Well, we did.

Are the French rude? Heavens forfend! No, you goose! Are the French -- against the considerable evidence of our French correspondents in the threads -- deep, eloquent, and witty? Bien sûr, you disgusting English pimple!

Slow to the punch, years late, finally the answers you seek!

GAUL-ING BEHAVIOUR

Ah, the French. Cheese-eating surrender monkeys to some. Gracious, compassionate, misunderstood world beaters to… well, uh, Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoît Nadeau, at least. ... Their newly released book, Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong: Why We Love France, but Not the French is a “journey into the French heart, mind, and soul,” and actually, a surprisingly readable and insightful piece of work. The Mirror spoke to these two crazy kids earlier this week.

JBN: In France it’s impolite to ask someone from out of nowhere their name or what they do in life. Which is a very standard conversation starter here, the lowest common denominator of conversation. The French don’t value the lowest common denominator.

JB: They definitely don’t like being asked what they do for a living.

M: Maybe because half the population is living off the state.

JB: No, they consider it rude. ...

JBN: The art of the French is rhetoric. [!] They are trained from a very young age to listen and to express themselves well. [!!] If you have no opinion, then you need to have wit. In France, eloquence is one of the great means of social advancement. [!!!] You can go very far if you are eloquent—even if you are poor.

Flare to the unhappy but eloquent in the banlieues!

M: So you think the popular perception of the French being arrogant is false.

JB: I don’t think they are objectively, quantifiably arrogant. They have a way of being [scil., arrogant] and if you don’t understand it [scil., arrogance] then it comes across that way [scil., as arrogance], for sure [scil., the French are arrogant].

JBN: ... But the integration of immigrants is definitely happening in France. We lived in a relatively middle-class area of Paris and about half the names on our building mailbox were not typically French. ...

To be fair, Jean-Benoît Nadeau, astute cultural observer, was making this observation in 2003 when astute cultural observers and French governments could still throw this fabulous claim over the Zones De Non Droit* and everyone take a little bow. A cautionary tale to astute cultural observers everywhere who mistake living in nice neighborhoods with multicultural mailboxes as research.

M: [H]ow come those bloody Parisians won’t pick up after their dogs?

JB: Because the thought doesn’t even cross their minds. Partly because the whole French system doesn’t rely on civic initiative. [Yet strangely "the whole French system" surely seems to beg it.] The government picks up after the dogs. It’s as simple as that. The French couldn’t imagine it being any other way.

M: And what the hell is up with French humour? How come these people are so desperately unfunny?

JBN: ... They’re quite witty and spirited, actually. They just like comedy that is very fast—like slapstick.

M: Thank you. I rest my case.

All cleared up. Much more, read the whole off-center interview.

[Hat tip: ¡No Pasarán! via Val]

* The truly astute Theodore Dalrymple correctly nailed the state of French integration back in 2002.

PFFT (What is this?): France pretty nice without the French 2 | Rayonnement français 0

Bonjour,

La vision qu' a nous a donné hier la chaîne de télévision française "Arte" des Yankees terrés dans leur zone verte dans un Bagdad à feu et à sang ne nous donnent pas à penser que :
"295 millions de yankees pouvaient avoir raison"
quand ils ont déclenché la guerre en Irak.
C'est pourtant cette certitude qui nourrit la détestation de "Pave" pour les Français...
On dit les Yankees pragmatiques ;je constate qu'ils n'ont même pas cette qualité ( pour leur horreur du mensonge , Kosovo ,couveuses et ADM nous avaient déjà éclairés).
Le bon sens devant leur déculotté en Irak devrait leur faire dire:
"Français , vous aviez raison"
En 1966 à Phnom Pen le Général vous avait mis en garde à propos du Vietnam.
The question is ; "Combien vous faudra-t-il de temps pour crier grâce en Irak ? "

Good luck to ? your country in Iraq !!!