Apart from the occasional brush with Vivendi associated media, I can’t think of anything french that I use frequently. not that I really care one way or the other. I did see on BBC world news yesterday that the slumping asian economy is devestating French Cognac companies(specifically Martell I believe), and that without the Asian market the next biggest buyers of French Cognac are Americans.
Even if I thought a boycott wasn’t completely stupid, I’d still buy French goods because I derive a good chunk of my income from French companies,
I sort of doubt this is a national temper tantrum. Sure, some people are boycotting French goods, but they really seem to get in the news in the Weird News category.
The SDMB is in the throes of condemning anti-French sentiment (rightly so) but it seems to me we spend more time being anti-boycott than others spend boycotting. Has anybody seen anything indicating this little boycott is hurting French companies?
Pssst… Inniskillin is based in Niagara, Ontario. They have a wholely-owned subsidiary called Inniskillin Okanagan based in BC.
And, Miller? BRAVO!
I have stopped wearing my French Maid outfit and have decided that the whore-servant du-jour look I shall adopt from now on shall be **Hungarian Washer Woman **.
That’ll show 'em, frenchies!
I know someone who’s had several friends laid off because of the boycott; their (French) former employers couldn’t afford to maintain their U.S. branches at their former level.
(Way to be patriotic, guys; get your fellow citizens laid off during an economic downturn!)
First of all, what I know about war, politics of war, and strategies of war, would NOT fill a thimble. And I’ve pretty much refrained from commenting in any of the “war threads” because of that.
But this whole “let’s hate the French” thing has finally gotten under my skin a bit too much.
I think that hating and boycotting the French people because their government is not doing what OUR government wants them to regarding this war, is as dumb as other countries hating and boycotting we ordinary Americans because our Government does things with which they don’t agree.
I am stunned that our government has stooped to such fantastically childish actions such as trying to rename things like french fries (or was that an urban legend in the making? I thought I saw some newslinks).
Sure I still like and use French stuff, their perfumes for one, and like someone else mentioned, their cheeses (I don’t like wine). And I have stayed at a motel 6 or two.
I also still study the language in the hopes that some day I can converse rather than just barely make my way around should I get to visit Paris.
Out of curiosity, were they told it’s because of the boycott or is it the economy? The boycott is only a few weeks old and focused on a few goods. Did it really hit them that fast?
This is third-hand information, so take it with however much salt is required for your dietary requirements. The context is that I was out in San Francisco visiting my boyfriend; we went out to lunch with a mutual friend, who had apparently just heard that his buddy had been laid off because of the boycott and was waxing really sarcastic about it.
(I just checked in the friend’s journal to see if there was information I’d forgotten; nothing beyond “Fuck anyone participating in this boycott.” Oh, wait, down in the comments is “One of the leading Republicans in Florida actualy tried to sever a $25 million dollar contract with a firm because it happened to be owned by Vivendi (A French company, IIRC).”)
I suspect in actuality it would have been a combination of the economy and the boycott, since in a healthier situation a company might be better able to ride out the stupidity. I also wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t a pre-emptive gesture, a case of “Doing business in the US has gotten more expensive in the last couple of weeks, and we see no immediate change on the horizon; better cut back now.”
L’Oreal is owned by Nestle, which is Swiss
I disagree. The majority of L’Oreal’s stock (53.7%) is owned by the holding company Gesparal, and Nestle, in turn, has a 49% ownership of Gesparal (cite). The arrangement is complex, but I don’t think Nestle owns L’Oreal in the parent-subsidiary sense, which (I’m guessing) is what you’re saying.
Vivendi’s video game businesses include Blizzard, maker of such game series (serieses?) as Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, and the soon to be re-released Lost Vikings.
Even if I felt a reason to boycott French products (which I don’t), I think my teachers would be less than amused if I informed them I took my textbooks back to the bookstore because they’re printed in France. (Much as I’d love to rid myself of that ominously lurking Proust book …)
– Dragonblink, French/Linguistics double major
Can we have pictures?
Can you have pictures?
Of the after shots…the before…well…it’ll cost you.
Let’s see, in the last week I’ve had Orangina to drink, Brie to eat, and I’ve listened to Indochine, Autour de Lucie and Jaques Brel’s music. Louise Attaque, too, but they’re Belgian.
And my dad worked for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young before he retired in 2000. Well, actually, he retired just before the merger, and he got a pretty good deal on the fly, considering that some partners he worked with (higher up, even) got fired. So there, blame the French for the loss of at least one job! Ha!
No, really, don’t bother; American companies will fire way more people in the coming year and cause more economic distress than the French could ever hope to.
And speaking of Louise Attaque, could someone translate the lyrics to their song “Ton Invitation,” or at least the lines:
J’ai accepté par erreur ton invitation
J’ai dû me gourer dans l’heure
J’ai dû me planter dans la saison
Si j’ai confondu
Avec celle qui sourit pas
Mais celle qui est belle bien entendu
Et qui dit belle
Dit pour moi
matt_mcl or any others?
Here you go:
Thank you very much. The time and season lines were giving me the most trouble. The rest of the lyrics to the song, besides this verse, I get, and it’s a good, bitter song.
Yeah, both se gourrer and se planter are slang (though very common) verbs. They both mean “to make a mistake”, “to screw up”.
There are people in America who listen to Louise Attaque and Jacques Brel? I’m pleasantly surprised. I don’t belive that the former are Belgian, but Le Grand Jacques definitely was. We just like to claim him as our own when no-one’s paying attention.
I’m going to try and boycott American and British goods, but it’s going to be a real bastard, especially as I live in the UK. They’ll lock me up soon enough for being a seditious Frog, anyway.
COWGIRL WROTE: “And a world without French dub or hip-hop would be a sad place indeed.”
I can safely say that I never heard a French hip-hop or dub in Locally, any of the clubs around here or in the near-by big citie. I have, on the other hand, suffered through many, many poor covers of reggae and Jimmy Buffet tunes.