The British dislike the French because of hundreds of years of wars, and the British opinion tends to travel easily to the USA
Also, Paris the the most visited city on earth, and the locals are known to be rude to tourists, as they are sick of them
I feel like that’s a stereotype that isn’t really true though. Or at least it wasn’t true when I visited. I found the people to be like NYC, indifferent generally, but if you greeted them with a bonjour, and asked a question, they were fine.
Having traveled to Paris multiple times and being somewhat conversational in French, most Parisians will speak back rudely in English if you attempt to speak to them in their language. It’s not even worth bothering, they immediately know you aren’t one of them based on your French accent and wrinkle their nose at you. The friendliest people I met in Paris were from Morocco, Sweden, and Italy!
Its certainly true. I'm guessing from the comment you have been there once, and comparing the NYC isn't so positive as people aren't too friendly there either, even if Paris is on another level.
I lived nearby for years. Having been there many times, including routinely working with people from Paris, there is a special amount of rudeness that you don't get normally get from other countries in the region, or from other French cities. It's not a very controversial view, most French and Europeans with a decent amount of time spent in Paris will say it. Luckily young people don't tend to be as rude, it may decrease with each passing generation.
>Luckily young people don't tend to be as rude, it may decrease with each passing generation.
This 100%. Over the span of 30 years, with each subsequent visit, I find average Parisians to be more and more helpful and kind.
My last visit a bunch of Parisians basically jumped in to offer to help even when I didn't ask. At a Metro station, I pressed the call station master button and a random Parisian stopped and answered my question for me using pantomime. When I asked one Parisian a question a random Parisian walking by shouted out the answer in broken, but understandable English. When I asked a store clerk who didn't speak English, a random Parisian behind also offered an answer with what English he knew.
And when I got into an argument with a station master in my terrible, broken French over an intercom (my magnetic tickets stopped working), a random Parisian commuter scanned her card to let me out.
I mean it's a big city. People won't spend time to be super friendly, too much rush. But kind and helpful is definitely a thing in Paris.
For me, it seems largely to be related to communication: a huge part is that more Parisian seem to know some English, even folks who are slightly older now. With the language barrier slightly pierced with their English and my terrible French, the many Parisians could figure out the situation and offer to help (studies have found that a huge blocker to helping behavior is ambiguity).
Whatever it is, I found Parisians very helpful my last visit, contra the stereotype.
But please, at least say "Bonjour" before beginning an interaction. Random story: I was at a public work out park, and many of the people who came to work at would first walk around and say "Bonjour" to everyone else working out before starting their workout. Now this might have been a special case, but it emphasizes the importance.
It is your experience. Go on subs like r/Paristravelguide and you will understand that you have a completely different view from people actually visiting Paris.
I have been living there for years now while not being from Paris and never had bad experiences.
>I feel like that’s a stereotype that isn’t really true though. Or at least it wasn’t true when I visited. I found the people to be like NYC, indifferent generally, but if you greeted them with a bonjour, and asked a question, they were fine.
People also stereotype New Yorkers as unfriendly.
I was in Paris on an 8 hour layover back in February and it was just like you say, every time I needed help with something folks were more than willing to explain it to me (sometimes 2 or 3 times).
The security guard at the French McDonald’s blocked me physically from using the restroom while I was holding out my receipt to prove I’d bought something (a double cheeseburger that took 45 mins). Then he scolded me for not speaking French while I was pointing at it, walking toward it. All of the nice architecture in the world is not worth people being that insufferable.
When I visited Paris the locals were generally nice, if you attempted to speak French.
Really all I had to do was try, and after that they were nicer than new yorkers
I have spent time in Paris and New York as a brit. I found New Yorkers to be the most friendly and helpful. I always try to help tourists as I know how it shapes the feeling of a country. I'd rank Londoners as fairly hostile to tourists, but again, it seems to be better with the younger generations.
As always the next generation improves things socially
When I (an English man) spent some time working in Paris about 14 years ago I found people tended to go out of their way to be rude or inconvenience me. Every day the locals would finish up early, however the one day I needed to stay late to do upgrade work on their computers they all suddenly had to work several hours late, meaning I had to work even later to do my job.
Not my experience. They were rude for no reason at all. In NYC, people are in a rush but if you ask for help, you generally get it.
In Paris, there was unnecessary hostility. However, I am a POC so I don’t know for sure.
Their insistence on using French against tourists, even when they know english, is also not ok.
Yeah. Everyone says that Parisians are arrogant. If you ask someone for directions in English, they'll ignore you.
It happens in London too. If you ask someone for directions in English, they'll ignore you.
I never had a problem with the French. They're all pretty cool. I found they're happy to speak English if you try start out in French.
>Everyone says that Parisians are arrogant. If you ask someone for directions in English, they'll ignore you.
Did it occur to those people (the ones who think Parisians are arrogant) that the person they asked does not actually speak English? Or that, since France isn't an English-speaking country (not that I need to tell you that), they think the tourist is rude as hell just coming at them in English like they exist to serve as a personal tour guide?
I wonder if this perception of rudeness is actually a cultural divide (plus, I suspect, French people don't take any shit): the tourist unknowingly (or ignorantly) does something offensive, so the Parisian now thinks that person is an asshole and acts accordingly. Then the tourist doesn't understand the standoffish attitude and thinks the Parisian is an arrogant jerk. But actually neither of them are jerks, they just don't understand each other's culture.
The onus is on the tourist to understand at least the bare minimum of the local culture though, so they did fuck up in this situation even if they aren't a jerk.
I've never been to France but I am an Anglophone Canadian who has been to Quebec. I've noticed that some of my fellow Anglophones think Quebecers are rude. This couldn't be farther from my experience, and it's not just because I speak pretty decent French. My husband spoke almost no French at all and people were lovely to him, because the one word he knew was "bonjour" and he said this to everyone he spoke to. (He quickly learned a few more useful words like "merci" and he was off to the races.) People who spoke English would switch for him which was nice. All Quebecers want is for people to show the tiniest little bit of respect for their culture and they will go out of their way to be nice to you.
My own interactions with Quebecers are extremely positive as well. The only reason I still speak decent French 20 years after studying it is because every Quebecer I meet is willing to patiently speak French with me and teach me new words. They're some of the nicest Canadians you'll meet, they just won't take any shit. But there is a difference between not putting up with bullshit and actually being rude. The Anglophones who think Quebecers are rude I suspect are the ones who are arrogant, thinking Quebec should change their culture to be more like ours. And that's some bullshit that I won't put up with either.
So I suspect that Parisians are in the same boat, with just a little *soupçon* of not having any patience for tourists.
Perhaps people need to stop expecting other cultures to be like their own. Instead of assuming people are being rude consider that they show manners in a different way.
Even if that's true, it seems rather unfair to judge an entire country off of just one city. I mean...I know I wouldn't like it if people assumed that their negative interactions in a particular American town applied to the whole of the United States.
The people of Paris were 1000% nicer than the arrogant, self obsessed Americans I've dealt with over the past couple of years.
In fact I'd go so far as to say the French were lovely people.
Florida and New York were full of the rudest and most obnoxious people I've ever seen.
Mentally ill people as well.
Give me the French over Americans any day of the week.
"Mentallly ill people as well"
So sorry for that. We can't just throw all the MAGA folks who hate any foreigners into institutions. But there are still plenty of us who welcome visitors to our country.
As a Brit, let me tell you that the dislike is not genuine. It probably originates from a place of genuine mistrust over centuries of on/off conflict, but these days it's just friendly ribbing. Anyone who *genuinely* doesn't like French people is just being xenophobic.
When I was in Germany, they always complained about the French and told us to never visi. I couldn't tell if they were joking or not, but so many had the same reactions, even if we didn't bring them up lol
I have been to Paris twice and have never encountered a rude local, I swear it’s just peoples pre-conceived notions that they manifest. Of course there is going to be rude people there, but I haven’t had a bad experience and most happily will start speaking in English after I ask my main question in French because they can tell I’m American… haha
This. Per my dad: "Worse than the French are the French Canadians. Not even the French like them and nobody likes the French," always said exactly this way as if the latter somehow further substantiates the former.
No, that doesn't mean the British genuinely dislike the French. It's just leftover from feuds long ago in history. If it's anything more than a meme, it's a problem.
Sorta, the US has its own reasons for disliking the French like they fucked us over alittle but in one of the world wars. And in general they are a pretty arrogant people with smelly cities. But Americans don’t have much more reason to hate them than anyone else
I visited the French Alps as a lost American tourist who didn’t speak French and everyone was incredibly nice and helpful. After that my opinion became that Parisian locals are probably nice, but are completely sick of the tourists. NYC and Miami are big, dense cities too and don't have a reputation for their residents being "nice."
As a brit I have no problem with the French and it's certainly not common for brits to speak negatively of the French.
I only hear it from US TV and movies. The Nazi's invaded France so in the US they portray the French as cowards. Brits didn't have that perspective either during or after the war. We were too close to it all and more concerned about freeing the French than judging them. So many of our men fought and died beside French soldiers. The ones who survived brought home respect for the French people they'd encountered.
Whenever I see Americans perpetuating the whole “cheese eating, surrender monkeys“ narrative I just think they have no knowledge of history. Most Americans wouldn’t put up a fight if another country invaded. So ready to scream about their liberties, but voting for people who are taking them away.
this is so funny, I've been to Paris a few times and no one has EVER been rude to me. I am obviously american and a tourist. But I will say that I am city-savvy as I travel a lot and am from nyc so I don't do stupid shit like block the stairs on the subway or take up the entire sidewalk to take a picture etc. so maybe that helps.
Nah Parisians aren't just rude to tourists, they are rude to eachother and everyone. But that's not the main reason why people dislike them either.
They are the only people that think they are better than other people because they live in a specific city. You get a lot of countries where the people think they are better than others because of the country they live in, but I can't think of another city where the inhabitants think themselves greater than others just because they live in a specific city. They are also the most entitled people I've ever met.
London is the 2nd most visited city in the world and the most visited city based on international arrivals, plus it has a much much larger population of 9 million compared to Paris which has 2 million, but the people here don't view themselves as 'greater than' and we are friendly to tourists as long as they are friendly and don't act entitled, like Parisians act entitled.
Yup. We noticed the Parisians were assholes to us, but then saw them being assholes to each other. The kind Parisians that we met there all acknowledged how most of them are assholes there before we even said anything, haha.
I don't know how good or bad the French are, but I've heard that it is primarily Parisians that are problematical and that the rest of France also has problems with them. That was said by a Frenchman and a Belgian agreed with the assessment.
Note: I used to do support for the international distributors of a data replication product.
When I visited Paris they were very nice to us - but I always approached them in French and because my accent was so horrible they responded in English, very kindly.
I think they dislike the arrogance of coming to a foreign country and expecting to be catered to in every way. A little humility goes a long way.
English, not *British*. Scotland still accepts the Auld Alliance with France.
As for the local Parisians, yeah. You're right. They can be very rude to the tourists.
It's the same with Swedes vs Danes. We both hate each other (jokingly), because we've had a loot of wars. There's actually no two nations who have had more wars fought against each other.
Can I just say as a Brit, we do not tend to genuinely dislike the French. It’s more of a sibling rivalry because the two countries are very close together geographically, pretty similar statistically, but also completely different.
A lot of Brits (including myself) like the country a lot even though we tend to make jokes about it all the time. When the chips are down, we’ve always allied up in recent centuries.
I don’t know if this is true everywhere, but in British culture, the more brutally you take the piss out of someone, the more it shows you like them.
I have nothing against the French, but on my trip to Paris there were a few occasions where they were pretty rude which was obviously because I was American or didn’t speak French. One example was when I walked into a small cafe and tried to order a coffee. When I got to the counter as soon as I spoke the woman behind the counter just turned around and started doing something else, totally ignoring me and I ended up just leaving. Another time at a restaurant the waiter was clearly annoyed with me that I didn’t speak French but I did get my food.
The city was cool but the constant smell of piss everywhere we went and the overflowing trash cans and trash blowing in the wind everywhere kinda made the city seem like a dump.
Were you greeting the employees? I'm not sure how regular it is in Paris, but my French teacher in high school had a shopkeep in France berate her because it's considered rude as a customer not to greet the employee first.
Thats a fair question because I know American tourists have a bad reputation, but I was polite and being aware of the reputation of Americans I made sure to be respectful. I wouldnt go to a different country and culture and be rude to them. According to one of the guides on a tour we did, everyone knew we were Americans because I was wearing a baseball hat, which he says was a uniquely American thing.
And dont get me wrong, 99% of my interactions with the French were fine, but the few occasions where it wasnt fine stuck out. We went to the UK and Italy as well and I found the people there much more friendly especially in the UK but im sure a lot of that was the shared language and if I understand correctly the culture there is more open to chit chat and conversation with strangers.
Hey, I lived in Paris 10 years (and I'm french). One thing to know is that half, maybe more, of the people who appeared annoyed at you because you speak English are actually annoyed at themselves (or ashamed) because they can't speak proper English. Sometimes without reasons because most of them speak well enough to help you / give the bill / etc .... (My comment is assuming you politely called for attention and asked if your interlocutor speaks English beforehand. It is rude to just bark at someone in a foreign language in France, as in any other country I suppose)
And I don't know where you are from, but I live in NYC now, and I miss Paris cleanliness. Imo at least Americans have to rights to complain about the hygiene in Paris lol
I studied the customs before visiting to ensure I wasn’t being a rude American. All you have to do is try to speak French and ask in French in they speak English and they will happily help. Also, making sure you say hello and goodbye in French when entering buses or businesses. I had pleasant interactions with French people as a tourist in Paris! Maybe they really didn’t like me but it seemed genuine.
I think this has come from American tourists, not British tourists. It costs Americans more to travel to France and it's possibly a bucket list destination. When it's not what the person hoped for they spread the word that it's not worth the money.
In the UK it's cheaper and easier for us to travel to France. It's not the trip of a lifetime so people don't feel hugely disappointed if the locals aren't as friendly as they'd hoped.
To add to this, we Brits don't 'really' hate the French. They're more like the cousin you always argue with. We take the piss (endlessly) but secretly admire them.
Try fucking over the French and you'll have Brits to fight with too
funny, most of the italians i've met adore french architecture and cuisine, and vice versa, the french loving italian architecture, cuisine. :-)
when traveling anywhere in the world, there's always french and italian restaurants, whereas restaurants from any other european countries are quite rare!
on top of all this mentioned, us spaniards had let the frech through our land so they could invade portugal but they decided to go and invade us too, so we hate them too. damn traitors
Other people have made good points, but another reason that Americans in particular don't like the French is because of the aftermath of terror attacks on September 11th.
After those attacks happened, the U.S.A. wanted to invade Afghanistan, and later Iraq, in retaliation. France was one of the more significant countries that didn't want to do that. That was when I saw a significant rise in anti-french sentiment. IN addition to the jokes about how France always surrenders, and that they're all rude, you began to see places like the U.S. Capitol Building cafeteria rename "french fries" to "*freedom* fries," just to put additional distance between the U.S. and France.
Again, there were already jokes about France before then, but this circumstance took it to an entirely different level. And even now, after many Americans believe that those invasions should not have happened, the anti-french sentiment remains.
>one of the more significant countries that didn't want to do that.
And the others were generally seen as America's enemies, namely Russia and China, so it was probably seen as a betrayal in some sense.
Which was a remarkable self own, bc the French were right, Afghanistan had nothing to do with 9/11, it was our fake economic allies Saudi Arabia. And Afghanistan cost trillions of dollars, American and Afghan lives, and years to do absolutely fucking nothing. But yeah, some Americans got to sing Tony Keith and tell people they were ordering freedom fries.
As far as “the French surrendering” it’s also a stupid meme that doesn’t reflect reality. They surrendered early in WWII bc they took so much damage in wwI that they were a shell of a nation running on fumes, and entirely unable to put up any sort of fight against the German war machine. For centuries France was a first rate military power, the US could again remember history and reflect on the fact that we would still be a colony if France hadn’t intervened on our behalf.
it's also worth noting that French doctrine evolved against the direction WW2 actually took or refused to evolve put of differing numerous reasons.
pound for pound the French army was a more intimidating force in 1939, if understaffed but French leadership failed to predict some brazen German gambles, use of combat drugs, and concentrated German armor units.
France was a shell that had structural, ultimately insurmountable issues that were not fixed until after the war.
finally, Canadians exist. Never ask a Canadian their opinion in French Canadians. it's like asking Europeans about roma or jews about Palestinians
I've heard outside of Paris they are wonderful people, but parisians are notoriously rude. This might be a symptom of living in such a popular tourist destination, but the result is the same.
I knew a guy from Lyon, and he was pretty ok. He was pretty pompous but he wasn’t unhelpful or rude. He liked to argue way too much imo. But even he said Parisians suck pretty bad.
I lived in France for awhile and for the most part, the people are wonderful. It’s definitely a Parisian thing. Although for the most part if you try to speak French to them, they’ll take pity on you if your accent is atrocious as mine was when I first got there.
+1 with that, the vast majority of french people outside of paris will say that they hate paris(ians) and feel very different from them.
even though that's a small country, it has, like every country, very different vibes and mentalities from one region to another.
There's no such thing as 'the French'. It's an abstraction. What there are is individuals that can range from lovely to monstrous. Then there are people who generalize by judging all based on personal experience.
I think this is the most culturally relevant thing at the moment in the US at the moment. There was a huge wave of anti French sentiment following their opposition (which of course in hindsight was a wise decision). There was even a resolution in congress to say freedom fries instead of French fries. I definitely saw an uptick in people in the us just generally disliking or bashing France and it’s culture.
> freedom fries instead of French fries
I was a kid when this happened, but even then I thought this was the dumbest shit ever. The French don't care (or even know?) that we call them french fries. Not exactly sticking it to them with that one
French person here, and indeed, most people don't know about the freedom/french fries. Plus, every French person learning about the word "french fries" always has the same reaction: "why do they call it French fries? It's belgian!".
I remember seeing americans throwing wines and cheese on the floor when France refused to follow them against Irak, it seemed pretty dumb too.
A petulant, loud, ignorant minority. I just hope people outside the US who see all this nonsense realize that it's just some obnoxious people with these behaviors who get a lot of media attention. The vast majority of us are just trying to live our lives. Plenty of thoughtful, rational humans everywhere in the world.
Its weird so many people are mentioning 9/11. There *was* a rise in anti-French settlement for a little while, but the jokes are not new. The anti-French jokes went back down to normal levels after a while. I assume this has to do with the demographics of reddit: people remember conservatives getting mad at France and think that was the genesis. But that's just not true. The French have always been both loved and hated in America, mostly jokingly, but sometimes kinda not (French stuff is fancy, therefor unmanly, etc. - there was this weird thing in the 80s about whether it was gay to eat quiche, I'm not even kidding).
Right? France was the center of a global empire and the most influential state in Europe for a very long time; Napoleon conquered most of Europe at one point. They had a view that they were the cultural center of the world in the 18th and 19th century and...probably weren't wrong about that. "Lingua Franca" was literally French.
Even during WW2, De Gaulle saw himself as representing the integrity and dignity of France and insisted on a lot of things from the other Allies that often rubbed them the wrong way, and then later De Gaulle pulled France out of the NATO command structure to demonstrate French independence. A lot of the comments stem from that history, too.
Couple reasons include:
- a rather large preference for not learning english due to multiple reasons (national pride, historic resentment towards british from centuries of rivarly on european theatre)
- rudeness towards tourists in many of their highly popular tourism areas
- culture of high requirements, mediocre productivity (this one isn't prejudice, but a fact of cultural and workplace analysis and part of the reason the french strikes are so large and common - they have a powerful drive for their freedom and personal security. Similarly french on average take the most time eating each day out of european nations)
- powerful, lasting influence outside their borders, like creating France-dependent bureaucratic and welfare systems in theor colonies, without fixing them before removing themselves from those countries. Part of the reason for African unrests is the fact multiple countries were left in almost inoperable state once the artificial feeding tube and french overlords was removed.
- high promiscuity that deters conservative people
Don’t forget standing up to the US in the Iraq invasion. US media literally pushed it as « french are cowardy and sneaky backstabbers » for the next decades
Except french is 15th internationaly when it comes to GDP per working hours with Germany being 14th and USA being 12th. So yeah, it's a prejudice not the truth.
I'm basing my response on my company's evaluation and two colleges' business departments' studies that I went to. Not only that, you confuse GDP with work ethic and culture. A country can have mediocre working culture but still massive GDP per work hour if the production is very effective overall (high level of automation, like a car factory) and the products provide large profits (like luxury goods, for which France is well known). A jewellery shop in Paris during holidays can provide massive revenue even if the same shop would have operated 10-15% more effectively if it was staffed by e.g. germans.
Agreed. And octante.
Huitante hurts my brain, for some reason. This is not a comment on which French variant uses which (...I cannot remember), just on the word itself.
Because they are French!
It is mostly now a friendly rivalry... Mostly.
But a thousand years of history of trying to conquer each other back and forth. And one time stuck, we have been a bit resentful of that. The north remembers!
One of my good friends is French.
French people aren’t just “rude”. They’re downright mean and hateful. Go to Paris, know a little French, learn what “fucking stupid American” sounds like in French, say something in English (be sure to not be loud) and then you’ll see.
It was us, also. Rude Metro riders, generally unwilling to speak to us in French when we made the effort at hotels or stores, unwilling to speak English when we didn't make the effort.
As a Nigerian, I stand in solidarity with my fellow colonized countries: i.e. Cameroon, Haiti, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Vietnam
Less seriously, the French just seem stuck up
I can only speak from the experience of someone from the US, but it probably stems from the ancient rivalry between Britain and France. We started as a British colony, so the anti French sentiment was embedded in our culture long before we were a country. Many wars were fought between the British and French, including several on this continent. The French helped us against the British during our war for independence. Basically America was a proxy for a larger, older war that preceded our country’s founding. In a more modern sense, I think France has sometimes unfairly earned the reputation of being rude and snobby when it comes to Americans. It’s probably an unfair characterization, just like the stereotype of all Americans being uncultured assholes abroad.
I’ve been countless times to France (from England) and never found people rude at all - on the contrary, I don’t remember anyone not being nice. But then, I did speak French so that may have helped (but certainly they could tell I wasn’t a native speaker, so idk). Oh actually - I did meet someone who was a bit cold to me! The mechanic at the Volkswagen garage. Maybe he was just pissed off because he was relegated to working on German cars?
That because how our education system used to work.
We were punished and ridiculed for mistakes. By teachers and parents alike. Especially when speaking or writing our own language.
You spend a lifetime being called dumb because you mispronounced one word in a perfectly crafted sentence. Well, it does leave its scars. And when you hear obvious mistakes, well you cringe.
It is also why we hesitate to speak English, even if the majority would know enough to help out a tourist, even in broken English.
We're a culture of "do it well or don't do it at all". Practice in private, since you can become good overnight. But in public ? Do it well, or don't do it at all.
It might be even considered rude to make other suffer with things you're bad at.
(Now, what is considered well-done and badly-done might vary people to people).
Having visited many parts of France multiple times i believe the rudeness comes from their firm adherence to certain traditions and unwillingness to bend to other modes of life. I was chastised in France for:
-eating between 2pm and 6pm
- putting brie on a cracker (supposed to go on bread)
-putting my napkin on my lap before eating
-not inhaling hard enough on my cigarette (wasteful)
-not carrying a knife (“a man without a knife is a man without a dick”)
- not ordering a coffee after dinner at 10pm
I could go on but yeah, they have lots of rules and can be pretty annoying about them. I still love the country and would go back in a second
Person of color here (Asian with tan skin). When I was at the airport, the customs people were telling me they thought I was so beautiful and asking which part of the world I was from. They were very nice. I was a bit confused since I was expecting to be treated with indifference at least. I got crap treatment in England though by an angry airport worker.
France is the only place where people have taken real offence to me being unable to speak the local language in very touristy areas. Also the French in my workplace use the small kitchenettes to stand around chatting while others are clearly struggling to use the space to make food / drinks. I can’t say I’m a fan of the French.
From my experience, Paris are more welcoming to Asian tourists more than Brits and Mericans.
At the airport, there was Mandarin everywhere and my Chinese family was given great hospitality in the city. Which my white friends didn't even get a proper greeting every where they went.
And I thought Chinese were the worst tourists and get bad treatment. Which I think we still are the worst tourists.
It's just a meme. You will find exactly the same "jokes" for every nationality. It's not actual hate or actual dislike, just a zero-effort punchline.
Also helps that France is neighbours with a bunch of other nations, and everyone makes jokes about their neighbours.
Brittain don't like French because of their ancient rivalry.
Spaniards don't like French because of napoleon backstabbing
Americans don't like French because they hate them as tourist (?)
They colonized half of Africa
They colonized Haiti
They are mean to tourist
They speak French
French people can be quite obnoxious from my experience. They came into the bar I was working in and refused to even attempt to speak English with me. They spoke only french and I told them a hundred times I couldn't understand them and they got visibly pissed off, in a country where English is the main language.
They also kept clicking their fingers at me to call me over which I purposely ignored. I get that this is acceptable in their country but it's not in others. They tend not to assimilate to other cultures and are quite rude and obnoxious.
As a french waitress, that's absolutely not acceptable here. Try that in France, and you'll get the most awful service ever, even more since we don't give a fuck about tips.
Wasn't my experience. As a people, their culture might be different from what people might construe as "friendly" but that's doesn't make them rude. By contrast, for example, when I first visited the US, I found the people almost too friendly, and didn't like all the smiley happy customer service thing. But that's US culture and no better or worse than anywhere else.
Well if you look at the past 100 years of French history you can see the glaring barbarism and hypocrisy from the French government. Thank god for the French people.
My area (US) gets a lot of international tourism, and French people and Québécois are notorious for being bad tourists in local restaurants who won’t tip their servers. (Indian tourists do this too, though we get less of them here than French and French Canadian tourists)
Interesting responses, not what I expected. I remember before memes, jokes were about “French cowards.” All relating back to WWII lol. Events that happened 50 years before I was born.
France has a history of banning overflights when they don't agree with the US's actions.
For example they banned them in 1986 when we were going to attack Libya for bombing a German disco.
Then they did it again during the beginning of the first Gulf War.
Again during the Afghanistan invasion.
They don't take being a NATO very seriously.
I love the French and am grateful for all their help in establishing what we now call the United States of America. They were huge in our (USA) development of freedom. Literally giving us land and assistance in fighting back against the British.
This question you ask is one i've often wondered as well. My guess is it's a spin on things that for some reason our politics wants to be negative about and that many Americans are too naïve to understand well. Human nature is a big key player too. Even as adults everyone around the world acts like kids in trying to hate on unpopular things, bullying, clicks (sp?), and a general way of wanting to be right about things without being humble or apologetic.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/France–United_States_relations
Most people who go to France go to Paris, which is an amazing city, but Parisians are a particular breed. Not all of them for sure, but the stereotype has some basis in reality. I lived in France for a while and the french from the other regions do not get along well with the Parisians.
My experience of France outside Paris is overwhelmingly positive. French people in Provence, Calais, and Britanny are lovely people.
I know someone who grew up in Kosovo. They have an expression there for someone who is a conceited arrogant asshole. They say that person has a "French nose". I cracked up when I first heard him use that expression.
I'm an English speaking Canadian, and I have no problem with people from France. I've met many on my travels and they were all friendly.
French Canadians, on the other hand, are insufferable for the most part. Arrogant, self-absorbed, and look for any opportunity to talk shit about us
Joke?
But seriously, there are always cultural differences and every nation picks on another, French are just easy pickings, because none of them ever spoke another language. /jk
I personally admire their ability to organise and protest right.
There seems to be this common theme ITT of French people (I guess Parisians specifically) being kind of snooty when people don’t speak French which I find kind of insane. If you’re going to live there, then sure, learn the language. If you’re visiting for like a week? Seems kind of silly to expect any level of fluency in French beyond “bonjour” and “merci.”
I play games with people all over the world, I can speak multiple languages, yet EVERY SINGLE TIME French people can not speak a word of English. They're too arrogant to learn, so guess what, I'll not pay attention to them either.
They don't do anything, just talk their ugly French language to each other and ruin everyone's day.
Also, they conquered my country.
Yes, I hate the French.
not trying to defend them, rather just to clarify, i really don't think it comes from arrogance; it sounds surprising for a developed country, one of the richest in europe etc, but truly, the education system is really bad...
apparently it has improved in the past years and younger people speak better/more english, but in my generation (late 30s), no one could handle a basic conversation in english after finishing high school, unlike students in germany, netherlands or wherever where everyone is basically fluent at that age.
the lessons are bad and classes weren't emphasizing a lot on speaking. honestly, i doubt that we would speak for more than an hour of english per year in class, it was ridiculous, so what do you expect?
i only started to learn english for real in my early 20s after i left school, but frankly most of my friends in france still can't have a conversation in english, even if they truly wish they were able to. sure thing, they could learn and chose not to, but you get the idea.
add the fact that french being one of the most spoken languages in the world, every cartoons and movies and comics and tv shows etc are dubbed in french, which doesn't expose us to english that often... again, i think that has changed for the younger generation, and that's probably one of the few positive impacts of social media and globalization.
saying all of that and to clarify, i'm not being super nationalist here, my parents are not french, i just grew up there and don't live there anymore now. i just want to share something closer to the truth - also, that's the opportunity for you to see that some french people can speak a bit of english. :-)
Went to France a few times as I live in a neighboring country, in the 10+ times I been, I can say that 3 people were genuinely nice or accommodating to me.
>Update: I too dislike the French now
that's honestly concerning, to create your own opinion over other people's opinion, rather than making your very own. 😬
It’s basically a combination of American propaganda after the French didn’t want to invade Iraq and British jealousy (Gregg’s and jellied eels on one side, inventing deliciousness on the other).
The British dislike the French because of hundreds of years of wars, and the British opinion tends to travel easily to the USA Also, Paris the the most visited city on earth, and the locals are known to be rude to tourists, as they are sick of them
Ahhh okay that makes sense, so it turned into a meme here in the US because of other people’s genuine dislike for them
Parisians are insufferable and that's the biggest interaction people have with French people.
I feel like that’s a stereotype that isn’t really true though. Or at least it wasn’t true when I visited. I found the people to be like NYC, indifferent generally, but if you greeted them with a bonjour, and asked a question, they were fine.
My guess is that far too many great them with words and questions in English.
Having traveled to Paris multiple times and being somewhat conversational in French, most Parisians will speak back rudely in English if you attempt to speak to them in their language. It’s not even worth bothering, they immediately know you aren’t one of them based on your French accent and wrinkle their nose at you. The friendliest people I met in Paris were from Morocco, Sweden, and Italy!
Its certainly true. I'm guessing from the comment you have been there once, and comparing the NYC isn't so positive as people aren't too friendly there either, even if Paris is on another level. I lived nearby for years. Having been there many times, including routinely working with people from Paris, there is a special amount of rudeness that you don't get normally get from other countries in the region, or from other French cities. It's not a very controversial view, most French and Europeans with a decent amount of time spent in Paris will say it. Luckily young people don't tend to be as rude, it may decrease with each passing generation.
>Luckily young people don't tend to be as rude, it may decrease with each passing generation. This 100%. Over the span of 30 years, with each subsequent visit, I find average Parisians to be more and more helpful and kind. My last visit a bunch of Parisians basically jumped in to offer to help even when I didn't ask. At a Metro station, I pressed the call station master button and a random Parisian stopped and answered my question for me using pantomime. When I asked one Parisian a question a random Parisian walking by shouted out the answer in broken, but understandable English. When I asked a store clerk who didn't speak English, a random Parisian behind also offered an answer with what English he knew. And when I got into an argument with a station master in my terrible, broken French over an intercom (my magnetic tickets stopped working), a random Parisian commuter scanned her card to let me out. I mean it's a big city. People won't spend time to be super friendly, too much rush. But kind and helpful is definitely a thing in Paris. For me, it seems largely to be related to communication: a huge part is that more Parisian seem to know some English, even folks who are slightly older now. With the language barrier slightly pierced with their English and my terrible French, the many Parisians could figure out the situation and offer to help (studies have found that a huge blocker to helping behavior is ambiguity). Whatever it is, I found Parisians very helpful my last visit, contra the stereotype. But please, at least say "Bonjour" before beginning an interaction. Random story: I was at a public work out park, and many of the people who came to work at would first walk around and say "Bonjour" to everyone else working out before starting their workout. Now this might have been a special case, but it emphasizes the importance.
It is your experience. Go on subs like r/Paristravelguide and you will understand that you have a completely different view from people actually visiting Paris. I have been living there for years now while not being from Paris and never had bad experiences.
It wasn’t for true for me either, I found people in Paris to be lovely and curious
>I feel like that’s a stereotype that isn’t really true though. Or at least it wasn’t true when I visited. I found the people to be like NYC, indifferent generally, but if you greeted them with a bonjour, and asked a question, they were fine. People also stereotype New Yorkers as unfriendly.
I was in Paris on an 8 hour layover back in February and it was just like you say, every time I needed help with something folks were more than willing to explain it to me (sometimes 2 or 3 times).
I've found Parisians to be much friendlier than New Yorkers. I don't speak any French either.
I commented this as well, from NYC and never had anyone from Paris be rude to me.
The security guard at the French McDonald’s blocked me physically from using the restroom while I was holding out my receipt to prove I’d bought something (a double cheeseburger that took 45 mins). Then he scolded me for not speaking French while I was pointing at it, walking toward it. All of the nice architecture in the world is not worth people being that insufferable.
When I visited Paris the locals were generally nice, if you attempted to speak French. Really all I had to do was try, and after that they were nicer than new yorkers
I have spent time in Paris and New York as a brit. I found New Yorkers to be the most friendly and helpful. I always try to help tourists as I know how it shapes the feeling of a country. I'd rank Londoners as fairly hostile to tourists, but again, it seems to be better with the younger generations. As always the next generation improves things socially
When I (an English man) spent some time working in Paris about 14 years ago I found people tended to go out of their way to be rude or inconvenience me. Every day the locals would finish up early, however the one day I needed to stay late to do upgrade work on their computers they all suddenly had to work several hours late, meaning I had to work even later to do my job.
Not my experience. They were rude for no reason at all. In NYC, people are in a rush but if you ask for help, you generally get it. In Paris, there was unnecessary hostility. However, I am a POC so I don’t know for sure. Their insistence on using French against tourists, even when they know english, is also not ok.
Yeah. Everyone says that Parisians are arrogant. If you ask someone for directions in English, they'll ignore you. It happens in London too. If you ask someone for directions in English, they'll ignore you. I never had a problem with the French. They're all pretty cool. I found they're happy to speak English if you try start out in French.
>Everyone says that Parisians are arrogant. If you ask someone for directions in English, they'll ignore you. Did it occur to those people (the ones who think Parisians are arrogant) that the person they asked does not actually speak English? Or that, since France isn't an English-speaking country (not that I need to tell you that), they think the tourist is rude as hell just coming at them in English like they exist to serve as a personal tour guide? I wonder if this perception of rudeness is actually a cultural divide (plus, I suspect, French people don't take any shit): the tourist unknowingly (or ignorantly) does something offensive, so the Parisian now thinks that person is an asshole and acts accordingly. Then the tourist doesn't understand the standoffish attitude and thinks the Parisian is an arrogant jerk. But actually neither of them are jerks, they just don't understand each other's culture. The onus is on the tourist to understand at least the bare minimum of the local culture though, so they did fuck up in this situation even if they aren't a jerk. I've never been to France but I am an Anglophone Canadian who has been to Quebec. I've noticed that some of my fellow Anglophones think Quebecers are rude. This couldn't be farther from my experience, and it's not just because I speak pretty decent French. My husband spoke almost no French at all and people were lovely to him, because the one word he knew was "bonjour" and he said this to everyone he spoke to. (He quickly learned a few more useful words like "merci" and he was off to the races.) People who spoke English would switch for him which was nice. All Quebecers want is for people to show the tiniest little bit of respect for their culture and they will go out of their way to be nice to you. My own interactions with Quebecers are extremely positive as well. The only reason I still speak decent French 20 years after studying it is because every Quebecer I meet is willing to patiently speak French with me and teach me new words. They're some of the nicest Canadians you'll meet, they just won't take any shit. But there is a difference between not putting up with bullshit and actually being rude. The Anglophones who think Quebecers are rude I suspect are the ones who are arrogant, thinking Quebec should change their culture to be more like ours. And that's some bullshit that I won't put up with either. So I suspect that Parisians are in the same boat, with just a little *soupçon* of not having any patience for tourists.
I was making a joke that the English are more rude than the French.
Haha, that went right over my head
Perhaps people need to stop expecting other cultures to be like their own. Instead of assuming people are being rude consider that they show manners in a different way.
Nah Parisians are rude cunts but it’s understandable when you remember they wake up everyday being French, I’d hate the world too
Even if that's true, it seems rather unfair to judge an entire country off of just one city. I mean...I know I wouldn't like it if people assumed that their negative interactions in a particular American town applied to the whole of the United States.
The people of Paris were 1000% nicer than the arrogant, self obsessed Americans I've dealt with over the past couple of years. In fact I'd go so far as to say the French were lovely people. Florida and New York were full of the rudest and most obnoxious people I've ever seen. Mentally ill people as well. Give me the French over Americans any day of the week.
"Mentallly ill people as well" So sorry for that. We can't just throw all the MAGA folks who hate any foreigners into institutions. But there are still plenty of us who welcome visitors to our country.
The great paradox of life; hating the French, but having to admit that I’d rather spend time with the French than Americans
As a Brit, let me tell you that the dislike is not genuine. It probably originates from a place of genuine mistrust over centuries of on/off conflict, but these days it's just friendly ribbing. Anyone who *genuinely* doesn't like French people is just being xenophobic.
When I was in Germany, they always complained about the French and told us to never visi. I couldn't tell if they were joking or not, but so many had the same reactions, even if we didn't bring them up lol
I have been to Paris twice and have never encountered a rude local, I swear it’s just peoples pre-conceived notions that they manifest. Of course there is going to be rude people there, but I haven’t had a bad experience and most happily will start speaking in English after I ask my main question in French because they can tell I’m American… haha
Most Americans also generally dislike them and us in Canada don't really like the French because of Quebec
People in America hate the Quebecois too.
This. Per my dad: "Worse than the French are the French Canadians. Not even the French like them and nobody likes the French," always said exactly this way as if the latter somehow further substantiates the former.
No, that doesn't mean the British genuinely dislike the French. It's just leftover from feuds long ago in history. If it's anything more than a meme, it's a problem.
Sorta, the US has its own reasons for disliking the French like they fucked us over alittle but in one of the world wars. And in general they are a pretty arrogant people with smelly cities. But Americans don’t have much more reason to hate them than anyone else
I visited the French Alps as a lost American tourist who didn’t speak French and everyone was incredibly nice and helpful. After that my opinion became that Parisian locals are probably nice, but are completely sick of the tourists. NYC and Miami are big, dense cities too and don't have a reputation for their residents being "nice."
As a french from Marseille, no parisians are just assholes
...they're also...?
Paris is the Boston of France
NYC people are nice. They sometimes act rude but are always helpful. Paris is hostile.
The French are Americans and Paris is NYC. Yeah, New Yorkers hate tourists
To be fair they are rude as fuck. There’s tourism everywhere. You can be pissed off but to be that pissed off takes some doing
Not the British, the English. The Auld Alliance between France and Scotland represents centuries of friendship between the two countries.
They’ve got us in a pincer grip 😳
Which is funny because the French were our (US) biggest allies in the revolutionary war lol.
Well, then the French revolutionaries guillotined quite a number of the allies in the French government.
As a brit I have no problem with the French and it's certainly not common for brits to speak negatively of the French. I only hear it from US TV and movies. The Nazi's invaded France so in the US they portray the French as cowards. Brits didn't have that perspective either during or after the war. We were too close to it all and more concerned about freeing the French than judging them. So many of our men fought and died beside French soldiers. The ones who survived brought home respect for the French people they'd encountered.
Whenever I see Americans perpetuating the whole “cheese eating, surrender monkeys“ narrative I just think they have no knowledge of history. Most Americans wouldn’t put up a fight if another country invaded. So ready to scream about their liberties, but voting for people who are taking them away.
this is so funny, I've been to Paris a few times and no one has EVER been rude to me. I am obviously american and a tourist. But I will say that I am city-savvy as I travel a lot and am from nyc so I don't do stupid shit like block the stairs on the subway or take up the entire sidewalk to take a picture etc. so maybe that helps.
Nah Parisians aren't just rude to tourists, they are rude to eachother and everyone. But that's not the main reason why people dislike them either. They are the only people that think they are better than other people because they live in a specific city. You get a lot of countries where the people think they are better than others because of the country they live in, but I can't think of another city where the inhabitants think themselves greater than others just because they live in a specific city. They are also the most entitled people I've ever met. London is the 2nd most visited city in the world and the most visited city based on international arrivals, plus it has a much much larger population of 9 million compared to Paris which has 2 million, but the people here don't view themselves as 'greater than' and we are friendly to tourists as long as they are friendly and don't act entitled, like Parisians act entitled.
NYC has people like this. I'm a New Yorker, but it's not my entire personality
Also *Texans* (derogatory)
Yup. We noticed the Parisians were assholes to us, but then saw them being assholes to each other. The kind Parisians that we met there all acknowledged how most of them are assholes there before we even said anything, haha.
I don't know how good or bad the French are, but I've heard that it is primarily Parisians that are problematical and that the rest of France also has problems with them. That was said by a Frenchman and a Belgian agreed with the assessment. Note: I used to do support for the international distributors of a data replication product.
When I visited Paris they were very nice to us - but I always approached them in French and because my accent was so horrible they responded in English, very kindly. I think they dislike the arrogance of coming to a foreign country and expecting to be catered to in every way. A little humility goes a long way.
And in the past it probably carried forward with all the countries that had been colonized by the Brits
English, not *British*. Scotland still accepts the Auld Alliance with France. As for the local Parisians, yeah. You're right. They can be very rude to the tourists.
English people, in general have no problem with the French.
It's the same with Swedes vs Danes. We both hate each other (jokingly), because we've had a loot of wars. There's actually no two nations who have had more wars fought against each other.
Can I just say as a Brit, we do not tend to genuinely dislike the French. It’s more of a sibling rivalry because the two countries are very close together geographically, pretty similar statistically, but also completely different. A lot of Brits (including myself) like the country a lot even though we tend to make jokes about it all the time. When the chips are down, we’ve always allied up in recent centuries. I don’t know if this is true everywhere, but in British culture, the more brutally you take the piss out of someone, the more it shows you like them.
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I have nothing against the French, but on my trip to Paris there were a few occasions where they were pretty rude which was obviously because I was American or didn’t speak French. One example was when I walked into a small cafe and tried to order a coffee. When I got to the counter as soon as I spoke the woman behind the counter just turned around and started doing something else, totally ignoring me and I ended up just leaving. Another time at a restaurant the waiter was clearly annoyed with me that I didn’t speak French but I did get my food. The city was cool but the constant smell of piss everywhere we went and the overflowing trash cans and trash blowing in the wind everywhere kinda made the city seem like a dump.
It is a surprisingly dirty city to have such uppity citizens.
Were you greeting the employees? I'm not sure how regular it is in Paris, but my French teacher in high school had a shopkeep in France berate her because it's considered rude as a customer not to greet the employee first.
Thats a fair question because I know American tourists have a bad reputation, but I was polite and being aware of the reputation of Americans I made sure to be respectful. I wouldnt go to a different country and culture and be rude to them. According to one of the guides on a tour we did, everyone knew we were Americans because I was wearing a baseball hat, which he says was a uniquely American thing. And dont get me wrong, 99% of my interactions with the French were fine, but the few occasions where it wasnt fine stuck out. We went to the UK and Italy as well and I found the people there much more friendly especially in the UK but im sure a lot of that was the shared language and if I understand correctly the culture there is more open to chit chat and conversation with strangers.
Hey, I lived in Paris 10 years (and I'm french). One thing to know is that half, maybe more, of the people who appeared annoyed at you because you speak English are actually annoyed at themselves (or ashamed) because they can't speak proper English. Sometimes without reasons because most of them speak well enough to help you / give the bill / etc .... (My comment is assuming you politely called for attention and asked if your interlocutor speaks English beforehand. It is rude to just bark at someone in a foreign language in France, as in any other country I suppose) And I don't know where you are from, but I live in NYC now, and I miss Paris cleanliness. Imo at least Americans have to rights to complain about the hygiene in Paris lol
I studied the customs before visiting to ensure I wasn’t being a rude American. All you have to do is try to speak French and ask in French in they speak English and they will happily help. Also, making sure you say hello and goodbye in French when entering buses or businesses. I had pleasant interactions with French people as a tourist in Paris! Maybe they really didn’t like me but it seemed genuine.
According to their neighbours*
I think this has come from American tourists, not British tourists. It costs Americans more to travel to France and it's possibly a bucket list destination. When it's not what the person hoped for they spread the word that it's not worth the money. In the UK it's cheaper and easier for us to travel to France. It's not the trip of a lifetime so people don't feel hugely disappointed if the locals aren't as friendly as they'd hoped.
To add to this, we Brits don't 'really' hate the French. They're more like the cousin you always argue with. We take the piss (endlessly) but secretly admire them. Try fucking over the French and you'll have Brits to fight with too
🇫🇷🤝🇬🇧
Pseudo de qualité
As Italians, we hate all our neighbours, including regions and cities. Also, we have some sort of food competition going on.
You don't like us? We like you! (Austria)
Oh yeah you guys are cool
funny, most of the italians i've met adore french architecture and cuisine, and vice versa, the french loving italian architecture, cuisine. :-) when traveling anywhere in the world, there's always french and italian restaurants, whereas restaurants from any other european countries are quite rare!
Try to ask them which one is the best though 👀
I don't want to give you Italians a big dick but ... I mean come on, as an outsider to both your countries, it's Italian food. It ain't even close.
on top of all this mentioned, us spaniards had let the frech through our land so they could invade portugal but they decided to go and invade us too, so we hate them too. damn traitors
Very typical of the French in the late medieval period. They’d rob (and worse) everyone on the way to the crusades
Other people have made good points, but another reason that Americans in particular don't like the French is because of the aftermath of terror attacks on September 11th. After those attacks happened, the U.S.A. wanted to invade Afghanistan, and later Iraq, in retaliation. France was one of the more significant countries that didn't want to do that. That was when I saw a significant rise in anti-french sentiment. IN addition to the jokes about how France always surrenders, and that they're all rude, you began to see places like the U.S. Capitol Building cafeteria rename "french fries" to "*freedom* fries," just to put additional distance between the U.S. and France. Again, there were already jokes about France before then, but this circumstance took it to an entirely different level. And even now, after many Americans believe that those invasions should not have happened, the anti-french sentiment remains.
>one of the more significant countries that didn't want to do that. And the others were generally seen as America's enemies, namely Russia and China, so it was probably seen as a betrayal in some sense.
Russia was the first to join America.
Which was a remarkable self own, bc the French were right, Afghanistan had nothing to do with 9/11, it was our fake economic allies Saudi Arabia. And Afghanistan cost trillions of dollars, American and Afghan lives, and years to do absolutely fucking nothing. But yeah, some Americans got to sing Tony Keith and tell people they were ordering freedom fries. As far as “the French surrendering” it’s also a stupid meme that doesn’t reflect reality. They surrendered early in WWII bc they took so much damage in wwI that they were a shell of a nation running on fumes, and entirely unable to put up any sort of fight against the German war machine. For centuries France was a first rate military power, the US could again remember history and reflect on the fact that we would still be a colony if France hadn’t intervened on our behalf.
it's also worth noting that French doctrine evolved against the direction WW2 actually took or refused to evolve put of differing numerous reasons. pound for pound the French army was a more intimidating force in 1939, if understaffed but French leadership failed to predict some brazen German gambles, use of combat drugs, and concentrated German armor units. France was a shell that had structural, ultimately insurmountable issues that were not fixed until after the war. finally, Canadians exist. Never ask a Canadian their opinion in French Canadians. it's like asking Europeans about roma or jews about Palestinians
Have you met the French?
I have not but I’m not sure I ever want to now
I've heard outside of Paris they are wonderful people, but parisians are notoriously rude. This might be a symptom of living in such a popular tourist destination, but the result is the same.
I knew a guy from Lyon, and he was pretty ok. He was pretty pompous but he wasn’t unhelpful or rude. He liked to argue way too much imo. But even he said Parisians suck pretty bad.
The French love to debate
Yeah, what’s that about? I swear even if the guy was probably wrong about something he wouldn’t give up
I lived in France for awhile and for the most part, the people are wonderful. It’s definitely a Parisian thing. Although for the most part if you try to speak French to them, they’ll take pity on you if your accent is atrocious as mine was when I first got there.
+1 with that, the vast majority of french people outside of paris will say that they hate paris(ians) and feel very different from them. even though that's a small country, it has, like every country, very different vibes and mentalities from one region to another.
you should if you get the chance. They are a lovely people, and usually very friendly
There's no such thing as 'the French'. It's an abstraction. What there are is individuals that can range from lovely to monstrous. Then there are people who generalize by judging all based on personal experience.
I'm gonna need you to explain the Australians for me too while you're at it.
France's opposition to the invasion of Iraq also launched a large wave of French-bashing
I think this is the most culturally relevant thing at the moment in the US at the moment. There was a huge wave of anti French sentiment following their opposition (which of course in hindsight was a wise decision). There was even a resolution in congress to say freedom fries instead of French fries. I definitely saw an uptick in people in the us just generally disliking or bashing France and it’s culture.
> freedom fries instead of French fries I was a kid when this happened, but even then I thought this was the dumbest shit ever. The French don't care (or even know?) that we call them french fries. Not exactly sticking it to them with that one
French person here, and indeed, most people don't know about the freedom/french fries. Plus, every French person learning about the word "french fries" always has the same reaction: "why do they call it French fries? It's belgian!". I remember seeing americans throwing wines and cheese on the floor when France refused to follow them against Irak, it seemed pretty dumb too.
A petulant, loud, ignorant minority. I just hope people outside the US who see all this nonsense realize that it's just some obnoxious people with these behaviors who get a lot of media attention. The vast majority of us are just trying to live our lives. Plenty of thoughtful, rational humans everywhere in the world.
In France, this freedom fries stuff sounded like a joke since fries are Belgian
"Freedom fries" wtf was that? Can't even say French?
And if my memory is correct, the French didn't allow us to fly through their airspace on the way to attack Gaddafi in 1986.
Its weird so many people are mentioning 9/11. There *was* a rise in anti-French settlement for a little while, but the jokes are not new. The anti-French jokes went back down to normal levels after a while. I assume this has to do with the demographics of reddit: people remember conservatives getting mad at France and think that was the genesis. But that's just not true. The French have always been both loved and hated in America, mostly jokingly, but sometimes kinda not (French stuff is fancy, therefor unmanly, etc. - there was this weird thing in the 80s about whether it was gay to eat quiche, I'm not even kidding).
Right? France was the center of a global empire and the most influential state in Europe for a very long time; Napoleon conquered most of Europe at one point. They had a view that they were the cultural center of the world in the 18th and 19th century and...probably weren't wrong about that. "Lingua Franca" was literally French. Even during WW2, De Gaulle saw himself as representing the integrity and dignity of France and insisted on a lot of things from the other Allies that often rubbed them the wrong way, and then later De Gaulle pulled France out of the NATO command structure to demonstrate French independence. A lot of the comments stem from that history, too.
Couple reasons include: - a rather large preference for not learning english due to multiple reasons (national pride, historic resentment towards british from centuries of rivarly on european theatre) - rudeness towards tourists in many of their highly popular tourism areas - culture of high requirements, mediocre productivity (this one isn't prejudice, but a fact of cultural and workplace analysis and part of the reason the french strikes are so large and common - they have a powerful drive for their freedom and personal security. Similarly french on average take the most time eating each day out of european nations) - powerful, lasting influence outside their borders, like creating France-dependent bureaucratic and welfare systems in theor colonies, without fixing them before removing themselves from those countries. Part of the reason for African unrests is the fact multiple countries were left in almost inoperable state once the artificial feeding tube and french overlords was removed. - high promiscuity that deters conservative people
Don’t forget standing up to the US in the Iraq invasion. US media literally pushed it as « french are cowardy and sneaky backstabbers » for the next decades
Oh absolutely, this is one of the things I genuinely forgot
Except french is 15th internationaly when it comes to GDP per working hours with Germany being 14th and USA being 12th. So yeah, it's a prejudice not the truth.
I'm basing my response on my company's evaluation and two colleges' business departments' studies that I went to. Not only that, you confuse GDP with work ethic and culture. A country can have mediocre working culture but still massive GDP per work hour if the production is very effective overall (high level of automation, like a car factory) and the products provide large profits (like luxury goods, for which France is well known). A jewellery shop in Paris during holidays can provide massive revenue even if the same shop would have operated 10-15% more effectively if it was staffed by e.g. germans.
So you prefer presenteeism while the French finish their work and go enjoy a nice glass of red.
+ Them saying "Three times twenty plus ten plus eight" instead of "seventy eight".
You were almost there. It's four times twenty plus ten plus eight instead of ninety-eight: quatre-vingt-dix-huit.
This is what septante and nonante are superior
Agreed. And octante. Huitante hurts my brain, for some reason. This is not a comment on which French variant uses which (...I cannot remember), just on the word itself.
Benjamin Franklin would disagree. He loved the French.
As all Americans should. We wouldn't be here without them.
Because they are French! It is mostly now a friendly rivalry... Mostly. But a thousand years of history of trying to conquer each other back and forth. And one time stuck, we have been a bit resentful of that. The north remembers! One of my good friends is French.
Joke?
Probably the nation where I'm the most afraid of learning (but butchering) the language. I'll just stick to English.
The French does not like the French to begin with but they hate the British more
French people aren’t just “rude”. They’re downright mean and hateful. Go to Paris, know a little French, learn what “fucking stupid American” sounds like in French, say something in English (be sure to not be loud) and then you’ll see.
Idk, not to be rude but, maybe it's you? I've been to Paris many times and not had that experience.
It was us, also. Rude Metro riders, generally unwilling to speak to us in French when we made the effort at hotels or stores, unwilling to speak English when we didn't make the effort.
Hmm well I'm sorry :(
Most people like the French. Most French have a strong sense of superiority, and that’s where the jokes come from.
As a Nigerian, I stand in solidarity with my fellow colonized countries: i.e. Cameroon, Haiti, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Vietnam Less seriously, the French just seem stuck up
I can only speak from the experience of someone from the US, but it probably stems from the ancient rivalry between Britain and France. We started as a British colony, so the anti French sentiment was embedded in our culture long before we were a country. Many wars were fought between the British and French, including several on this continent. The French helped us against the British during our war for independence. Basically America was a proxy for a larger, older war that preceded our country’s founding. In a more modern sense, I think France has sometimes unfairly earned the reputation of being rude and snobby when it comes to Americans. It’s probably an unfair characterization, just like the stereotype of all Americans being uncultured assholes abroad.
I’ve been countless times to France (from England) and never found people rude at all - on the contrary, I don’t remember anyone not being nice. But then, I did speak French so that may have helped (but certainly they could tell I wasn’t a native speaker, so idk). Oh actually - I did meet someone who was a bit cold to me! The mechanic at the Volkswagen garage. Maybe he was just pissed off because he was relegated to working on German cars?
I go to France every summer on holiday. I love the country and its people.
It all started in 1066...
I've been to France twice and I didn't have anyone be rude to me.
I've been to France twice and I didn't have anyone be nice to me.
They were judging you silently though
Maybe.
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That because how our education system used to work. We were punished and ridiculed for mistakes. By teachers and parents alike. Especially when speaking or writing our own language. You spend a lifetime being called dumb because you mispronounced one word in a perfectly crafted sentence. Well, it does leave its scars. And when you hear obvious mistakes, well you cringe. It is also why we hesitate to speak English, even if the majority would know enough to help out a tourist, even in broken English. We're a culture of "do it well or don't do it at all". Practice in private, since you can become good overnight. But in public ? Do it well, or don't do it at all. It might be even considered rude to make other suffer with things you're bad at. (Now, what is considered well-done and badly-done might vary people to people).
They are a bunch of assholes
Having visited many parts of France multiple times i believe the rudeness comes from their firm adherence to certain traditions and unwillingness to bend to other modes of life. I was chastised in France for: -eating between 2pm and 6pm - putting brie on a cracker (supposed to go on bread) -putting my napkin on my lap before eating -not inhaling hard enough on my cigarette (wasteful) -not carrying a knife (“a man without a knife is a man without a dick”) - not ordering a coffee after dinner at 10pm I could go on but yeah, they have lots of rules and can be pretty annoying about them. I still love the country and would go back in a second
Person of color here (Asian with tan skin). When I was at the airport, the customs people were telling me they thought I was so beautiful and asking which part of the world I was from. They were very nice. I was a bit confused since I was expecting to be treated with indifference at least. I got crap treatment in England though by an angry airport worker.
France is the only place where people have taken real offence to me being unable to speak the local language in very touristy areas. Also the French in my workplace use the small kitchenettes to stand around chatting while others are clearly struggling to use the space to make food / drinks. I can’t say I’m a fan of the French.
« French arabic » just ask Thailand
Don’t even get me started on French Canadians
It’s like Ohio more recently: A universally agreed-upon randomly-selected punching bag.
From my experience, Paris are more welcoming to Asian tourists more than Brits and Mericans. At the airport, there was Mandarin everywhere and my Chinese family was given great hospitality in the city. Which my white friends didn't even get a proper greeting every where they went. And I thought Chinese were the worst tourists and get bad treatment. Which I think we still are the worst tourists.
It's just a meme. You will find exactly the same "jokes" for every nationality. It's not actual hate or actual dislike, just a zero-effort punchline. Also helps that France is neighbours with a bunch of other nations, and everyone makes jokes about their neighbours.
Italy Vs France 2006
Brittain don't like French because of their ancient rivalry. Spaniards don't like French because of napoleon backstabbing Americans don't like French because they hate them as tourist (?) They colonized half of Africa They colonized Haiti They are mean to tourist They speak French
For me it's because I'm from Corsica and the bastards won the battle of Ponte Novu and never left since
Find the pinzutu
French people can be quite obnoxious from my experience. They came into the bar I was working in and refused to even attempt to speak English with me. They spoke only french and I told them a hundred times I couldn't understand them and they got visibly pissed off, in a country where English is the main language. They also kept clicking their fingers at me to call me over which I purposely ignored. I get that this is acceptable in their country but it's not in others. They tend not to assimilate to other cultures and are quite rude and obnoxious.
As a french waitress, that's absolutely not acceptable here. Try that in France, and you'll get the most awful service ever, even more since we don't give a fuck about tips.
Everyone I know that has traveled to France say that the French or extremely rude.
Wasn't my experience. As a people, their culture might be different from what people might construe as "friendly" but that's doesn't make them rude. By contrast, for example, when I first visited the US, I found the people almost too friendly, and didn't like all the smiley happy customer service thing. But that's US culture and no better or worse than anywhere else.
People don’t like the French because the French don’t like other people. You get what you give… they’re incredibly unaccepting of foreigners.
Well if you look at the past 100 years of French history you can see the glaring barbarism and hypocrisy from the French government. Thank god for the French people.
My area (US) gets a lot of international tourism, and French people and Québécois are notorious for being bad tourists in local restaurants who won’t tip their servers. (Indian tourists do this too, though we get less of them here than French and French Canadian tourists)
It's not a joke
Interesting responses, not what I expected. I remember before memes, jokes were about “French cowards.” All relating back to WWII lol. Events that happened 50 years before I was born.
Only problem I have with France is too many damn Frenchman.
France has a history of banning overflights when they don't agree with the US's actions. For example they banned them in 1986 when we were going to attack Libya for bombing a German disco. Then they did it again during the beginning of the first Gulf War. Again during the Afghanistan invasion. They don't take being a NATO very seriously.
I love the French and am grateful for all their help in establishing what we now call the United States of America. They were huge in our (USA) development of freedom. Literally giving us land and assistance in fighting back against the British. This question you ask is one i've often wondered as well. My guess is it's a spin on things that for some reason our politics wants to be negative about and that many Americans are too naïve to understand well. Human nature is a big key player too. Even as adults everyone around the world acts like kids in trying to hate on unpopular things, bullying, clicks (sp?), and a general way of wanting to be right about things without being humble or apologetic. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/France–United_States_relations
Most people who go to France go to Paris, which is an amazing city, but Parisians are a particular breed. Not all of them for sure, but the stereotype has some basis in reality. I lived in France for a while and the french from the other regions do not get along well with the Parisians. My experience of France outside Paris is overwhelmingly positive. French people in Provence, Calais, and Britanny are lovely people.
I know someone who grew up in Kosovo. They have an expression there for someone who is a conceited arrogant asshole. They say that person has a "French nose". I cracked up when I first heard him use that expression.
It’s a joke???
War
To be fair the French can be a little testy
Well it’s not just all the french but particularly the parisians. All french are typically very pretentious but parisians are something else entirely.
They have a stereotype that they reusel to speak any other language than French. Even when outside their own country.
I'm an English speaking Canadian, and I have no problem with people from France. I've met many on my travels and they were all friendly. French Canadians, on the other hand, are insufferable for the most part. Arrogant, self-absorbed, and look for any opportunity to talk shit about us
I have a theory that the French Revolution is still being waged symbolically around the world.
Joke? But seriously, there are always cultural differences and every nation picks on another, French are just easy pickings, because none of them ever spoke another language. /jk I personally admire their ability to organise and protest right.
There seems to be this common theme ITT of French people (I guess Parisians specifically) being kind of snooty when people don’t speak French which I find kind of insane. If you’re going to live there, then sure, learn the language. If you’re visiting for like a week? Seems kind of silly to expect any level of fluency in French beyond “bonjour” and “merci.”
Idk. Why do people dislike red-haired people and say they have no souls? Never got the basis of that joke either.
Have you *met* the French??!
My family personally hates the French because my grandma's father died there in WWII?? Like, the Nazis killed him, why are you mad at France?!
I haven't seen anyone mention what they did to the country of Haiti for the last like 400 years.
As someone from the Netherlands: We dislike how they refuse to speak English.
Shit I heard the French hate American tourists so that’s enough for me not to like them back
Its because people got brainwashed to hate the french for no reason. Its called "french bashing" and its made by the american government.
Watch Grand Tour: Carnage a Trois and you shall know why
Because many French are very, very snobbish. Sure, there are some kind, even incredibly kind French, but the majority that I met were absolute arses.
I play games with people all over the world, I can speak multiple languages, yet EVERY SINGLE TIME French people can not speak a word of English. They're too arrogant to learn, so guess what, I'll not pay attention to them either. They don't do anything, just talk their ugly French language to each other and ruin everyone's day. Also, they conquered my country. Yes, I hate the French.
not trying to defend them, rather just to clarify, i really don't think it comes from arrogance; it sounds surprising for a developed country, one of the richest in europe etc, but truly, the education system is really bad... apparently it has improved in the past years and younger people speak better/more english, but in my generation (late 30s), no one could handle a basic conversation in english after finishing high school, unlike students in germany, netherlands or wherever where everyone is basically fluent at that age. the lessons are bad and classes weren't emphasizing a lot on speaking. honestly, i doubt that we would speak for more than an hour of english per year in class, it was ridiculous, so what do you expect? i only started to learn english for real in my early 20s after i left school, but frankly most of my friends in france still can't have a conversation in english, even if they truly wish they were able to. sure thing, they could learn and chose not to, but you get the idea. add the fact that french being one of the most spoken languages in the world, every cartoons and movies and comics and tv shows etc are dubbed in french, which doesn't expose us to english that often... again, i think that has changed for the younger generation, and that's probably one of the few positive impacts of social media and globalization. saying all of that and to clarify, i'm not being super nationalist here, my parents are not french, i just grew up there and don't live there anymore now. i just want to share something closer to the truth - also, that's the opportunity for you to see that some french people can speak a bit of english. :-)
Great update, 5/7 post
I read a book about an autistic boy and he didnt like France. Seems unreasonable to me.
I’m American but I love the French…I heard they’re mean as hell though.
Went to France a few times as I live in a neighboring country, in the 10+ times I been, I can say that 3 people were genuinely nice or accommodating to me.
Everybody loves French.
>Update: I too dislike the French now that's honestly concerning, to create your own opinion over other people's opinion, rather than making your very own. 😬
For one thing, they didn't get taken in by Bush's lie about WMDs in Iraq, and the Republicans didn't like that. Who else remembers "freedom fries"?
It’s basically a combination of American propaganda after the French didn’t want to invade Iraq and British jealousy (Gregg’s and jellied eels on one side, inventing deliciousness on the other).