” are not the average Americans you see on the street, or making the decisions, or representing the country. We, the children and grandchildren of those alive during the War owe you, the children and grandchildren of the soldiers, payment amounting to exactly NOTHING .
well, the french could always say WE owe them for their help in our revolutionary war. But then we could say it all evens out since WWII. Its silly anyway. Even if WWII happened yesterday I wouldn’t expect every french person to kiss my ass. they don’t owe me anything except basic human consideration.
Wow, check you out. You must be French, to feel that the country that saved yours owes you rather than the other way around.
Fuck that and fuck you. As I’ve said before, repeatedly and continuously in this thread and elsewhere - all I asked for was basic courtesy; I gave it but received nothing but intolerable rudeness in response. If you can’t even provide that, fuck you and fuck your whole misbegotten abortion of a country.
And you popping in here like Mr Wizard and stamping up and down because of one comment you took out of context to justify your spewing rage can take a flying fuck at a rolling dough nut for all I care.
Or maybe you’d be better off going on strike for more holidays so you can be rude to foreigners in their own countries?
There would be no United States without a France.
Yes, that’s the only possible reason anyone could disagree with you, isn’t it? They must be French.
There would be no France without the United States, unless you consider a French-speaking province of either the Third Reich or the Soviet Union.
What’s your point?
Mangetout- No, but considering the the volume and tone of the attack, as well as the idiotic premise that Europe owes nothing to the United States in any way, I assumed the most logical reason. As soon as CultureKid comes back and defends himself, we shall see.
Or you could search his posts and discover right now that you’re wrong.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9537698&postcount=82
Of course he could just have been lying when he posted that - you know what the French are like.
Or he could read mine and discover that his attack was both unwarranted and unnecessary. I’ve been here a little while, and I don’t think I am often a foaming-at-the-mouth nationalist asshole. Unlike what I’ve been accused of by him.
Or perhaps he could read the entire thread, rather than jump up and down on a single post?
And you with such a sunny disposition to boot! What a mystery those frogs are.
I believe he said that he personally does not owe you anything. And he’s right. You did precisely dick in WWII. Find us a WWII veteran and we’ll buy him a beer. You, however; you’re going to have to get along with your winning personality. This tired old “you owe us for WWII” shite is almost invariably uttered by the very worst sort of braying jackass, so even if that’s not you (and I’m not saying it is), you’ve got to expect a negative reaction to it.
You’re perfectly entitled to expect civility, as is everyone else, although to be frank I suspect your problems are more to do with the fact that you were somewhere a) very crowded, b) where people work to ski rather than because they’re good at service, and c) deals almost exclusively with tourists. None of these make for cheery dispositions (the stories I hear about typical apres-ski behaviour boggle the mind). But suggesting that you’re intrinsically entitled to something better because you’re an American is the sort of thing that makes this English/American wince.
Without a United States, there might not have been either a Third Reich or a Soviet Union, the former built upon grudges over a previous war and the latter built upon grudges over industrial capitalism.
You, sire, have hit exactly on my point. I was civil. I expected nothing but the same back. I have no chip on my shoulder about anything, really, and certainly don’t expect special treatment for being an American or a tourist. I’m certainly not the type to expect to be treated just like a local when I’m clearly not.
What I do expect, nay demand, is that people treat me with courtesy. If they can’t manage courtesy to me, I simply cannot manage courtesy back. If an individual doesn’t give me the courtesy I desire, I don’t interact with them in future. If it’s a whole country that, in spite of my best efforts at being civil and friendly, seems intent on doing nothing to welcome me or to make my journey enjoyable in any way, then that country can fuck right off into the wild blue yonder; I won’t be back to spend my hard-earned tourist dollar.
Seh what? You’re actually attempting to blame both the Third Reich and the Soviet Union on the US and capitalism? What, we were the senior partners in the Entente? The only reason for the Russian October Revolution was the capitalist system in place at the time? I’d be quite keen to see the mental gymnastics required for that proof, but I think that’s a whole 'nother thread and possibly better suited to another forum, like one that requires facts where we can’t swear at one another.
I’ve never had any problems in France, and I resent that you stereotype a whole region just because you had a bad experience.
Northern Germans on the other hand…
Yes I called them insular along with a few more expletives.
Yes I’m insular, I live on an island, the French don’t
Psst … it was the Canadians who landed at Juno Beach. The Americans landed at Omaha and Utah Beaches.
Actually, what I’m trying to do — and I’ve been successful, I believe — is illustrate the absurdity of the “if not for X, then Y” argument you’ve been espousing about the US and France. You’re like the guy who loans someone a dollar, and they owe you for life, even after they’ve paid the damn thing back with interest. And their children owe your children. France has repaid whatever it owed, and the US has repaid as well. Just cut the damn thing and leave it be.
You’d think one of your countrymen would know that. Hell, even an American with a chip on his shoulder (which apparently, to my great surprise, I am) knows that Americans landed at 2 of the 5 Normandy Beaches (with Sword and Gold Beaches taken by the British and Juno taken by Canada’s 3rd Infantry Division supported by 2nd Armored Division under overall British command)
Liberal- nice retreat. So you can’t defend your statements then? Or do you disagree that the United States played a major role in saving France from Nazi occupation as well as defended France, among other countries, from Soviet aggression?
I don’t think the French owe me, in particular, anything other than courtesy as a visitor to their country. Since I apparently can’t get that, or at least can’t get that this past trip to France, I will not go there again for personal pleasure. Simple enough?