The suggestion that French people are just happy if you try to use a few words of their language is, on the whole, absolute rubbish. I have a university degree in French and was always told by my tutors that my accent was excellent, but whenever I’ve been to France and spoken French, people look at you as if you’ve smeared them with your excrement and reply in English that is much worse than my French (with a much thicker accent).

The reason people in English-speaking countries will probably understand what you’re saying despite your strong foreign accent, is that they actually WANT to understand what you’re saying.
A friend of mine was actually pushed out of the way by a waitress in France when he asked her for some salt (to put on his tasteless and very lacklustre yet overpriced French meal)then she shouted at us when we tried to order the desserts that came with our 3-course meal. He also has a degree in French and his French is even better than mine.

To put the anymosity between France and England down to gentle ribbing, is also ridiculous. England has pretty much forgotten the hatred it felt for Germany after the 2nd world war, simply because the Germans appear to like us and they don’t make constant little displays of how odious they find us. They’re also extremely hospitable and friendly when we visit their country and are genuinely impressed and pleased if you speak their language. They don’t get all their dusty old academics together (failing to invite a single British academic) and decide that a heavily outnumbered British army at Agincourt were war-criminals (when the same could be argued about the French in that very conflict). They don’t hold rememberance events and invite every man and his dog except our Queen.

The british certainly do not look down their noses at everyone, in fact, they’re far less nationalistic than most other nations – especially the French, who seem to vote in droves for the far-right every year, whose national anthem mentions the blood of foreigners running in their streets, and who cling to their cuisine as grounds to claim superiority over the rest of the world – even though this can be traced back not too long ago to the italian and other chefs who started up restaurants when the French aristocracy were all killed or deposed and they needed work. Thank you Italy for French food!

The French have a rich culture and strong national identity that deserves recognition, but the reason they have that, is because they’re so bloody arrogant that they have to label everything “french” so the whole world knows. A very good case in point is the album “Moon Safari” by Air – which says on the front cover “French Band”. This simultaneously lets you know that this music is from France, and also that sooo little other decent music has come out of France in the last 100 years (i.e none at all) that it’s worth mentioning on the cover. Oh let’s not forget the grating warblings of Edith Piaf – but if you have to reach that far back for the last notable musical performer from your country and it ends up being Edith sodding Piaf, you’re probably not a very musical nation.

Britain did, after the war, become a nation with a lamentable national cuisine (in most parts), but then we had to endure rationing until the late forties or early fifties and were virtually bankrupt (if you don’t have the ingredients you get used to not using them and eventually forget). And we never had a revolution to bring haute cuisine down to the masses. If we had, then dishes like “Trinity Cream” – invented in England – would not be referred to these days as Creme Brulee. There was a whole generation of British people who did not learn how to cook properly during and after the war (thankfully my family was spared this) but at least, in Britain, we don’t have to sit around after dinner listening to popular music in a foreign language that we don’t understand.

Of course there are good things about France and about England. But I have yet to meet a non-french foreign national who drones on constantly about how great their country is, and how crappy it is everywhere else unlike nearly all the French people I’ve met (who do just that at any given opportunity and especially after a drink or two).

Most of us from any country in the world, when in France, would be very respectful of their culture, and extremely polite and courteous, because that’s just what you do unless you’re a bloody-minded, xenophobic, nationalistic, French arsehole. And you can’t even take their fierce arrogance and nationalism as a bit of a joke either, because they appear to be utterly humourless and wouldn’t know funny if you tied their neck to a post like a goose and force-fed it down their throat like a bag of grain. Have you ever seen French comedy? Tried very hard to like them (as I do people from every other country I’ve been to) but can’t.

And the reason French women are all anorexic is because it’s one of the most mysogynistic cultures in Europe where women are practically 2nd class citizens who are only there to look good and to service ugly French men’s tiny unwashed willies, which are usually slightly smaller than their noses (yes French men ARE either gay or ugly – sometimes both)- they didn’t even let women vote until the 60s.

So, f#ck off France, you stink!

Those Stereotypes you Speak about the French are Basically those Trotted out by the English and picked up by other Countries Citizens. I have Visited France Twice and no where did I find People in the least Rude. I have been in Paris twice and in Bordeaux and the People have been most Courteous even the Paris Taxi Drivers. They are not all Thin and Anorexic,I have found a fair Proportion of them to be Pleasantly Plump and some even Fat. I have found them to be Clean and Wholesome and they Appear to Wash every Day and change their Underwear.

The French like you to take an interest in their Culture and Language and even if you do not Speak it they Appreciate you Speaking the Odd Words A La Francais. The Irish and the French have always gotten on well together , The Auld Alliance. We have always agreed The Common Enemy I suppose The Anglais.

While the article itself was about stereotype, your indulgence in them is nothing short of astounding. It’s a like you had a checklist: The French are superior and the rest of the world is jealous; New Yorkers are rude; and American tourists are ignorant.

I’d say the French are pretty much just like everyone else — I’ve had crappy food in France, just like I’ve had crappy food in every other country I’ve lived in or visited; French wines have been surpassed by Californian, Italian, South African, New Zealand wines, meaning that they now share the title of “good wine”; and according to recent studies, the reason they’re all so attractive is that their women and men are disturbingly anorexic. Now wonder they riot all the time — they’re suffering from low blood sugar.
Even President Sarkozy agreed, in his 2006 autobiography, that the British enjoyed a higher standard of life than the French.

As a former New Yorker, I take exception to the idea that New Yorkers are rude. They’re not and indeed, travelers from other countries that I’ve met have said that New Yorkers are some of the friendliest and most helpful people they’ve met.

And as an American tourist at various points in my life, I can tell you that I’m not rude, nor am I ignorant, and that in fact, most American tourists are so afraid of pissing someone off or doing the wrong thing that they are among the politest of people. Since everyone hates us, we have to work extra hard, non?

Anyway, just thought I’d add my two-cents. Or pence. Or whatever.