BrodiaQ United States. January 22 2012 03:41. Posts 827 PM Profile Blog Quote # The feeling I get from the French jokes/hate is mostly to do with the people and the history with the two World Wars. There is, in my opinion, a general feeling throughout American Society that we had to enter WW1 and WW2 because France couldn't take care of itself and we had to save them. A lot of Americans characterize French people as ungrateful because it seems like the French haven't done anything to repay us for our intervention.
Before saying something, you better check if it's right. the USA entered World War 1 only because its ships got sank by the german submarines and World War 2 because of Pearl Harbor.
The USA would have entered WW2 anyway because they wouldn't want all of Western Europe under the rule of USSR. ;/
On January 21 2012 21:35 Euronyme wrote: Americans envy the French in every way possible, the English have them as rivals. There are also some irritation left as the French practically didn't fight in WW2, even though they practically caused it.
Please, give this guy some history lessons!
Apart from that, as far as the online community goes, I think it's some kind of running gag that isn't really meant in a bad way. I don't know about the rest though as I hardly ever noticed any "france bashing" outside of the gaming world.
I think the main reason why many people dislike the French (at least here in the US), is because of their quick defeat in WW2. I'm not saying that's justified though. But I don't really know why the French dislike the US so much (don't bash me) other than our culture differences.
My grandma told me about how she traveled a lot in Europe a while back. She loved to travel. But I remember her telling me about her trips to Paris and how whenever she entered a restaurant, she was served low quality food just because she was an American tourist. People were unhelpful to tourists in that city (especially Americans) and that kind of just stuck with me.
From what I read in this thread, it seems like Paris is just the main city in France that dislikes Americans. It seems like rural France isn't too bad. Interesting to see that even some Frenchies (is that offensive?) dislike Parisians/share that opinion.
you guys need to accept the FACT that all countries suck except germany and the czech republic (because of dat beeeeeer)
no seriously every country has it flaws you can bash it for. if you point at somebody with your finger make sure your hands are clean....you actually could make a similar thread about every other country on the planet since every country gets bashed somehow by others....
Typical thread where mostly the people with more "extreme" (in this case, who actually do have a bias") views talk, creating a distorted picture of reality. I don't think I know anybody who comes even remotely close to disliking France. And the same goes for any resentments against the Dutch- no idea where that's supposed to come from. Admittedly I live in the eastern part of Germany, so our direct Neighbours (and I assume that those prejudices exist on the "my neighbour smells bad and mows his lawn during my afternoon nap" basis) are Poland and the Czech Republic but we don't have any bias against them either. Oh yeah- polish people steal all our cars. *rolleyes*
I had french in school it's a beautiful language. Noone forced us, we could have chosen other languages or just remain with 1 foreign language, but many of us wanted to learn French. I just wish the French would simply accept that English is the world language and not make such a big fuzz about speaking their own vernacular.
Silly jokes are made about all countries and don't mean a thing.
Yeah I think that's an important thing to realize. All of Scandinavia pretty much hate Sweden afaik, and apparently they don't even serve Swedes in some bars in Denmark. There's rivalry everywhere. It keeps things interesting
Make Denmark prettier, show a Swede the way to the ferry... (Yes, Danish girls are better looking than Swedish, we've just figured out that if we keep quiet about it we get to keep them to ourselves)
Also, people with only one language complaining that the french won't speak their language crack me up.... And it is in my experience also completely untrue - as long as you start the convo with "excuse moi, mais mon francais son tres tres terrible, parle vous anglais?" you are golden no matter which part of France you are in (yes, that sentence is probably littered with mistakes, but it only enforces the message).
On January 21 2012 21:20 TanTzoR wrote: Edit: damn can't edit title, it's "France" Bashing ofc
Hihi,
I've been questioning myself for some time why the United-States are that aggressive towards France. I'm half French but leave in the UK, I may not be totally objective but it seems it's more one-sided. There is bashing in different parts:
-People bashing, i don't know much about since I do not leave in the US. Maybe you guys can tell me if jokes about French are common.
-Political bashing, that's the part that surprises me the most. In France people may tell Americans are fat, or on the medias they may call them rambos. But on a political level, nothing. Not the same for the Americans. France Bashing seems to be a really popular sport among the republican party. http://aproposfrance-usa.blogspot.com/
Here is one quote from Bush "The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur". A part from the fact that "entrepreneur" is a french word, what is the goal of this statement? An American friend of mine told me that if Kerry was not France friendly he could have won the elections. Do you agree?
I really don't get it, United-States and France have ALWAYS (except Suez stuff) on the same side, so why?
So to resume, why does this bashing exist? Is it as important as it seems? At which level (street,media,political) level is it the more dangerous? My statement may be totally wrong, so I need some insight from Americans themselves. Please be respectful PS: a little trick of history xD George Washington, the first American president of history was a linear descendant of a frenchman.
It's not so much that Americans hate the French, but it's give and take on some levels. Part of it in recent history is due to France's refusal to help with Iraq (I thought France was smart not to get involved, but a lot of Americans got really angry over it). It's a lot because Americans see the French as arrogant and smug, and the French often see Americans as the same way. The way the French treat American tourists doesn't help either, they have a reputation here for hating Americans, and it's mostly reciprocation. Keep in mind however, that this reputation comes from the place where American tourists tend to go to when they visit France (Paris), and it's sort of just generalized to all Frenchmen when it's really just Parisians. Sort of how people from other countries looked at Bush and thought all Americans were like that (The entire Northern half of this country hated his guts with only a couple exceptions).
For the record, it's mostly just jokes, not many people take it seriously.
On January 22 2012 05:02 Epishade wrote: I think the main reason why many people dislike the French (at least here in the US), is because of their quick defeat in WW2. I'm not saying that's justified though. But I don't really know why the French dislike the US so much (don't bash me) other than our culture differences.
My grandma told me about how she traveled a lot in Europe a while back. She loved to travel. But I remember her telling me about her trips to Paris and how whenever she entered a restaurant, she was served low quality food just because she was an American tourist. People were unhelpful to tourists in that city (especially Americans) and that kind of just stuck with me.
From what I read in this thread, it seems like Paris is just the main city in France that dislikes Americans. It seems like rural France isn't too bad. Interesting to see that even some Frenchies (is that offensive?) dislike Parisians/share that opinion.
Maybe the food just sucked. :p
Actually where I live (close to Meaux, a small/medium sized city not too far from Paris) people are really interested in the USA and have a lot of positive things to say about them. When I tell people I've lived in the USA for 10 years they envy me, in fact from experience, I could probably say that a lot of Frenchies envy Americans.
As for Parisians... let's say it's not a general consensus that they're not very nice people, but it isn't far from the case. Parisians are sort of known for being snobby and uptight (and they're very poor drivers). They definitely don't have a great reputation, even among the French. Paris is still a nice city though.
There are jokes and stereotypes about all big countries that people commonly have on their map. England: ugly, slutty and bad food Russia: drunk, criminals Chinese: ching chan chong France: losers, arrogant Germans: bavarians, nazis etc etc
On that note: Why are there so many alleys in France? Because german soldiers like to march in shadow.
I think France is one of the better understood countries and cultures for Americans and thus there are many jokes about them. They bash and have even more jokes about mexicans and candians, because they know them even better and the more you know about something the more you can find things to make fun of.
Typical thread where mostly the people with more "extreme" (in this case, who actually do have a bias") views talk, creating a distorted picture of reality. I don't think I know anybody who comes even remotely close to disliking France. And the same goes for any resentments against the Dutch- no idea where that's supposed to come from. Admittedly I live in the eastern part of Germany, so our direct Neighbours (and I assume that those prejudices exist on the "my neighbour smells bad and mows his lawn during my afternoon nap" basis) are Poland and the Czech Republic but we don't have any bias against them either. Oh yeah- polish people steal all our cars. *rolleyes*
I had french in school it's a beautiful language. Noone forced us, we could have chosen other languages or just remain with 1 foreign language, but many of us wanted to learn French. I just wish the French would simply accept that English is the world language and not make such a big fuzz about speaking their own vernacular.
Silly jokes are made about all countries and don't mean a thing.
Yeah I think that's an important thing to realize. All of Scandinavia pretty much hate Sweden afaik, and apparently they don't even serve Swedes in some bars in Denmark. There's rivalry everywhere. It keeps things interesting
where in denmark does bars not serve swedes? ive been to copenhagen several times and ive never heard of such thing and i cant imagine why there would be. there really isnt any serious rivalry going on between sweden and denmark. why do you think so? cause i myself have never heard about anything (read: serious) like rivalry between danes and swedes. its like, you call them danskjävlar and tell them that they say for haelvede all the time and that they only eat pölse but thats pretty much it, atleast for me. dont you agree?
On January 21 2012 23:03 ShadeR wrote: funny i watched this like 3 mins ago
hahahahah the ending really cracked me up
And the intro was 100% true. My father was calling my crazy for not wanting to study in Paris but other parts of France. Took me a long time gathering anecdotes (from the French themselves , among others) to convince him otherwise.
American's love the French. American's also tease the ones they love.
Honestly, people tease the French because they can.... its been permissible since the WWII propaganda days. Their parents bashed the French, so they bash the French. I know it even happens in the political realm, but thats because its been permitted in the social ranks.
Its stupid and colloquial, but no doubt it exists.
Intelligent American's know how culturally and historically significant the French have been.
Everyone bashes everyone else. I'm sure you are just noticing it because you are part French yourself. Don't worry, plenty of French people bash the U.S as well XD
I feel very secure in my frenchness now. Haters gonna hate and that's it. Only retards and ignorant people are serious about it anyway. Like this guy in a club in China who trash talked me and tried to start a fight because it was after the Bejiing Olympics drama and the media had started an anti-French campaign (much like in the US around the Iraq war I guess). He only tried though because ofc I ran away. LOL j/k.
I was quite sad to see the anti-Romney video ad though. I live in the US now, and I fucking love America and Americans but the amount of retarded name-calling and petty attacks that seem to make a large part of the political campaigns here is painful to witness. You're better than that, don't fall for this shit please.
On January 22 2012 05:03 gwaihir wrote: you guys need to accept the FACT that all countries suck except germany and the czech republic (because of dat beeeeeer)
no seriously every country has it flaws you can bash it for. if you point at somebody with your finger make sure your hands are clean....you actually could make a similar thread about every other country on the planet since every country gets bashed somehow by others....
Finally a voice of reason in this thread!
I would say Denmark is awesome too because of Faxe Royal Strong
If we would rate countries based on their beer then I would say there are more reasons to dislike the countries for which this thread was made.
I don't care about what the others countries think about us...it's my last preoccupation and I think the most French don't pay attention too.
If you don't like France or French people it's ok for me. If some Americans or British want to spat, insult, laught towards us and make a strong French-bashing, they can do that, it's not important. Since when we French, take care about the opinion of others people ???????????
If you think that we French, are rude, arrogant and we don't speak a good English, you should don't come anymore in our country. Nobody force you to visit France or spent your time here. If you don't want to meet any French guy or girl don't come here. The French diaspora around the world is tiny, so you will probably never meet a French people in your whole life.
BTW, I learn English at my high school but I'm not perfectly fluent, moreover I always sleep in English lesson so sorry for the mistakes... bye.
On January 21 2012 21:40 hypercube wrote: American bashing French for "surrendering" or being cowards is just pathetic. It's just that France didn't support a certain policy (that turned out to be a disaster anyway) and it was Republicans' way of getting back at them. That's some fourth grade shit right there.
People were bashing France for "surrendering" way before the war in Iraq. They surrendered pretty swiftly to Nazi Germany (google Vichy France, they didn't just surrender, they outright aided the Nazis), they surrendered to the North Vietnamese in the 50's, and I'm sure I'm forgetting other instances too.
I agree that all the France-bashing leading up to the war in Iraq was BS though.
EPT
If some Americans or British want to spat, insult, laught towards us and make a strong French-bashing, they can do that, it's not important.
