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dogma wrote:

Albatross wrote:The French are cool, but I do always permit myself a chuckle at pretentious Americans who are in love with France.

What about the pretentious Americans in love with Britain, or America?

That's like cousins (or adopted cousins) loving each other.

Just plain wrong.

I didn't like them until i stumbled across what they did in ww1/2. now all i can do is respect them.

My impression of france was that the people were not all that friendly when I went there, and also that they make little effort with foreigners. I used to work in a port town in Ireland, and we'd get a lot of continentals coming through with very poor english. But the over-riding response was to be patient, friendly and helpful. When I was in France, my attempts to communicate in French were met with open scorn, rude tutting and tsking, or refusal to acknowledge that I had spoken. I also got chased by a gang of youths with machetes for being "english" (I am not joking).
This tallies with the experiences of my friends who visited Paris and found it to be one of the rudest cities they'd ever visited.

Though, an addendum- that attitude seemed to come mostly from younger french people. All the old people I met were lovely. And I have made friends with a good few french people who I have met travelling around. So it's possible that my visit unluckily hit upon a population of rude hicks that are not representative of the nation. But I have to say my experiences have given me a negative veiw and I wouldn't want to live in France as an English speaker.

Edit to add: Oh, and I dislike their stances on a lot of Euro Zone issues. Sarkozy pisses me off no end.

Da Boss, all thats because you (and I) have the privilege of being a rosbif. The French tend to be more polite with others.

Ahtman wrote:

SilverMK2 wrote:Although not compared to Australian wine

Australian wine is fine for those who know little about wine.

Your ignorance knows no limits...

Australian wines were judged superior to French wines in blind tastings.

French wines ride upon reputation which is a decade beyond its Due Date.

Da Boss wrote:When I was in France, my attempts to communicate in French were met with open scorn, rude tutting and tsking, or refusal to acknowledge that I had spoken.

The trick, as with most language games, is to be better at it than most people. There is nothing like correcting a native French speaker regarding his use of French. Honestly, even if you're wrong, the sheer flabbergast is totally worth it.

One thing in particular will always give me a high regard for France.

Absinthe.

That stuff is my favorite drink ever.

dogma wrote:

Da Boss wrote:When I was in France, my attempts to communicate in French were met with open scorn, rude tutting and tsking, or refusal to acknowledge that I had spoken.

The trick, as with most language games, is to be better at it than most people. There is nothing like correcting a native French speaker regarding his use of French. Honestly, even if you're wrong, the sheer flabbergast is totally worth it.

Sadly, I am most definitely not better at french than the french
I was making an honest go of it though. I'm not one of those english speakers who thinks communicating with non-anglophones is talking loudly and slowly.

An Italianman, a Frenchman and an Englishman are all together. Needless to say, for whatever reason, a Genie grants them all one wish..................

The Italian speaks up first "I want every Italianman to have at least 2 beautiful Mistresses, a wardrobe for his clothes the size of a house, and a Ferrari on the driveway, because Italy is great" With a click of his fingers, 'poof' his wish is granted.....

The Frenchman goes next "Every Frenchman should have the right to only work 20 hours a week, retire at 45 on full pension, own a vineyard. France should be for French people only, remove all the forieghners from my country, build a 200m wall around its boarders for protection!" With a click of his fingers, 'poof' his wish is granted.....

The Genie turns to the Englishman, "And what dreams can I grant for you?", The Englishman replies "Before we get onto that, tell me about this wall. Nothing gets in or out, is that right?". "Yes", replies the Genie. The Englishman smiles and simply says.............

"Fill the F@!$%r with water............."

TheSecretSquig wrote:An Italianman, a Frenchman and an Englishman are all together. Needless to say, for whatever reason, a Genie grants them all one wish..................

The Italian speaks up first "I want every Italianman to have at least 2 beautiful Mistresses, a wardrobe for his clothes the size of a house, and a Ferrari on the driveway, because Italy is great" With a click of his fingers, 'poof' his wish is granted.....

The Frenchman goes next "Every Frenchman should have the right to only work 20 hours a week, retire at 45 on full pension, own a vineyard. France should be for French people only, remove all the forieghners from my country, build a 200m wall around its boarders for protection!" With a click of his fingers, 'poof' his wish is granted.....

The Genie turns to the Englishman, "And what dreams can I grant for you?", The Englishman replies "Before we get onto that, tell me about this wall. Nothing gets in or out, is that right?". "Yes", replies the Genie. The Englishman smiles and simply says.............

"Fill the F@!$%r with water............."

Funny...

dogma wrote:

Albatross wrote:The French are cool, but I do always permit myself a chuckle at pretentious Americans who are in love with France.

What about the pretentious Americans in love with Britain, or America?

I find that to be a perfectly natural state of affairs, one that is both right and proper. I mean, we are 'Nana's house', after all....

Avatar 720 wrote:The wine is okay. Some of the food is tolerable. Some of the people are borderline pleasant.

That's all I can force myself to say in their favour. Excuse me whilst I wash my mouth out with Scrumpy.

^ A finer Englishman i will never meet.
Chocks away my good man.

dogma wrote:I think we can all agree that, in the face of France, America is terrible.

LOL....wait were you serious? Thats wrong. Thats worse than a broken condom in a convent.... just awful.

You should move to France.

Mr Mystery wrote:But most country's? Really? most country's are rammed deep into their own arse, choking on delusions of adequacy!

hey,i saw some typos. fixed em up for ya

Well, I do have to give the frogs some props: Without them, the USA would not exist in its current state, nor would I have access to one of the most awesome things ever: Modern gunpowder.

lord commissar klimino wrote:

Mr Mystery wrote:But most countries? Really? most countrie are rammed deep into their own arse, choking on delusions of adequacy!

hey,i saw some typos. fixed em up for ya
s

Fix'd yo fix'd dawg.

Mr Mystery wrote:

lord commissar klimino wrote:

Mr Mystery wrote:But most countries? Really? most countries are rammed deep into their own arse, choking on delusions of adequacy!

hey,i saw some typos. fixed em up for ya
s

Fix'd yo fix'd dawg.

nice...still true though. the sooner we all admit it,the sooner we can fix it

Hyenajoe wrote:

Asherian Command wrote:And we make fun of it because they failed during world war 1 .

Err, what?

remilia_scarlet wrote:
And, now this is nsfw

Spoiler:

70% of french women are bisexual

I'm sure 80% of the French male population would be pleased with that, but I think more reasonably that you're talking about another country called France...(or possibly a lesbian club with the same name )

Club les bos

AvatarForm wrote:

Ahtman wrote:

SilverMK2 wrote:Although not compared to Australian wine

Australian wine is fine for those who know little about wine.

Your ignorance knows no limits...

Australian wines were judged superior to French wines in blind tastings.

French wines ride upon reputation which is a decade beyond its Due Date.

Why would someone blindfold children and force them to drink wine? Only in Australia.

Ahtman wrote:

AvatarForm wrote:

Ahtman wrote:

SilverMK2 wrote:Although not compared to Australian wine

Australian wine is fine for those who know little about wine.

Your ignorance knows no limits...

Australian wines were judged superior to French wines in blind tastings.

French wines ride upon reputation which is a decade beyond its Due Date.

Why would someone blindfold children and force them to drink wine? Only in Australia.

What's this about children?

Connor McKane wrote:
LOL....wait were you serious? Thats wrong. Thats worse than a broken condom in a convent.... just awful.

You should move to France.

Why would I do that when I can annoy people who believe that your beliefs about a country have any real bearing on whether or not you live there?

dogma wrote:

Connor McKane wrote:
LOL....wait were you serious? Thats wrong. Thats worse than a broken condom in a convent.... just awful.

You should move to France.

Why would I do that when I can annoy people who believe that your beliefs about a country have any real bearing on whether or not you live there?

Why, for the snails, obviously

Ahtman wrote:

AvatarForm wrote:

Ahtman wrote:

SilverMK2 wrote:Although not compared to Australian wine

Australian wine is fine for those who know little about wine.

Your ignorance knows no limits...

Australian wines were judged superior to French wines in blind tastings.

French wines ride upon reputation which is a decade beyond its Due Date.

Why would someone blindfold children and force them to drink wine? Only in Australia.

MJ was not Australian... I believe he was from your neck of the woods...

Erm wasn't Charlemagne a Frank?
I am pretty sure he was from what would now be classed as Germany.

Anyway, IMO french are kinda in two camps the insular 'wee eight zee Angleesh' ones who are also way cool and smoke cigerettes and drink coffee/absinthe and the welcoming kind who smile encouragingly while you mangle their language but are less cool. Also i must say though i like the french they are in my experience pretty racist, the amount of times i've heard 'Les Arabs' (French derogatory term for any Algerian/african immigrant) in a casual conversation has been pretty shocking.

Perkustin wrote:Erm wasn't Charlemagne a Frank?
I am pretty sure he was from what would now be classed as Germany.

Anyway, IMO french are kinda in two camps the insular 'wee eight zee Angleesh' ones who are also way cool and smoke cigerettes and drink coffee/absinthe and the welcoming kind who smile encouragingly while you mangle their language but are less cool. Also i must say though i like the french they are in my experience pretty racist, the amount of times i've heard 'Les Arabs' (French derogatory term for any Algerian/african immigrant) in a casual conversation has been pretty shocking.

The Franks occupied both Germany and France. Also they originated before the concept of nationalism so the idea of being loyal to one's country would be foreign to them.

@Da Boss

You are British, of course they hate you.

@Albatross

Why shouldn't Americans feel a special kinship with Britain?

We owe a great deal of our legal structure, our very language, and much of our culture to them.

@Perkustin

You are pretty spot on, the first camp is the stereotypical aloof Frenchman.

If nothing else I like the French for being so unabashedly Machiavellian.

I'm not British, I'm Irish. Just a recent emigrant

AvatarForm wrote:MJ was not Australian... I believe he was from your neck of the woods...

It's always an Aussie whose mind leaps to pedophilia.

Ahtman wrote:They have the superior alcohol, in comparison to the US and Britain, to be sure.

Aiiiieeeeee!!

Britain and America make some of the best beer in the world...

Beer is all that counts to me. Im a real ale drinker, and we make thousands of different ones!

mattyrm wrote:

Ahtman wrote:They have the superior alcohol, in comparison to the US and Britain, to be sure.

Aiiiieeeeee!!

Britain and America make some of the best beer in the world...

Beer is all that counts to me. Im a real ale drinker, and we make thousands of different ones!

Being the best beer is like being the best patty out in the field though.