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-Short Attention Span Theater-
French are rudest, most boring people on earth: British poll
2006-05-20
No source -- c'mon folks, always put the link into the source box.
LONDON - The French were voted the worldÂ’s most unfriendly nation by a landslide in a British poll published on Saturday. They were also voted the most boring and most ungenerous.

A decisive 46 percent of the 6,000 people surveyed by travellersÂ’ website Where Are You Now (WAYN) said the French were the most unfriendly nation people on the planet, British newspapers reported. The Germans have no to reason to celebrate the damning verdict. They came second on all three counts.

WAYN’s French founder, Jerome Touze, told the papers he had been stunned by the thumping condemnation of his compatriots and sought to blame it on Gallic love-struck sulking. “I had no idea that the French would emerge as such an unfriendly country,” he said. “I think our romantic “moodiness’ is misunderstood and I will be sure to pass on the message to my family and friends back in France to be a bit more cheerful to tourists in the future.”

Italy was voted the worldÂ’s most cultured nation with the best cuisine, while the United States was named the most unstylish with the worst food.

The British did not feature in the top 10 of any of the categories. “The British fit in nowhere -- good or bad. It appears that we are so completely average that the voters did not include us in any category,” the tabloid Daily Express commented. “And to our shame, four percent of respondents -- all British of course -- said they would only talk to other Britons when they are abroad.”

This unwillingness to talk to the locals appears to go hand in hand with respondentsÂ’ perceptions of foreigners. While most said Spain was the foreign country where they would most like to live, they said the Spaniards were nearly as unfriendly and ungenerous as the French.

To add insult to injury, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph put the boot in on Saturday by saying in an editorial that the French stank. “The French may like to think that Chanel No 5 is their scent but we all know that garlic and stale Gitanes are much more representative.”
Posted by:bk

#7  I lived in Germany for a total of ten years between 1971 and 1990, and travelled throughout Western Europe during that time. When I first arrived, the Germans were more friendly and open than the last time I was there. We made several trips to Italy, Austria, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the small countries - Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and San Marino. The most friendly people were the Dutch, followed by the folks in San Marino, Luxembourg, Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium. The LEAST friendly and helpful were the French. REAL Italian food is best, especially in San Marino. British food sucks - especially their excuse for a hamburger. The 18 months we lived in England, we ate at Pakistani, Greek, Italian, and Chinese (Hong Kong?) restaurants. We developed a taste for German food, but prefer Hessian to Bavarian, etc. French food, to me, is overrated. The Dutch put on a good spread, and have the best cheese on the continent. The best food I ate in all my tours in Germany was either at a Balkan restaurant in Wiesbaden, or at a small hotel in Ste. Croix, Switzerland. I'd have to rate it a tie... The easiest place to get around in was Frankfurt, the worst was Paris - only slightly ahead of Rome, Italy.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2006-05-20 23:18  

#6  we don't eat enough internal organs apparently, or Spotted Dick. I'm OK with that
Posted by: Frank G   2006-05-20 23:04  

#5  I cant believe the frickin British think our food sucks. Not enough deep fried cod fillets to suit them? We cook meat other ways than boiling it? Sounds like the Brits don't think much of anybody but themselves.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2006-05-20 23:00  

#4  DB, I agree and having just been in Ireland, I'd say we don't have the worst food either.
Posted by: Broadhead6   2006-05-20 18:11  

#3  We can't be all that unstylish. Last time I was on the continent (Germany), they all dressed pretty much like Americans.....and were eating at Mickey D's.
Posted by: Desert Blondie   2006-05-20 16:39  

#2  It's just the neighborhood. Imagine that Mexican government officials would be listed as the rudest [but not most dangerous] in a Rant poll.
Posted by: Hupotle Greretch7903   2006-05-20 13:34  

#1  British people having a negative view of the french?
Shocking! Refreshing thing is, many (I think this is less common now than in the past) french have an equivalent stereotypical negative view of the british, so there's no love lost here.
For exemple, if my grasp of english is sufficient, "condoms" are actually "french condoms" (named after a french town), while they are "capotes anglaises" (english jacket) in France.

Intra-european bias are a logical legacy of the past, I guess, and I can live with the anglo-saxon (first britons, then americans) prejudice found on the english language internet about the froggies, because...

1) it's in some way a development of recent history (french military ineptude post WWII mostly, before WWII France was considered a military super power funnily enough, and nobody thought its soldiers couldn't fight, cf. WWI; also, IUC, during the 60's french paratroopers were seen as movie stars by their british counterpart due to the very successful antisubversive war in Algeria, and Franc eexportated its anti-revolutionnary war doctrine to the USA, to Latin America,...).

2) I'm somehow ok with it : 2006 France sucks ass, and I hope it will die soon enough, no, really, I despise it.

3) I don't care, we've got an equal amount of prejudice directed toward you : for us, it is the american soldier who can't fight, for example (oh, and english men are either loutish drunkards or closet homosexual... this one may be true, lol).
Speaking of theses prejudice, I'm always surprized how much they mirror "classical antisemitism" (which is pretty dead for the average french guy I'd say?) : americans are warmongerers, but they can't fight, they're materialistical and think only about money, yet they're sickly religious and irrationnal, they design covert, conspiratorial Grand Schemes, yet they lack complexity, they've got no culture, they are physically crooked (obesity, in your case, this one may be true too, so I'm not alone, hé hé hé, though I'm not fat, I'm big-boned), etc, etc, ad nauseam.
Posted by: anonymous5089   2006-05-20 13:14  

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