I encountered a “stereotypical Texan” in Paris as well, in the hotel’s breakfast room. He spoke very loudly, and entirely in English. But when he wanted the waiter’s attention, he bellowed “Par lay voo, boy, par lay voo!” I wanted to crawl under the table.
And let’s not forget the Quasi-War.
First of all, it is most certainly not just Americans who are not in love with the French. At last count, I have traveled to 27 different countries and, at least from my experience, I think it is fair to say the French were not exactly beloved in any of those countries either.
I have been to Paris twice - once relatively poor on a cheap excursion trip - the other time with quite a bit of money, staying in the InterConti and going to better restaurants and cafes. On both trips, I found most of the service industry extremely rude - but even worse, they were constantly trying to cheat me on the tabs when expecting payment.
As mentioned, I have traveled to many countries and obviously do not speak the language in all of them. Still - only in France was I given the huffy, arrogant attitude despite my attempt to at least say Please and Thank You and knowing how to count and speak (very) few phrases in French. I would at least quietly ask if they spoke English or German - two languages that most metropolitan cities in Europe are familiar with and can at least speak with some basic skills.
Are all French nasty pricks? Of course not. My SO and I both have a very good friend from Paris (that we met in West Hollywood).
But in general, I would agree that Paris is the least tourist friendly city I have ever visited. I even met a nice couple from Canada - both had just graduated with degrees in French and were on their honeymoon in Paris and then returning to Canada to teach French. They were shocked and pissed off that the French were constantly making fun of their accent and pretending they didn’t understand a single word. Yes, the Brits might take a swipe at my American accent, but they never got nasty about it or pretended they didn’t even understand my American English on my many visits to London.
There are rude assholes in every city - and having lived in NYC and Berlin, I also know there is a certain “big city” attitude that does come across as brash. But I think you can find lots and lots of people who have visited both of those cities and found the locals very helpful when lost or needing basic services. From personal experience, I would say Paris has taken rude and insolent to a new level; almost a source of pride to live up to their horrible reputation.
Do the French stink? Ridiculous and of course not.
Are they cowards? They have certainly done their share in Africa lately, and the French Foreign Legion is legendary, so no.
Do they know food, fashion and the arts? Most certainly!
They are simply unpleasant to visit and meet.
Perhaps it would be different if I had traveled more in the countryside, or visited other parts of France - and given the opportunity, I might even consider it. But to be quite honest, if I never return to Paris again in my life, that would be quite fine with me.
Possibly, but Onomatopoeia specifically said:
" The woman then smiled and responded to my query by providing instructions in French, then asked if I understood, in English."
So basically they ignored the guy asking in English strictly because he was asking in English and not in French, and then when the other guy asked in French, they replied in French, and then asked in English if he had understood the directions in French.
Seems like pretty colossal dickheadedness to me. And, this isn’t the first story like that I’ve heard about Paris.
My personal theory is that it’s Paris, not all of France, that acts like this.
Because they’re snobbish fucking assholes. The couple of times I’ve been there and asked for something like directions in the best French I could muster* they would repeat what I say and then look at each other, laugh and walk away.
*I always tried to learn how to pronounce the hotels, places and attractions I was interested in visiting as well as general terms like highway, street, left, right, north and south etc.
too many vowels.
I’m English so I’m genetically predisposed to hate Frenchmen, although hating someone based on nationality alone is for the small minded there’s still a lot of disdain here for their poor showing during the war, Vichy collaboration and making us fight them in Syria. We also had to sink their navy at Mars-el-Kebir so the Germans wouldn’t get it. The French hated us for it, but it probably shortened the war so tough shit. Canadians who know their own history will also be aware of Quebec’s umbrage at conscription and being called up to fight ‘England’s war’.
Some of America’s less than favourable views may also come from their natural loathing of colonialism. FDR made it abundantly clear to the British that Americans were *not *fighting and dying to return their colonial possessions to their European masters. This was a view heartily shared by their ranking officer in China, General Stillwell.
As a result of our own poor showing in East Asia a few years after the war the colonies began to gain independence (relatively) peacefully as the British realised that the war had bankrupted us and destroyed our prestige, particularly in East Asia. French policy makers on the other hand believed they could go back to business as usual, using force if necessary to enforce the pre-war status quo. As a result much needless blood was shed in Algeria, Madagascar, Cambodia. In a certain country beginning with V America policy chose colonialism over communism, and we all know how that ended.
they are froggy.
Because they were smart enough to stay out of Iraq. Before that they were gently disliked like all furriners, but nothing special. That’s when the phrase “Cheese eating surrender monkeys” got going.
BTW, the Canadian government recently had a quiet 10th anniversary of their decision to stay out of Iraq. But hardly anyone noticed.
But to return to the OP, the French are not even much liked in Quebec. A French teacher (of French) I once had always told people she was Belgian because of the general dislike of the French. But I think that comes primarily from the fact that the ridicule the local dialect. Imagine how popular the Brits would be if they were known mainly for ridiculing the American dialects.
If you don’t hate them ‘as you hate the Devil’, you make the baby Nelson cry.
(not sure where that came from… I apologize)
EXCUSE ME, SIR, but I believe those are Liberty fries and Liberty onion soup you’re talking about. 
I’ve neither travelled extensively or visited France itself, but French-speaking Belgium is after only Russia for “least English-friendly country” that I’ve visited. That puts it behind the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Canada. On the other hand, they did respect my polite use of French “hellos” and “thank yous”–rather too much, in fact, as they then proceeded to assume I spoke French. Rather the opposite of the classic American-learning-a-foreign-language in Europe problem of having them detect your accent and switch immediately into English. 
And speaking of the language, what is up with that? All those Xes and silent letters and that horrid back of the throat rolled R. (Particularly horrid because I can’t do it. The only foreign language sound I’ve encountered that I simply cannot do.) On the other hand, it does give me the opportunity to deliberately mispronounce words, usually in the style of Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Rains. Bon-jewer!
Cheese-eating surrender monkeys was coined by Willie the Groundskeeper on the Simpsons in 1995. Though it did pick up steam after Iraq.
For me, to build on what **HandsomeHarry **said above, it was the French pulling out of NATO and the timing of it that makes me dislike France to some extent. They were all too happy to be in NATO after WWII when they were worried about both Russia and presumably a re-resurgent Germany. But by 1960, NATO was strong, Germany was friendly, and there was a huge American military presence all over West Germay. So France was now safe behind our defenses. Then and only then did they pull out of NATO saying that they wanted to be free to do what they wanted. That’s cowardly and weak.
I’m not sure if this has been noted yet, but the one thing the French and Americans have in common is that they are generally oblivious to their own arrogance. Neither seem to realize just how tacky and rude it is to declare openly to the rest of the world that they are the greatest nation on earth…that is until somebody else declares the same thing about their own country.
In all of my trips to France, I found the French pretty nice. Sure, some Parisians are snooty…but that is true of most capital cities. The best French people I met were in Caen (Normandy)
During one telecom my friend participated in, the group included Americans, French Canadians, and the French on the other side of the Atlantic. Whenever the French Canadians spoke to the French, the did so in French. When the French replied back to the French Canadians, it was always in English.
My friend later spoke later to one of the folks by phone in France concerning some business. At the end of the conversation he asked why the bilingual exchange?
The Frenchman replied, “Because, we do not consider them to be French.”
Never been to France, so I can’t speak from my own experience; but those I do know who traveled to France tell me the southern parts are far more friendly than the northern. Maybe the German invasions have something to do with it? I don’t know.
Dislike might be too strong of a word, I think the French have been valuable allies for many centuries, and we are more alike than we are different. But some French are seen by Americans as snooty and dismissive, and conservative Americans don’t like French Socialist politics.
why are the French so anxious to attack Muslims in Mali, yet according to this official French government site, there are 750 “Sensitive urban Zones” in France where Islam rules:
many of these are “no-go” zones for French police, fire and EMT’s.
When my ex visited Paris, he spent most of the trip being pissed off by the rudeness he encountered. One night, he gets into a cab and hands the cabbie a piece of paper with his hotel’s address on it – my ex didn’t speak French – and the cabbie starts cussing him out, saying that he won’t go there, get out of his cab, blah blah blah.
My ex snapped. In his thick Broolynese he starts yelling, “You wanna go? Let’s go! Get out of this cab and I’ll punch ya in your damn face!” and that sort of thing. The cabbie starts sputtering, saying “Oh no no no no!” and my ex then yelled at him for being a pussy, before getting out of the cab and stalking away.
My current boyfriend, also a New Yorker, visited Paris a few years ago and mostly remembers that it was picturesque but the people stank. As in body odor stank.
In many Americans’ minds, there are just two kinds of people in the world: those who speak “American” and those who refuse to. The French just seem to be more obnoxious about not speaking the correct language. So, they must be inherently, “not our kind of people.”
This is a pity since I can tell you that the people of Menton (for one example) are delightful and have been very accepting of my mangled usage of their fine language.
I have never been to Paris, though I wish to someday. The folks in the south of France, the land once known as Occitania, look at Parisians and the inhabitants of the north somewhat similarly to the way that the denizens of the southern USA look upon the plight of those poor benighted folks who are (through the fickle finger of fate) forced to live in the dire regions north of the Mason-Dixon line. That is to say with a mixture of derision and sympathy.
The fact that Parisians and Yankees feel the same admixture of emotions towards their counterparts is not very surprising, after all.
go to Montreal sometime. even those French speaking folks hate people from USA that do not speak French.