Things you can do in the us unlike France

[2dimes]

In the us you can eat the pet grade meat, unlike France.

Amidoinitrite?

[riskllama]

i believe so, yes.

[waauw]

Best way to scare an american:

[riskllama]

Best way to scare an american:

[2dimes]

.... you can wear track pants to a wedding.

[Dukasaur]

In the U.S., you can brandish firearms in the 7-11 parking lot, to make the clerk feel real confident about working the night shift.

[mrswdk]

You can deny the Holocaust within being arrested #freedomfuckyeah

[KoolBak]

You can be nice to visiting tourists.....FACT. Personal experience.

[waauw]

You can be nice to visiting tourists.....FACT. Personal experience.

That is a problem, though oddly the french mostly seem to act that way towards native english speakers as if there were still some english-french vendetta.

[mrswdk]

Find girls with hairless armpits on Tinder.

[DoomYoshi]

pay your saucier more than the chef

[2dimes]

As a dirty foreigner in both countries I have experienced things.

I found in the north of France where you see a lot of British tourists expecting to be served in English there was a bit of rudeness. I could not get a hamburger from the burger place named "Quick" because I was pronouncing it wrong. Later when speaking to a very patient polite phone operator I realized the "H" is not pronounced. Took us a while to find out there was no Arrrley-Davison dealer near dieppe.

In and near Paris there is a general vibe about, "If you can't speak our language correctly, either I won't understand a word or maybe I'm not going to accept your question."

I defy you to bust out some Arabic, Mandarin, German or something in the US and see how nice everyone is. Though the Pacific north west is a bad example because you will get a few people cool enough to go for it and try to help you out but I think you understand what I'm saying.

Personally I found in France if I first politely ask, "Bon jour. Parlez vous anglaise?" Then continue to attempt to speak French, suddenly they would complement my borderline terrible French skills. It was kind of like saying. "Hi, I'm trying to learn your language." And it would warn them to listen for my accent and mistakes. Also it showed that I respect them enough to not expect them to have to learn English, so I can be rude, forgetting that in France you would start with, "Good day sir/madam. How are you?" And actually wait for a response before having a conversation.

My daughter took French emersion in school and is somewhat fluent. Last year they went to Montreal and the people there kept telling them, "Just speak honglais." They were not allowed to speak English on the trip, that was the point of doing it. Frustrating for me, she has no patience to let me try to speak French to her. She rolls her eyes and refuses to help.

So I guess in conclusion.

In the US you can burst into a store and yell, "Where's the washroom?" and they will not understand you. Eventually after doing a dance, explaining you might piss your pants or need to drop trou in a random spot soon, they will probably direct you toward the facilities. Unlike France where you can just pee outside.

[mrswdk]

In the US you can burst into a store and yell, "Where's the washroom?" and they will not understand you. Eventually after doing a dance, explaining you might piss your pants or need to drop trou in a random spot soon, they will probably direct you toward the facilities. Unlike France where you can just pee outside.

Reminds me of two more:
- Pee in a flush toilet
- Wipe your ass with paper

[2dimes]

Reminds me of two more:
- Pee in a flush toilet
- Wipe your ass with paper

Some truth. My two favorite things in France are eating and exploring castles or the ruined remains of castles. We were wandering around this one,
http://www.medieval-castle.com/french_c ... gisors.htm

I find myself needing to find a place to pee. There is a sign pointing to the toilets. Ok cool, I get there and seriously there is a concrete room with a hole in the floor. Thankfully I don't have to squat so whatever, I pee down the hole. Now I would like to find some water to rinse my hands. I see two women washing theirs under the low spigot for the gardener. Excellent! As I'm go to stand up after, I notice through the door they left opened, the ladies room has a toilet installed.

[betiko]

As a dirty foreigner in both countries I have experienced things.

I found in the north of France where you see a lot of British tourists expecting to be served in English there was a bit of rudeness. I could not get a hamburger from the burger place named "Quick" because I was pronouncing it wrong. Later when speaking to a very patient polite phone operator I realized the "H" is not pronounced. Took us a while to find out there was no Arrrley-Davison dealer near dieppe.

In and near Paris there is a general vibe about, "If you can't speak our language correctly, either I won't understand a word or maybe I'm not going to accept your question."

I defy you to bust out some Arabic, Mandarin, German or something in the US and see how nice everyone is. Though the Pacific north west is a bad example because you will get a few people cool enough to go for it and try to help you out but I think you understand what I'm saying.

Personally I found in France if I first politely ask, "Bon jour. Parlez vous anglaise?" Then continue to attempt to speak French, suddenly they would complement my borderline terrible French skills. It was kind of like saying. "Hi, I'm trying to learn your language." And it would warn them to listen for my accent and mistakes. Also it showed that I respect them enough to not expect them to have to learn English, so I can be rude, forgetting that in France you would start with, "Good day sir/madam. How are you?" And actually wait for a response before having a conversation.

My daughter took French emersion in school and is somewhat fluent. Last year they went to Montreal and the people there kept telling them, "Just speak honglais." They were not allowed to speak English on the trip, that was the point of doing it. Frustrating for me, she has no patience to let me try to speak French to her. She rolls her eyes and refuses to help.

So I guess in conclusion.

In the US you can burst into a store and yell, "Where's the washroom?" and they will not understand you. Eventually after doing a dance, explaining you might piss your pants or need to drop trou in a random spot soon, they will probably direct you toward the facilities. Unlike France where you can just pee outside.

You pretty much got it. If you go to a country that has a strong culture, don't expect to see people try to make all the efforts towards you. You are the foreigner speaking foreigner in their face as if they had to obviously understand you. If you show that you are starting with the communication effort, then people will make an effort back at you.
In some third world countries you can arrive as the conquering american/foreigner. People depend much more on tourism and will try to get some of your cash and will try to be nice to get a tip.

[KoolBak]

Does "strong culture" = arrogance, then?

I studied french for 7 years...minored in it out of college because my uncle lived in Switzerland and was a pilot and ski instructor. He had always told me I could come spend a summer there.....my parents went in about '80 to visit and check it out. They stayed for a month and wanted to do the travel thing.....everyone was universally nice in Switz (Raclette has been a staple in our home ever since).....everyone was universally rude in France in CITIES....they traveled a lot off the main path and folks were nice in small villages...hmmm. The only other place they did not like were cities in Italy, like Rome; although people were nice, they said it was incredibly filthy.

Your comment about the Pac NW is funny.....we have a huge diversity of established cultures here...my kids have friends from households that still speak a wide variety of languages....funny when you hafta have a 13 year old translate so parents can visit ...not a lot of tourism but lots of foreign students, at least around my town....helped one poor drunk kid staggering down the road a while back that was about to get run over and couldn't spekka da engliss.....he was vietnamese...had been at a party at a private catholic college where he attends down the road and was trying to walk home....lol. Think I kept him from dying

[waauw]

:lol: Does "strong culture" = arrogance, then?

I studied french for 7 years...minored in it out of college because my uncle lived in Switzerland and was a pilot and ski instructor. He had always told me I could come spend a summer there.....my parents went in about '80 to visit and check it out. They stayed for a month and wanted to do the travel thing.....everyone was universally nice in Switz (Raclette has been a staple in our home ever since).....everyone was universally rude in France in CITIES....they traveled a lot off the main path and folks were nice in small villages...hmmm. The only other place they did not like were cities in Italy, like Rome; although people were nice, they said it was incredibly filthy.

Your comment about the Pac NW is funny.....we have a huge diversity of established cultures here...my kids have friends from households that still speak a wide variety of languages....funny when you hafta have a 13 year old translate so parents can visit ...not a lot of tourism but lots of foreign students, at least around my town....helped one poor drunk kid staggering down the road a while back that was about to get run over and couldn't spekka da engliss.....he was vietnamese...had been at a party at a private catholic college where he attends down the road and was trying to walk home....lol. Think I kept him from dying

Betiko is actually one of those parisians that 2dimes was talking about.

[2dimes]

Maybe, I think betiko might actually help translate for a tourist since his English is excellent.

The thing with French folks is some of them seem to lack the ability to understand any accent different from their own. This can be as bad as if a person from another town trying to speak to them.

This happens in English but less people are likely to just leave you stranded in a hotel lobby.

You have to get to the Pyrenees and Salon de Provence regions. I guess I'm not that keen on being in cities anywhere. I'll go to them because I like restaurants but I prefer small towns and wandering around the country side. I love the south west of France.

[waauw]

The thing with French folks is some of them seem to lack the ability to understand any accent different from their own. This can be as bad as if a person from another town trying to speak to them.

Nah, not at all. If you switch on a french channel, you'll frequently encounter people of a wide variety of backgrounds and accents. France has a history of trying to attract french language artists from all over the world to France, much like Spain does with south-american artists. You'd be surprised how good the french are at recognizing accents.

My impression is rather that the french are raised with a sense of nostalgia. Their language used to be that of the 'beau monde', the considered most beautiful and sophisticated language in the world. Something I don't think the french ever let go of, just like the british and russians often seem arrogant and nostalgic towards their old empires. Betiko calls this 'strong culture', I call it nostalgia.

[2dimes]

There's probably a bit of that too.

Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be.

Here is a good one, an American asked if he was really Scottish then said, "Your English is pretty good." Way back when I was working with a Jamaican guy I asked what language they spoke in Jamaica. "Hinglish you preek."

[2dimes]

Ok, back on topic..


Easily find a decent used pick up.

[KoolBak]

Be well-armed...go shooting....go hunting....easily.

[2dimes]

Buy new vans slip ons at the mall.

[betiko]

The thing with French folks is some of them seem to lack the ability to understand any accent different from their own. This can be as bad as if a person from another town trying to speak to them.

Nah, not at all. If you switch on a french channel, you'll frequently encounter people of a wide variety of backgrounds and accents. France has a history of trying to attract french language artists from all over the world to France, much like Spain does with south-american artists. You'd be surprised how good the french are at recognizing accents.

My impression is rather that the french are raised with a sense of nostalgia. Their language used to be that of the 'beau monde', the considered most beautiful and sophisticated language in the world. Something I don't think the french ever let go of, just like the british and russians often seem arrogant and nostalgic towards their old empires. Betiko calls this 'strong culture', I call it nostalgia.

The thing is that 10 cents is canadian, and seriously... the canadians speak french with a completely different musicality. I don't know, it's like you north americans trying to have a conversation with someone with a very thick liverpool accent..
But this happens in any language... people don't realize that they pronounce stuff their own way and that locals don't even understand where the word ends and when the next begins if they are not used to it. I don't know... I ve seen this situation hundreds of times.. like you see a dutch guy, you try to say something you ve learned a while ago, and he doesn't understand shit. You repeat it 5 times... then you tell it in a language both understand... the guy goes "ohhhh! You meant XXX" and the guy says something that sounds totally similar to what you just said... and you re like "how the f*ck did he not understand after I repeat it 5 times pretty good?" This happens to everybody in unknown languages using the talking parrot mode.

[2dimes]

You've gotta love Aldo Raine.