Thibault Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 I am rather concerned about the use of the term "racism" which now seems to mean any "anti" comments made about anyone from another country. Aren't there supposed to be only 3 races in the world? As far as I know, the majority of British and French people belong to the same race [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 Perhaps it will be surprising to some, but the same race as "us" includes the Arabs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 Thibault, you have shattered all my illusions.Seriously though, you are right, it is a lazy shorthand. What else would you suggest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maricopa Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 [quote user="woolybanana"] What else would you suggest?[/quote]Xenophobia[Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 If you want to hear a group of French people talking loudly......take an outside table at the cafe in the middle of the square in Bournemouth.on a Saturday ..You will be surrounded by the students from the language schools and the French can hold their own in loud conversations with anybody.....they have to if they want to be heard over the groups of Poles... Russians .... Arabs ..Chinese ... you name them .....we have got them ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Katie Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 Mind you, the Spanish take some beating[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smudger Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 [quote user="nickinorthez"]I was wondering whether anyone has heard of the following organisation the Comite de defense des campagnes Francaises who have an obsession with sticking a flyer stuck on my car window! This has happened twice in the last week, once in Salies De Bearn and now also at the supermarket car park in Orthez. [/quote]I wouldn't get too worried about the Béarnaise. They are traditonally a very morose, bull-necked and dour folk - all mutters and no action. And they hate the Basques, so no 'joint campaign' against the Brits.On a lighter note I always wondered why expats seem to choose to live where they live without referencing the characteristics of the local inhabitants. Go East to the Ariège and you'll find French folk who smile, laugh and really don't mind the rash of white-topped shrilling Brits who materialize on market days in Foix, for example.And the houses are quite inexpensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 [quote user="nickinorthez"]Please stop! You are too many now.You are buying our roots,You are buying our soul .[/quote]I always thought that buying a house required both a vendor and purchaser so could one not turn this on its head and say:Please stop! There are too many now.We are selling our rootsWe are selling our soulPerhaps they are concentrating their campaign on the wrong side of the coin [blink] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 [quote user="ErnieY"][quote user="nickinorthez"]Please stop! You are too many now.You are buying our roots,You are buying our soul .[/quote]I always thought that buying a house required both a vendor and purchaser so could one not turn this on its head and say:Please stop! There are too many now.We are selling our rootsWe are selling our soulPerhaps they are concentrating their campaign on the wrong side of the coin [blink][/quote]Ernie, that would be confusing the issue with logic! The same situation applied / applies in Wales. The sellers blame the buyers for buying, or rather they blame the buyers for having more capital than the young locals. Of course its not the sellers fault that they didn't offer the property to a young local person at a lower price. Its money, its blinkered vision, its double standards and its definitely not logical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 We speak French, although my wife has always been a little unsure about her 'English" accent, but a recent event has made her much more confident.A few weeks ago she was in Angers hospital for two weeks recovering from a knee operation. The réadaption centre was full of dour old French biddies who all seemed to have been resident there for ages. At my first visit, she said that everyone had been quiet and reserved with her (after all, the British eat babies, don't they?). At my next visit, she was telling me about how friendly they'd all turned out to be. By mid week, she was part of the gang, taking as much mickey out of them as they were taking out of her. She even had all the nurses and physio staff practicing their English on her. When she left, all the patients and staff gave her a wonderful send off.She's now doing a physio course at our local town and the French physiotherapist (who's an avid rugby fan) calls her Mrs Johnny Wilkinson......In the end, it's how you interact with people which counts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 Hoping your wife is getting around better now SD. Being in hospital really forces you to communicate in french and you soon find that we have more in common with the french than we thought. This happened to me last year when I had a hip operation. I made some good friends of the french women I shared rooms with etc.I'm sure speaking french makes a big difference to being at worst tolerated as immigrants, at best appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Katie Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 SD, that is a lovely story and the way life should be. There will always be different cultures with ways that may seem quirky to the other. Embrace it, learn from it and most importantly smile[:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raindog Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 [quote user="powerdesal"][quote user="ErnieY"][quote user="nickinorthez"]Please stop! You are too many now.You are buying our roots,You are buying our soul .[/quote]I always thought that buying a house required both a vendor and purchaser so could one not turn this on its head and say:Please stop! There are too many now.We are selling our rootsWe are selling our soulPerhaps they are concentrating their campaign on the wrong side of the coin [blink][/quote]Ernie, that would be confusing the issue with logic! The same situation applied / applies in Wales. The sellers blame the buyers for buying, or rather they blame the buyers for having more capital than the young locals. Of course its not the sellers fault that they didn't offer the property to a young local person at a lower price. Its money, its blinkered vision, its double standards and its definitely not logical.[/quote]I always use this argument to the locals here who complain about the rise in prices. It's not the buyer's fault - he simply pays the price of the house - it's the greed of the person who's selling which is at the root of it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deby Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 I always use this argument to the locals here who complain about the rise in prices. It's not the buyer's fault - he simply pays the price of the house - it's the greed of the person who's selling which is at the root of it all.I did the same recently, the local deputy maire made similar comments at an Apero which we attended in the summer. Brave arent I! Fortunately, he is a jovial chap and we all had a chuckle! We are referred to as Les Irlandais though - thanks to my husband! I think we are not lumped as much together as Les Anglais in the commune. We do get invited to all the french social occasions, but I think it works because we speak the language well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 With as many French people choosing to live in the UK as Brits and Northern Irish who choose to live here, I was initially saddened by an article forwarded to me via email by a friend of mine in London from todays Daily Telegraph .. I've just deleted it but its title was something like "30 reasons why we hate the French" .. not what I expected from the Daily T.But on reading it it was obviously a joke type article because of this weekends rugby. Everyone is in danger of getting a little over sensitive - me included (though perhaps if one was reading the article in one's second language genuine offence could be taken.).Thicker skins are needed - and I for one will still take a mobile phone call in the street and speak either English or French if necessary whatever side of the channel/manche I am on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Here is the article to which you refer.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml;jsessionid=QLVKN5M00OOWJQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/portal/2007/10/12/nosplit/ftfrench112.xmlWhich team will you support? Will you pass the Norman Tebbit test?[6] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyF Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Thanks for the link (I think[8-)]). Is it just me who finds that list offensive rather than funny? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 [quote user="KathyF"]Thanks for the link (I think[8-)]). Is it just me who finds that list offensive rather than funny?[/quote]This reads just like the Sun front page I used to find under the windscreenwiper way back when... (see my earlier post)... [:@] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raindog Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 My God, I hope not too many French people get to read this garbage.No wonder some of them don't think much of us.......[:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 It is just silly nonsense and nothing more. Offensive, well, you wanna hear what the French say about the Brits or the Brits say about the Brits or the French about the French. Just silly nonsense.The head of the post office got hauled over the coals for talking of Spanish practices in his industry, by some do gooding stupid journo, I think. This is just inter-national jousting and is completely harmless. Now the Welsh on the other hand .................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 [quote user="KathyF"]Thanks for the link (I think[8-)]). Is it just me who finds that list offensive rather than funny?[/quote]You are not alone. Kathy!All apart from simply encapsulating many of the common myths regurgitated ad naseum by "Writers", which simply massage both the ignorance and ill-informed physches of a majority of insular Brits, the little I read demonstrates loud and clear that the writers know nothing much about France.As I'm sure all of us here know, the vast majority of French people don't like Parisians: and Parisians look down on their non-Parisian countrymen as peasants: even worse if one comes from Catalan France!The article is about as objective and as informed, as an article about "Swizterland" might be, if written by a chalet maid who worked in the Swiss Alps for three seasons!All of which simply reinforces my decision, taken many years ago, to stop wasting anymore of my money on so-called newspapers, when all they had become was a biased source of self-important drivel, written by "Journalists" who wouldn't actually be able to identify "Fact" if it bit 'em in the butt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Personally I have very divided loyalties for tomorrows match's outcome. On the one hand I hope France do well because they are a great team with lots of heart. Yet I can't quite shake off the old loyalty to England. Like the old addage, "you can take the man out of his country but you can't take the country out of the man". Perhaps it's best to hope the best team will win and cheer for a good game played with the best of spirit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renaud Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Whoever wins tomorrow, I hope that they go on to lift the cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 SPRINGBOKS FOREVER[6] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 [quote user="woolybanana"]SPRINGBOKS FOREVER[6][/quote]Who ?????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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