This explains it. I knew there was something wrong with them.
“This may not be the only parasite that changes the human body to make it easier to survive. And not all those changes may have potentially beneficial side-effects… Some may have developed an extraordinary power to manipulate behaviour… Its natural home is the cat and it’s spread in cats’ faeces. It can be picked up by any mammal, from rats to cattle. The main way we get it is by eating undercooked meat (which is why 80% of the French are estimated to have it, with their love of rare meat).”
Moderator’s Notes: That’s what you picked out of an otherwise interesting and informative article to comment on? A factoid about French meat preferences? And one that in no way supports any claim that these parasites cause whatever preconceived ill notion you have about the attitudes of French people, I’ll note.
This being the case, it appears to me that you were simply stretching for an opportunity to engage in a bit of stupid French-bashing. And that kinda thing, if it has any place here, belongs in the Pit.
Away it goes. I’ll let others make the obvious comments about your rather apt user name.
Wait, that’s it? No accusations of cowardice or complicity? No flinging of ‘cheese-eating surrender monkeys’ to dampen French morale? Just what might as well be a footnote in a science-related news article?
You know, the pitting of entire groups of people has gotten way too slack lately. No creativity at all.
Of course not. It’s now scientifically proven that french people don’t lose wars because they’re cowards, but because they have a “slower reaction time” due to our love for cats and undercooked meat.
It’s also explain why there are much more fatilities from car accidents in France than for instance in the UK. We aren’t reckless drivers, we just eat too much “steak tartare”.
*Recent research suggests that people with toxyplasma have slower reaction times than those without and are also more than twice as likely to be involved in a traffic accident than those who aren’t carrying the parasite *
Well yeah. That’s what the “actually” was meant to imply.
Main Entry: ac·tu·al·ly
Pronunciation: 'ak-ch(&-w)&-lE, -sh(&-w)&-lE; 'aksh-lE, 'aks-
Function: adverb
Date: 15th century
1 : in act or in fact : REALLY <nominally but not actually independent – Karl Loewenstein> <won’t actually arrive for an hour>
2 : in point of fact – **used to suggest something unexpected **
Instead of parasites, they are “actually” symbiotic.
My god, this is a boring thread. Is nobody here going to play ‘Fucking Moron’ to give the Dopers someone to throw brickbats at? Are there no Dopers willing to play ‘Enraged Frenchman’ and draw the offender out into the clear with fractured English ripe for plucking catchphrases from? (“I burning your cheese!”)
That Insufferable Jerk… is he coming back? I hope so. This thread needs a good fight.
How dare you insult me! I am French! I am citizen of a country that allowed you to save us from Germany twice! And how do you repay us? The Marshall Plan. You even added the insult of not asking us to pay you back! Mon Dieu! We harbor many, many, terrorist cells and you show scorn for this?!? Where should they live? In Berlin? HA! Even you sent thousands here to keep us from living under German rule. After 9/11 we made the ultimate sacrifice and sided with the German’s against you in this silly little “war” on terror. What’s your problem with rogues spreading death and destruction against innocents? Have a snail and a smile!
