http://www.cbsnews.com/news/frances-unpaid-debt/
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/sprj.irq.fries/
http://townhall.com/columnists/jonahgoldberg/2001/07/14/kiss_this_why_i_hate_the_french
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2005/02/18/renewed-call-to-boycott-france/
I’ve also met a lot of people who are pretty vocal about their hate for France.
I’m an American who spent three weeks in France a few years ago. I loved it. Incredibly beautiful place. We were in Nice – fabulous sea and glorious art with some seriously great food. We then went to Avignon. Another unreal place that was so pretty I was practically fainting especially when we toured the countryside. After that it was Paris and Amboise. I found the French, even the Parisians, unfailingly polite, kind, helpful and just plain nice. They swooned over my six year old who was treated with an endless series of smiles and treats wherever she went. Thanks to our Paris card, we were able to get into just about every single museum I wanted which was great.
I think most people who hate the French simply haven’t been to France. Then again they did invent mayonnaise which is the single grossest substance on the planet. Oh and the food is better in Italy! Heresy I know but the Italians are simply better cooks.
In general how do we measure national feelings, that somebody said something on the internet, and now with widespread internet well over a decade old, that somebody said something on the internet, ever?
But related to a couple of those links, I think an additional factor in the sometimes difficult US/French relationship, besides the two main ones I mentioned before (1. deep seated distrust between Gallic and Anglo-Saxon culture, not just US v France; and 2. that France is far less represented among the immigrant ancestors of Americans than perhaps any other major country), is another though I do think it ranks lower.
3. how the US and France deal with the US twice in the 20th century having spent a lot of blood defending or liberating France, v France having spent some money but few lives much further back in history helping the US gain independence. This is just awkward on both sides. It’s not something either Americans or French are making up as an issue or wholly at fault for, it’s just there.
But Americans making fun of other Americans, particularly in politics, for speaking French is IMO a lot less about negative attitudes toward France and more about the current of anti-intellectual populism that still surfaces sometimes in American life and politics. It’s actually kind of a back handed compliment to France that their language is associated with being ‘over educated’ and/or ‘hoity toity’. And it’s kind of a backhanded slap at latino culture that US anglo’s knowing how to speak Spanish, the other most common foreign language studied in the US, isn’t viewed that way. In fact Gringrich, mentioned in one of the links for mocking French speaking, got a lot of crap for saying at one point kids shouldn’t study Spanish (with the ‘lower culture’ idea implied in the quote).
And nowadays people often try out the put downs they’ve heard from their favorite pundits on their internet opponents. I remember a ‘reglar feller’ (knucklehead) on the web telling me ‘you must speak French’ implying I’m too ‘snobby’ (actually I do often read French language books on topics like ships, weapons, fortresses and other special interests of mine, though my spoken French is rusty; but I don’t really like the French people much either, they really aren’t very nice in general, just IME; I prefer Wallonia as a place to brush the rust off my spoken French :)).
That sounds like the quotation (mis)attriburted to Hermann Goering: “Whenever I hear the word ‘culture’ I reach for my revolver.”
Some years back, my girlfriend and I were the only customers in a Parisian restaurant. Madame la patronne spent a fair amount of time chatting with us in French. I am far from fluent, but I can make myself understood.
Another customer came in, and it turned out he was American, too. He was also black. He tried to order butter with his bread, but Madame professed not to understand his French. C’mon, beurre is beurre. I translated for him, and after that she understood his French just fine.
I’m a Francophile, and I visit there whenever I can, but racism is still a problem (as it is here in the U.S.).
When I mention France or Paris or some such, it’s not unusual for someone to joke that the French a) are all rude, or b) all smell bad. (Not hate, but still.) I always ask, and invariably the joker had never been to France or met a French person.
More complicated than that, as I mentioned several times regarding this incident. At the time France was in all but name at war with Libya (see operation epervier), in fact had launched air raids against libyan military assets, and negociations were conducted to put an end to this conflict.
Even though it might have been presented in the USA as something like “those coward french don’t want to help us teach a lesson to evil Khadaffi” (what I gather from previous mentions of this incident) or as “Those French want to make a point wrt the USA” (the way you present it), it was nothing of the sort.
Rather, imagine France unilaterrally wanting for some reason or another to conduct an air raid in Irak some time after the gulf war and being all pissed off when the USA make clear that there’s already enough shit going on there and that they’re not going to cooperate.
Actually mayonnaise originated in Spain. Named Mahon- esa after the capital city of the island of Menorca,
The F_____ have a long history of being weak and spineless. Their nuclear policy is idiotic. Their foreign policy is as well. They are unprincipled and cowardly. That’s just for starters.
Whom did you admire where World War II was concerned–DeGaulle or Mussolini?
Moderator Note
Melchoir, political jabs are out of place in General Questions. If you want to say these are common attitudes, make that clear, rather than apparently stating your personal opinions as if they were facts.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Yes, these are common attitudes. I did not start the thread, and am just answering the question.
Just be grateful they have this great storehouse of diacritic marks you can draw on:
entrée, blasé, frappé, exposé, résumé, naïve, café, soufflé, soupçon, façade… and Beyoncé.
No, Häagen Dasz is not French 
I’m in the US and in my school system I had to take French from grade 3 through 12. There were teachers I liked and teachers I didn’t, but there were some French teachers who just plain 'rubbed me the wrong way." I had an inexplicable gut-level negative reaction to them.
Fast forward many years, and for a while I worked with a company in Canada and traveled there perhaps once a month. The majority of people were really nice, perhaps more so than many of the Americans I work with. But there were a few who, again, just irritated me. And it turned out in each case they were from Quebec.
I have no overall dislike of the French, and personally know some very nice people from France. But there is something about some French ( or French-like?) people that sets off a negative note back in the primitive part of my brain’s wiring. I don’t know if its something about the spoken or body language, or some behavioral thing, but it happens.
Perhaps others react like this also.
Because Paris is a beautiful city filled with so many fine restaurants and museums that it is a place people want to visit despite the fact it is also full of French.
Well, he wasn’t the only person to tell me that the French will say they can’t understand you if you speak French with an American accent. The folks who say this suggest that they do not believe their accent made them impossible to understand, but rather that it simply marked them as non-French.
I have discussed possible motives for the French to behave this way at great length already, and have nothing useful to add.
I can’t swear the story is true, as I wasn’t there, but I trust the person who told it. I can say it was related as a first-person account, that he and a buddy had some leave and went to Paris to see the museums.
There’s a quote by a Brit, whose name escapes me, that goes something like ‘France is the perfect country, shame it’s wasted on the French’*. Or somethin’.
*a quote I can laugh about but don’t agree with, I love France and the French, French women are seriously hot.
You couldn’t be more wrong. It’s the differences in cultures that make them interesting. Who wants to live in a world where every restaurant tastes like McDonalds or every city looks like Atlanta? I want the French to remain French, the Spanish to remain Spanish, and the Japanese to remain Japanese.
I’ve been to France one time and it was awesome. The people were friendly, the history interesting and the food amazing. The waitress at our hotel was funny even though we didn’t speak each others language (if you try you can make yourself understood).