Since it is Christmas and all, I thought I would start a thread on my favorite punching bag, the French (admittedly the government) to focus on what I like about France and the French people
The best food and wine and presentation in the world.
Some of the most wickedly droll humor in the world.
Beautiful, highly livable cities.
No urban sprawl. Preservation of the countryside.
Ability to punch far above their weight in world affairs.
Loyal, generous hosts.
Richly diverse culture that has traditionally been most welcoming of foreign cultures and peoples.
Some of the best technology and ingenuity in the world.
A font of culture, creativity and class.
One of the most enjoyable countries to spend a two-week vacation anytime of the year.
Safe, efficient, reasonably priced public transportation.
Friendly, welcoming hoteliers and restaurant owners.
Helpful citizenry that are willing to help the 70 millionth tourist this year find their way down the same street AGAIN today. Thanks for the patience.
Some of the most elegant dinner party organizers and charming hosts.
Thin despite eating so much rich food.
Some of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Modern architecture that is wisely centered in certain districts rather than mixing and mingling everything in a hodge podge as we do in the Anglo world.
Understanding that friends and family are sometimes more important that logical rational thinking and behavior.
Well for the brits the most important good thing about the french is…
the cheap larger you can get in the hypermarches dans Calais .
Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane - Va Va voom!
That pretty girl on that weird channel advert a few years back - tres vava voom!
Le Cage aux Folles - what the bird cage wasn’t.
Magnon des source - I was at the right age to appreciate Emmanuelle Beart for what she real is - tres chaud!
(yes I have forgotten all the french I ever learnt, just as I am slowly losing my English skills here in Taiwan)
People. Please the spirit of Christmas and all that. In fact, to celebrate I think I am going to get a nice earthy St. Emilion redolent of truffles at the wine store and lay into some incredibly smelly French cheese with some baguette from the Landis hotel tonight with their incredibly creamy butter that is heaven on earth and dream dreams of autumn in Bordeaux, summers in the Loire Valley, winters in Cap d’Antibes when there is no one else there and spring anywhere in the country except Artois! Then, I shall get out my copy of Verlaine’s poems and put on dress, lots of lipstick and imagine that I am former French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin. Oh doh! foiled again. here I was trying so hard to get through one day without saying anything anti French. haha
The French being so understanding as their wonderfully easy going rugby team was at last year’s Hong Kong 7s despite the never-ending abuse and doing so with great grace, humor and diplomacy!
I think what he is trying to say is that there are many French in North America. In Quebec and in the back-water swamps of some states (The Bayou, for example).
I think what he is trying to say is that there are many French in North America. In Quebec and in the back-water swamps of some states (The Bayou, for example).[/quote]
Yes, I thought of that. Everybody is touchy feely about the Christmas spirit today that I didn’t want to talk about those inbred suckers in the areas you mention who still think themselves French after all these years.
I was dying laughing at the French team and how good naturedly they took the abuse of balls and what not raining down upon them only to open their jackets to spell out Grand Slam 2004 by which time the crowd had nothing else left to throw so they moved down the line! haha to do it all over again. Oh, those devious French, but no one was yelling louder when Argentina took them out of the game to move on to become No. 2 to England that day (didn’t mind) and No. 2 in Singapore for the 7s to South Africa (didn’t mind).
–Historian
–Fought for France as an infantryman in the First World War
–Fought for France in the Second World War
–Some time after the defeat of France, joined the French Resistance
–Executed for his work in the Resistance, June 1944
Actress Lolo Ferrari was French, and she once held the Guinness record for the heaviest breasts.
Something to hate, however: Why are those French washing machines so expensive here? Are they really any better? Something tells me they’d rust out within a month here.
I’m sorry but when I visited I must have missed the the correct door and gone throught the one labelled “France Beta 1.0” because I found it to be a land of mostly lugubrous citizens who took every chance to extract beta-francs from my wallet. I suppose when you admire a culture and then visit it in reality you can be disappointed
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