A lightweight-hearted take a look at a few of the widespread stereotypes in regards to the French – from vogue to rudeness and smoking like chimneys. From the famed French culinary prowess to fame for love. A land the place individuals apparently say ‘Oh là là’ each 5 minutes and eat frogs’ legs at a drop of a hat (or beret). Let’s separate the actual fact from the fiction, verify or debunk these French stereotypes, and have some enjoyable alongside the best way…
Berets, baguettes and past!
If popular culture – and Emily in Paris – are something to go by, each French particular person owns a striped shirt, a beret, and walks round with a baguette underneath their arm. Final time I used to be in Paris, I have to’ve missed the necessary beret store! However severely, whereas berets are a conventional French accent, they’re not a every day vogue staple for many French people. Some individuals do put on them, you do see outdated timers carrying them on the bar sipping a pastis (one other stereotype however it’s true!), particularly within the south. And within the Basque nation, berets are fairly conventional nonetheless. However no, it’s not one thing you see on daily basis in most of France in order that’s false.
And the baguette? Properly, that half’s true I feel – the French do love their bread! And fairly proper – French bread is the perfect on this planet. And a baguette does match properly underneath the arm. I’m going to say that is true.
The French be taught to like baguettes from a younger age. Dad and mom give the crunchy finish to teething infants, baguettes are eaten at breakfast, lunch and dinner. And a superb baker to be an artist.
The striped T-shirt that’s so French
The stripy t-shirt that’s thought-about an icon of the French wardrobe is known as a marinière in France, and was historically worn by sailors. Coco Chanel made it a French couture merchandise when she launched it into her assortment in 1917 – and it’s a been a agency favorite ever since! Pretty a lot everybody appears to have one right here in France. You possibly can the wear and tear the striped high with denims, tailor-made trousers, accessorise with a shawl – easy however subtle.
The French are impolite
I don’t even know why individuals assume this, maybe partly from the concept waiters in Paris could be a bit surly at instances. However, that’s Paris – that’s not France. Paris is sort of a totally different nation even to the French! I feel that partly this delusion comes from a slew of latest tales and common tradition – just like the 1985 movie European Trip, about an American household who go to Europe for his or her vacation and in France they arrive throughout a Parisian waiter who insults them and gives them dishwater to drink!
In the meantime a French waiter in Canada was from a restaurant as a result of his bosses stated he was aggressive and argumentative and a little bit of a bully to his colleagues. However he stated that he was under no circumstances impolite, he was solely responsible of being French! He appealed in opposition to being fired as a result of he stated that being French, he was extra direct and trustworthy than his colleagues they usually mistook this for rudeness! Apparently, his bosses stated he was an excellent worker, skilled, nice with prospects however brusque with colleagues. The attraction committee granted him the prospect to current his case in opposition to being fired and supply proof about what precisely the stereotype is with respect to individuals from France. I don’t know what the end result was. However clearly lots of people consider that French persons are impolite!
In fact, I can’t communicate for each French particular person, there are in spite of everything some 67 million individuals in France and logically there have to be some actually actually impolite ones in amongst that lot. However after 20 years of getting a house right here, I haven’t seen a shred of proof to assist the widespread perception of many who the French are typically impolite and smug.
In truth, if something, they’re the politest race I do know, and I’ve been to greater than 15 international locations! Everybody says bonjour after they enter a store, and I feel that’s so well mannered and respectful, after I return to the London to go to my household, I all the time say good day after I stroll into retailers – some individuals do say good day again, however largely they only take a look at me as a result of it’s not that standard in London.
However there are some cultural variations which will appear slightly off to different nationalities. For example, whereas Brits are taught from a younger age that it’s vital to be well mannered and smile at strangers, this isn’t so vital in France. The French smile just about solely after they actually imply it. So, in the event you come throughout a French particular person, you don’t know and marvel why they don’t smile again at you, don’t assume they’re being impolite – it’s simply their approach! There’s a scene in Emily in Paris the place her boss, the fabulous Sylvie, says to Emily “Cease smiling. Folks will assume you’re silly.”
In truth, in the event you smile an excessive amount of at strangers, they might assume you’re odd although not essentially silly. And also you shouldn’t smile an excessive amount of in conferences, or job interviews both – they could assume you are attempting too laborious or attempting to cover one thing, they usually get a bit suspicious! It’s not that the French don’t smile although, they only assume there must be a purpose to smile!
The French could not appear as outgoing as another nationalities, however that is extra about cultural variations. The French worth privateness and politeness in public interactions, so they could come off as chilly in comparison with extra overtly pleasant cultures. However in the event you attempt to communicate a little bit of French and get to know the customs you recognize like saying bonjour madame or bonjour monsieur once you enter a store, you’ll discover heat and friendliness are reciprocated. I additionally assume that so many individuals go to Paris – however to not the remainder of France, so that they base their findings on Paris, which isn’t France.
Dubbing the French impolite as a race is completely false. Vive la distinction.
Do the French actually say Oh La La each 5 minutes?
Oh la la. Do the French say this each 5 minutes? Properly perhaps not that a lot however in my expertise they do say it fairly a bit, however not fairly in the best way that some think about them too. The syllables are usually not lengthy and drawn out, and the tone shouldn’t be excessive as we’d assume. Whereas the stereotype has it that the French say ooh-la-la when confronted with some form of naughtiness or nudity as an illustration, the truth is it’s extra possible for use to precise shock – something from admiration to dismay.And it’s not simply oh la la both. The extra dismay the extra ‘la la’s’! I’ve heard many a time ‘Oh la la la la la la.’
However do French individuals say it each different sentence? Non! It’s extra of a flexible exclamation quite than a conversational crutch – however sure, it’s common.
French persons are all nice cooks!
In accordance with statistics by a French cookery web site – 78% of the French cook dinner on daily basis! French individuals like to cook dinner, to speak about what they’re going to eat, to plan what they’re going to cook dinner, to share with everybody the place they purchase nice substances, the perfect markets, share recipes and a meal collectively. The French typically have a deep appreciation for good meals and the custom of sharing meals, which, let’s be trustworthy, is fairly implausible.
France is the nation that invented the restaurant, haute delicacies and Cordon Bleu, the picque-nique (examine it in concern 38 of our free journal), baguettes and crème brulée. The French definitely dwell to eat, not eat to dwell.
In France, nice cooks obtain legendary standing like Hollywood movie superstars. And it doesn’t matter in the event you’re not an excellent chef with a Michelin star, all cooks of no matter stage take the career severely and although the divide between haute delicacies and residential cooking is vast, however there’s a shared quest for perfectionism.
The good American cook dinner Julia Youngster as soon as stated ‘In France, cooking is a severe artwork kind and a nationwide sport.’ She wasn’t fallacious.
Frenchmen trip bikes with strings of onions spherical their necks
Proper I feel I’m simply going to get this one over with. Once I was a child, my nan, my grandma, advised me that every one Frenchmen trip bikes with strings of onions spherical their necks! My nan was fairly outdated and I used to be just a bit child when she advised me this, but it surely got here from the truth that within the UK, it really was a factor! Onion Johnny was what British individuals referred to as French onion sellers who used to come back over from Brittany and cycle around the streets of Britain, strings of onions tied to their bikes, knocking at doorways and promoting their onions!
They wore their berets at a jaunty angle, Gaulloise cigarettes hanging from their lips, bicycles smothered in plaited strings of onions – every of which weighed between one and two kilogrammes. French onion sellers have been as soon as a well-known sight on the streets of Britain, plying their commerce from door to door, from the Channel ports to as far north because the Orkneys and Shetlands.
Born throughout the first half of the nineteenth Century, at its peak, the commerce concerned some 2000 so-called Onion Johnnies – all of whom got here from one tiny space across the Breton port of Roscoff. There’s even a museum devoted to them in Roscoff.
So – not a real stereotype, but it surely does have some basis in fact. A bit.
French individuals smoke on a regular basis
It’s not true. Statistics are that round 25% of French adults smoke often. 15% greater than People, 12 % greater than Britain. So, it’s excessive that quantity, however smoking in France is on the decline. So, it’s false, French individuals don’t smoke on a regular basis!
All French males are romantic
Is it true that every one French males are romantic? I needed to analysis this matter for my e book The way to be French. Being a married lady, I wasn’t in a position to personally expertise the fame French males have for being romantic and masters of seduction. That is what I discovered. Ask any French man and they’ll say sure. I requested a few of my French girlfriends what they consider this perception. And so they laughed!
It’s the accent! And in addition the language. I say – I like you – the French say: je t’aime. The stereotype that French is the language of affection may be subjective, but it surely’s laborious to disclaim the romantic attract of a sundown by the Seine or a stroll by way of the lavender fields of Provence.
My conclusion was that it’s no totally different in France than anyplace else when it comes to romance. However I do assume that French males are typically flirtatious, and the language is admittedly romantic. I bear in mind assembly a French journalist and he emailed me later and signed off “je t’embrasse” and I although ooh blimey, however then I discovered that really that is fairly regular to log off emails between mates, he wasn’t being romantic – but it surely felt like he was to this non-Frenchie!
All French persons are wine consultants
The French deal with wine with respect. They don’t simply fill a glass to the highest and glug. The wine is poured in order that there’s sufficient room for it to breathe. Then it’s swirled within the glass to launch the vapour, all the higher to smell it. They could observe it within the glass, touch upon the color, the aroma, and the ‘legs’ – the traces of wine that keep on with the facet of the glass once you swirl, a sign of its ‘physique’
I feel the most important indication that the French are all wine consultants is the custom of pairing wine with meals. Once I grew up wine wasn’t an enormous factor within the UK actually – a minimum of not for abnormal individuals like us. I bear in mind wines being referred to as Blue Nun and Black Tower – and we knew nothing about them besides they have been white. And there was Mateus rosé. Crimson wine was claret – or port which we typically put lemonade in. We didn’t actually take into consideration the grape, whether or not the wine was pinot noir or pinot gris, whether or not it was dry or very dry or whether or not it went with roast dinner on a Sunday or Christmas pudding. It was white, pink or purple. However in France it’s lengthy been a practice to show a wholesome respect and understanding of wine, even in children – although you may be stunned to be taught it was solely in 1956 that the French Authorities banned the serving of wine in class canteens!
Sure. All French persons are wine consultants
All French girls are stylish.
Coco Chanel as soon as stated La mode se démode, le model jamais, vogue fades, model stays.
Properly not everybody in France is Coco Chanel, and I’ve to say that it simply isn’t true that every one French girls are stylish – it’s not that straightforward. In Paris sure maybe, being trendy is nearly a cult. However the place I dwell in a rural farming group in northern France – I’ve by no means seen anybody put on a pair of excessive heels, not to mention slightly black gown, in all of the years I’ve been right here.
That stated – there’s a distinction in some ways in which all French girls deal with vogue. Lingerie as an illustration. French girls love good lingerie. Almost each city has a superb lingerie store and a educated assistant who can dimension you up with one look! And French girls say in the event you put on good lingerie it makes you are feeling good, and in the event you really feel good it may possibly allow you to look good. And it’s true that almost all of my French mates do consider that it’s best to have a few very well-made staples in your wardrobe – denims, jacket, shirt. And everybody appears to have a choice of scarves to accessorise their outfits with.
French girls are usually not all stylish, however they do have stylish guidelines for dressing – effectively made staples, scarves, good lingerie. I’d say it’s an in between stereotype.
All French individuals eat frogs’ legs!
Not true! I’ve solely seen them on sale twice in France – as soon as within the grocery store they’d a bag of frogs legs within the frozen part. And as soon as in a Chinese language meals restaurant I noticed on the menu that they’d crispy fried frogs legs!
French persons are all the time on strike!
Many individuals appear to assume that the French are all the time on strike. Or they’re all the time on vacation!
Properly this stereotype is an exaggeration, however there’s a kernel of reality right here. The French do worth their leisure time, they usually’re not afraid to protest for employees’ rights. It’s not about working much less, however about residing extra.
Work-life steadiness is one thing the French fiercely shield. So half true perhaps.
Vive la France!
Janine Marsh is the writer of a number of internationally best-selling books about France. Her newest e book The way to be French – a celebration of the French way of life and artwork de vivre, is out now – a take a look at the French lifestyle. Discover all books on her web site janinemarsh.com
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