Why the World Hates French?

Question

Europe unites in hatred of French
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 12:44am BST 17/05/2005



Language, history, cooking and support for rival football teams still divide Europe. But when everything else fails, one glue binds the continent together: hatred of the French.

Typically, the French refuse to accept what arrogant, overbearing monsters they are.

But now after the publication of a survey of their neighbours' opinions of them at least they no longer have any excuse for not knowing how unpopular they are.

advertisement
Why the French are the worst company on the planet, a wry take on France by two of its citizens, dredges up all the usual evidence against them. They are crazy drivers, strangers to customer service, obsessed by sex and food and devoid of a sense of humour.

But it doesn't stop there, boasting a breakdown, nation by nation, of what in the French irritates them.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Britons described them as "chauvinists, stubborn, nannied and humourless". However, the French may be more shocked by the views of other nations.

For the Germans, the French are "pretentious, offhand and frivolous". The Dutch describe them as "agitated, talkative and shallow." The Spanish see them as "cold, distant, vain and impolite" and the Portuguese as "preaching". In Italy they comes across as "snobs, arrogant, flesh-loving, righteous and self-obsessed" and the Greeks find them "not very with it, egocentric bons vivants".

Interestingly, the Swedes consider them "disobedient, immoral, disorganised, neo-colonialist and dirty".

But the knockout punch to French pride came in the way the poll was conducted. People were not asked what they hated in the French, just what they thought of them.

"Interviewees were simply asked an open question - what five adjectives sum up the French," said Olivier Clodong, one of the study's two authors and a professor of social and political communication at the Ecole Superieur de Commerce, in Paris. "The answers were overwhelmingly negative."

According to Mr Clodong, the old adage that France is wonderful, it's just the French who are the problem, is shared across Europe.

"We are admired for our trains, the Airbus and Michelin tyres. But the buck stops there," he said.

Another section of the study deals with how the French see the rest of Europe.

"Believe it or not, the English and the French use almost exactly the same adjectives to describe each other - bar the word 'insular'," Mr Coldong said. "So the feelings are mutual."






Post this story to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Answer 1

You can't just analyze five adjectives without understanding the history of Europe and how those feelings, justified or not, came about.

Of course they don't "care" for the french. Look at the history of those nations. The british and the french have always been enemies. Other countries also still harbour resentments from what happened a long time ago. Do some research on the Napoleonic era and you'll see why those feelings are there.

In my opinion, those comments are not justified. Most people focus on the negative and I bet if you ask all of them what they think about americans, then we would be embarassed as well. It's about nationalism to some extent and people generally think worse about cultures other than their own. Every country has a mix of good and bad people. My experience in Paris was a mix of both. I have met people as described in that article, but guess what - walk down any street in NYC and you'll probably find them there as well.

Answer 2

Interesting article.

What strikes me is that people from these countries sometimes give opposite adjectives.

Northern Europe countries think the French are indisciplined, agitated and frivolous while Southern Europe countries think they are cold and distant.
France is right in the middle, having a bit of them all. The French are a mix of cold blooded german tribes and exhuberant celts with many other influences from both Northern or Mediterranean Europe.

The other thing that strikes me is that all these europeans do not like France, but they make the bulk of the 75 million foreign people that visit it every year.

Answer 3

You know, they must have thought that their accent is annoying or they don't practice good habits like the other Europeans. Maybe it's the cheese; I read that the cheese smells like the sewer. But to give you the God's honest truth, I really don't know. Unless,it's secretly because the French helped the Americans win independence from England and the other European Countries. Come to think of it, maybe that's why today's Americans learned to love going to France.

Answer 4

Ah ah !! I laugh !!
I don't all understant, because I'm french (and I don't learn other languages : why other people don't speak french ??), but It's little true :
- French are not happy !
- Frenchs are bad drivers...
...

And americans ?
- All americans are big
- All americains seeing TV 9-10hours per day
- All americans drive pick-up, and "pollue"
- All americans are so dude than Bush.
...

And with this prejudices, all people are worth than us !
But this is not true !

Answer 5

You're one of the stupidist people i've ever seen! like somone said before, "HOW MANY FRENCH PEOPLE DO YOU KNOW?" and what have they ever done do you? Now, i'm not French, and i dissagree with everything you're saying!!!! The world is filled with hatred, like what if we thought somthing bad about our neibours(not saying that some people don't), Mexico & Canada, do they post "why the world hates the Canadians & Mexicans" , now just shut up and take your hatered to another site...

Rasist basterd

Answer 6

How many times have you been to France? How many French people do you know? Living proof that the emptiest cans rattle the most...

Answer 7

I like them!
Look when there's a strike in France, they come up for each other, what you can't say of some other countries like Belgium.

Answer 8

Put no credence in Big Brother's Hype Type. It's only propaganda.

Answer 9

"The world"? A man who wrote a study (let's say so....) means to you the whole world?

Answer 10

I never thought that I would agree with anything Europeans had to say...AH, but I can agree with them on France. Maybe there is still hope for Europe after all.