Kitty Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 I saw MissYesBut 's strapline 'Smile - it confuses people', which prompted me to start this thread.I smile. Always have, always will. It's the Brownies' training in me, one of the (old) rules being (before paedophiles were "discovered") a brownie should smile all day (or something like that).In France, very few smile back. Indeed, they look you up and down as if you are wierd and off the planet. Why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 Maybe they weren't brownies ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missy Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 Well! I put that there because I find that British people don't smile!... Every 2 weeks I share a car with someone else to go to work. Which means driving down from my place 3 miles, living the car for OH at the municipal carpark, then a 10minutes walk to where the carshare is. The numbers of people I come accross whilst that little walk, I say a nice 'Good Morning!' with a large smile and all I get in return, is a surly 'morning!' as if life didn't do them the favour of wiping them off this earth in their sleep!...Also at work, I have often unbalanced my interlocutors by a smile when discussions are heated... Just to put things back into perspective really and dilute a tense atmosphere... When I go home, you'll hear me 'Bonjour!' with a smile to every one in the street... in the shops... and I always get my 'Bonjour' back with a smile.Shows that our views on each other's nationalities are defined by how happy we are within ourselves and what we consider to be important or not... My Gran use to say 'Toujours un sourire quand tu te lèves et ceux que tu rencontres, la journée sera plus courte!' (Always smile when you get up and to those that you meet, the day will go faster!)A smile costs nothing! but the rewards are riches... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted June 11, 2006 Author Share Posted June 11, 2006 You are right 'MissYesBut'. (What is your real name?) The French do greet and say 'Bonjour' a lot e.g. to everyone in the queue for the baguette (or un part de flan in my case...). But that is in 'buildings'. Out in the street, they DO NOT smile.Perhaps in the UK, it depends where you are? In Gloucestershire, where I am sometimes, everyone smiles! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 I saw Carol Thatcher on the TV the other day - whatever we think of her mother, Carol has a very positive outlook on life, when questioned she said that her fathers advice was to 'greet the day with a smile' which she has done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opas Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 Pwerhaps she has to smile with those teeth because she sure as hell cannot speak pwoperwy with them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 Maybe it's a regional thing?To look at, people here are as grumpy and non-smiling as anywhere on the planet, but are okay if YOU make the effort to do something about it. They just won't make the first move, that's all.But this Bonjour business. Someone was complaining only yesterday how little of it goes on nowadays, and she finds it very sad to go into a shop, say bonjour, and nobody replies. Usually, if someone comes in and says bonjour people will reply, but it's a very mumbled reply, not a "Hey, how are you, how great to see you" sort of bonjour.I think it's on its way out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 [quote user="Opas"]Pwerhaps she has to smile with those teeth because she sure as hell cannot speak pwoperwy with them![/quote]Given that Jonathan Woss has just secured a deal worth £18 million pounds I don't think a minor speech impediment is any great drawback [:)][:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Katie Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 Thank goodness for that. I have a bit of an R issue myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opas Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 [quote user="Russethouse"][quote user="Opas"]Pwerhaps she has to smile with those teeth because she sure as hell cannot speak pwoperwy with them![/quote]Given that Jonathan Woss has just secured a deal worth £18 million pounds I don't think a minor speech impediment is any great drawback [:)][:)][/quote]Minor! you have got to be kidding. Its terrible listening to him, Carol Thatcher and Boris Johnson . Lazy talk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 I got a good telling off for daring to say bonjour to people when visiting my daughter in a large town recently,they were people who walked close by to me and living near her flat too. I just can't hold with the french idea that you only speak to people freely out in the sticks and town dwellers are to be suspicious of and never greeted in the same way! No wonder us foreigners have a hard time getting to grips with strange ways here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missy Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 >>>I got a good telling off for daring to say bonjour to people when visiting my daughter in a large town recently<<< Who was doing the telling off?... Daughter?... If she is anything like mine who tells me off for doing so when I am in France with her. All I am doing is being cheerful and polite and all I get is 'Mum, you are embarrassing!' ... 'Sorry Love, if that is so, walk on the pavement opposite' ... OK it may not be a full 'Bonjour!' if I am walking in the street, but I certainly make a point of smiling to people. The constipated look/stare doesn't stick with me and when I enter a shop, a happy 'Bonjour!' and then I ask what I want if only the direction to elsewhere because I'm lost in a town... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monika Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 I don't agree, French people do smile and say hello: as experienced on our many hikes around the Normandy. Perhaps it is because all the hikers are on Holiday and very happy. Christine Animal: I love the smiling mouse. Could I download that and how? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Hello Monika, Yes, I think I'm going to keep him/her too! Try right clicking on the photo, then choose "copy" or "file under" or whatever you want to do with it. I have the French version so I'm going to try "enregistrer sous", then "mes images". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 They don't smile because they have met ...No, he'll ban me if I finish the sentence... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 [quote user="Dick Smith"]They don't smile because they have met ...No, he'll ban me if I finish the sentence...[/quote]No I wouldn't [:D] Anyway 10 out of 17 of the posts have no relationship to the title ofthe thread, so it's time for the old lock out then !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 I smile a lot. Have the wrinkles to prove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Snap TU, I have wry smile lines,laughter lines and blinking frustrated laugh lines, a bit like Keith Richard really [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 You mean you've got a great big hole in your head? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 [quote user="Dick Smith"]You mean you've got a great big hole in your head?[/quote]Yeh, so where do you speak out of then [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Depends on me mood, o' course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Touché.................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted June 12, 2006 Author Share Posted June 12, 2006 Keith Richard - that dates you [;-)] ..... and me of course for knowing who he is! [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 But he's still around. He dropped in just the other day... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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