why are french people so arrogant?

Answer 1

why are you asking questions that keep insulting other peoples countries. get lost you idiot.

Answer 2

I don't believe they are...!

As some have already suggested, people in big cities are ALWAYS rude, impatient, and generally obnoxious. Maybe your experience HAS only been with Parisians!

Or maybe you're confusing the French habit of 'exaggeration' with arrogance! They do usually try to tone it down a bit when they go abroad, but if you're American they wouldn't think it necessary, as Americans also have a reputation for 'exaggeration' - or even 'bragging'. They would expect you to realise that they're just exaggerating too, and they'd probably be quite shocked to realise that you thought they were arrogant.

Anyone who doesn't believe that Americans can appear 'arrogant' should look at Cindy L's post up above...! She seems to think that the only people on the planet capable of actually doing anything right are the Americans - perhaps she should stop and think about what she's saying, doesn't she KNOW what an 'American' really is?? French, Italian, Irish, English, Scottish, Mexican ... the list goes on & on! There is NO such race as 'American'!

And as for 'reasons' for either "arrogance" or "pride" (as you might call it if it was displayed by an American!!) the French have a heck of a lot MORE good things in their history to be proud of than any American! (At least the French HAVE a history!) Actually, perhaps the inferiority complex Americans sometimes have over their 'lack of history' is why Mogguette feels so vulnerable around French people..!! That would make him / her ultra-sensitive to French pride - or 'arrogance' as Mogguette calls it!
; )

Answer 3

I've spent some time in France and I'd like to make a huge distinction between FRENCH people and PARISIANS.

I found French people (those living outside the capital) to be just wonderful - though there are of a range of people like anywhere. They were warm, helpful, accomodating and went out of their way to help me - a foreigner struggling with their language.

The people in the Paris though, much like people in big cities everywhere, seemed too important or busy or cool to be human. And that could well be interpreted as arrogance, though certainly not specific only to Parisians or French people !

It must be said that the whole stereotype of an arrogant race may also be self-fullfilling. We go there with this pre-conception and if anything is less than our expectations, we get shirty, and start to think of them as arrogant. Once we start that kind of mindset, it's a quick and sometimes ugly spiral into proving it correct.

Go there with an open mind. Try your best to speak in their language, and you might be pleasantly surprised...

Answer 4

They are over compensating for their inadequacies. Lets face it, what have the French ever contributed? Ok, sure, they STARTED flight in a way, but it was the Americans that perfected it and made it actually work. Yup, they started teh Panama Canal, but it was too hot and buggy for them sooo, yup you guessed it, the Americans finished it, in record time, under budget AND found the cause for malaria in process. We've got JEEP, Pontiac, GMC, General Motors and NASCAR, they've got Renault and a bike race. We've got clean air and water, they've got Paris and the much polluted Seine.

OH yeah, it was a French Monk who invented Champagne, and no one can afford it, it was the Americans that made Sparkling wine available and some of it's pretty darn good. We have Fried Chicken, Cheeseburgers BBQ's, and hotdogs, they have snails.

And lastly, we KNOW how to friggin' BATHE!

And for you YOZORA,

it's BECAUSE we have the FREEDOM in this country to work on inventions and make them a reality, that America, which IS made up from all people from the world, INCLUDING the French, it's because of that freedom we have become successful and a world leader. The idea and the invention belongs to the inventor, NOT the Government like in most countries. Can you imagine Bill Gates acheiving what he has if he were living in China or North Korea?? It wouldn't have happened. It's the FREEEDOM that this country offers to the world that makes the US so desirable. That's NOT arrogance, that's just the facts, I don't see long lines of people trying to get into France, or any other country.

Answer 5

Arrogant? No. To group a people together and to put a label on them causes stereotypes and strife.
To do this is arrogance.
Differences in culture need not be such a headache. Learn that perhaps you are choosing subjects to talk about that are culturally uncomfortable for them. Perhaps speaking too loudly or expecting the same as you have at home while you are in France is again, uncomfortable for them.
Try to go with the flow when you're in another country. Observe their courtesy rules and you'll find that this "arrogance" you speak of, disappears.

Answer 6

Because Celine Dion is the best person in the world, so they have a right to be arrogant. She wanted to take kayaks and bust through walls during the Hurricane Katrina aftermath! She wanted poor people to just be able to touch things, because they had never touched anything in their lives! With a person like that as a premier member of your society, wouldn't you be arrogant, too? I think you would, and you would have a right to be. (Even if she is only French Canadian - maybe that explains why Canadians might be arrogant, too!)

Answer 7

Some years ago, a large group (from the UK) I was with went to a restaurant in a Paris suburb. The women in the group were making a fuss of a little boy who seemed to belong there, and he was lapping it up. Fine, no problem.

The manager / owner appeared in the background and stood taking all this in and was happy (the little boy was his son, we learnt).

He introduced himself, welcomed us and then explained, "I'm Jewish...."

We ate a very nice meal .....and some years later when I was staying with a friend in France, I remembered this incident (she was part Jewish, so it reminded me) and asked her for an explanation!

"The French are anti-Semitic," she explained, "But then, they are anti-West Bank in Paris, if you come from the East Bank, and together they are anti-provincial if you come from outside of Paris......"

Quite Why they are this way...... It would make an interesting university study, Non?

On the other hand, my wife and I used to board overseas language students - Italian, French and German, in the main, but there were other nationalities too. And I can't say that any of those (ages between 16 - 26) were experienced in anyway as arrogant ...though our neighbour who also took in the same type of students, she reported 'problems' in general conversation. But I suspect that it might have had something to do with the way that she was with them.

Regards.
Sash.

Answer 8

I wouldn't lump them all into one category. I have a lot of French friends and not a one is arrogant. Passionate, yes! Easily angered, oh yeah! Free spirited, totally!
I would use aloof, not arrogant, to describe French people.

Answer 9

It odd... they think the same of us.

Personally I think the FRENCH are unenlightened... but I also think that many Americans ARE arrogant... so I can see where they get that from.

Answer 10

They won't be so arrogant when they are knocked out of the World Cup!

Answer 11

Are you sure you don't mean Parisians? Even the French say that of people from Paris.