(asked by Mary from the US) Hello,I have a male friend who is French, he is currently an English teacher in France. We’re Facebook friends, and his updates are constantly about sex- quizzes relating to sex he’s taken, comments about sex, etc. Additionally, in his emails, he never fails to mention a sexual encounter, and always brags how his female (and male…) students have crushes on him and give him sexual gifts, like handcuffs or condoms. It’s not just him [Read the rest]
(asked by Sue from New England) I have just returned from two-months with my fiancé in Brest and noticed something at his mother’s house and at the apartments of his siblings – the lack of shower curtains. Why is this? When I asked my fiancé if anyone was worried about water damage and he just smiled sweetly and gave me the Gallic Shrug. Can you shed some light on this? Of course he said that he will not object to [Read the rest]
(asked by Dan from somewhere) Recently you were asked what the French thought of the Quebecois and that question triggered a similar one in my mind: what do the French think of another bilingual, quiet country: Belgium? Aside from Tintin and French fries, I’m sorry to say I don’t know much about them, but I wonder what citizens of the Hexagon think of them? Thanks again for your blog! Well, first let me say that even if you say you [Read the rest]
(asked by Kelly from somewhere) Could you tell us more about the unwritten rules of customer service (or would writing it break the ‘unwritten’ part of the rule?)That would be very helpful for someone planning on visiting/living in France… Don’t worry Kelly, writing down the rules won’t break anything apart from some misconceptions maybe. So what’s going on with customer service in France? Why is it so bad? Or is it that bad?Most Americans (and mostly Americans) will say that [Read the rest]
(asked by Céline from Paris) Why do Americans often add an “s” to French city names : Marseilles, Lyons, Pariss (just kidding for that one)? Well, first of all Céline, let’s not blame the Americans for everything. They’re already guilty of enough things, maybe we could give them some slack on this one.But as you all know, when Americans are not to blame, it can only mean one thing: it’s the British’s fault!!!!! (or the Spaniards, but that’s off-topic of [Read the rest]
(asked by Canubeatme from Glenrothes, UK) Hi posting this thread about a track I heard in France Sept 08. It used the lyrics from Westlife’s Flying without Wings(You’ve got to fight for every dream). It is a hip hop track sung by a male (only French voice that I have found that sounds remotely close is Mc Solaar on one of his tracks). The line I have quoted is sung in the voice that is sampled in Dj Ironik-Stay with [Read the rest]
(asked by nobody, I just came up with it a few minutes ago while in the metro) Something that annoys me with tourists sometimes is the fact that because they’re abroad and they’re tourists their IQ seems to be suddenly half of what it normally is, and they lose all common sense and ability to think about basic things.I understand that it can be hard to adapt to a foreign country and foreign habits, but when we’re dealing with common [Read the rest]
(asked by Lola from the UK and originally from Nigeria) I’ve been reading “Ask a Frenchman” as well as “Stuff Parisians Like” in order to get a feel for what it would be like to live in France. You see, I am 27 and Nigerian; I was raised in the UK from the age of 4 and lived in the US from the age of 16-24 and am now back in the UK. I consider myself to be well-adjusted to [Read the rest]