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Points: 7969 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 30 2016 at 10:31
Originally posted by Modrigue Modrigue wrote:

All Frenchs buy baguettes and wear a beret... False.
Actually all Frenchs buy baguettes and wear scarves. Smile
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Points: 2360 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 30 2016 at 12:08
A lot of other countries' stereotypes about america are justified tbh.
I do hate how judgemental a lot of americans are about our southern states.
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 30 2016 at 12:24
All stereotypes are crass, even positive ones
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 30 2016 at 12:52
Originally posted by Modrigue Modrigue wrote:

Originally posted by Logan Logan wrote:


Q: How many gears does a French tank have?
A: 4 reverse and 1 forward, in case the enemy attacks from the rear.

Ok, thanks... But I'm really sorry I swear I still honestly don't understand to which stereotype it refers, the relation with Frenchs or why it can be considered racist? It's the first time I hear this joke.

Or maybe this is a stereotype on Frenchs that I didn't know?
It is a cheap joke rather than a stereotype. He/they are referring to the French surrender in 1940 after the British and French forces were beaten during the Battle of France - needless to say this stereotype is used by mostly by Americans and seldom by Brits (certainly not by any Brit who knows the history).
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Points: 65684 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 30 2016 at 14:38
Originally posted by Logan Logan wrote:

Originally posted by Atavachron Atavachron wrote:

Oh come on, you guys are hella polite; if "Nincompoopish tomfoolery" is the worst thing you can say, that just proves it.  (And what's this quiet mythology about Canadians and their doughnuts?)
I must say, I felt like washing my mouth out with soap after uttering those words. It's no myth about doughnuts, we are a nation of doughnut loving, doughnut slinging people. Threaten to take away our dougnuts and there will be trouble. The right to bear dougnuts is practically a constitutional right, and if it isn't, it should be. Our national anthem here is practically, "You've always got time for Tim Hortons". No joke, I ate three today (well yesterday, since it's almost 3:00 am). Like with coffee, nowadays, we've got the cheap doughnuts for the hoi polloi and the really upscale, gourmet doughnuts for the hoity toity, I want my chocolate truffles made out of real truffles, crowd.

Nice.  You should write a Canadian doughnut book, Greg.  Donucks or something.
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Points: 166183 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 30 2016 at 15:33
I feel like America deserves whatever stereotypes it's acquired over the years.
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Points: 65760 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 30 2016 at 16:32
Originally posted by Logan Logan wrote:

It's a poor joke, rather like:

Q: How many gears does a French tank have?
A: 4 reverse and 1 forward, in case the enemy attacks from the rear.

Originally posted by Atavachron Atavachron wrote:

Oh come on, you guys are hella polite; if "Nincompoopish tomfoolery" is the worst thing you can say, that just proves it.  (And what's this quiet mythology about Canadians and their doughnuts?)


I must say, I felt like washing my mouth out with soap after uttering those words. It's no myth about doughnuts, we are a nation of doughnut loving, doughnut slinging people. Threaten to take away our dougnuts and there will be trouble. The right to bear dougnuts is practically a constitutional right, and if it isn't, it should be. Our national anthem here is practically, "You've always got time for Tim Hortons". No joke, I ate three today (well yesterday, since it's almost 3:00 am). Like with coffee, nowadays, we've got the cheap doughnuts for the hoi polloi and the really upscale, gourmet doughnuts for the hoity toity, I want my chocolate truffles made out of real truffles, crowd.

Tim Hortons is not the best but the frozen capp thing is pretty addictive. I rarely go to Tim's though.
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Points: 2504 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 30 2016 at 17:31
Originally posted by Man With Hat Man With Hat wrote:

I feel like America deserves whatever stereotypes it's acquired over the years.

I was about to say the same thing.  


ht
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Points: 65684 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 30 2016 at 17:50
Originally posted by Logan Logan wrote:

The right to bear doughnuts is practically a constitutional right

 LOL    We have bear doughnuts, but mostly in Yosemite as a novelty.
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Points: 10841 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 01 2016 at 06:19
Strangely, the positive stereotypes about France and Paris tend to annoy me, but I guess that's because I can see the darker stuff and the grim reality of living in Paris.

Also, I come from Marseille, and I'm somewhat fed up to see/hear/read people describing my hometown as a mix of Napoli, Detroit, the 70's New York and nowadays Syria: there are problems of poverty and violence (drug dealers shooting each others nearly every month), but most of its inhabitants can live rather peacefully without fearing everyday for their lives or their money like there were gangs in every street waiting with knives and kalashnikoves for the innocent passer-by!
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Points: 20617 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 01 2016 at 14:00
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

It is a cheap joke rather than a stereotype. He/they are referring to the French surrender in 1940 after the British and French forces were beaten during the Battle of France - needless to say this stereotype is used by mostly by Americans and seldom by Brits (certainly not by any Brit who knows the history).
Dean, my  dear chap, you couldn't be more wrong. We Americans have never felt that the French are cowards and have never made jokes to that effect.  At least  that I'm aware of. And I speak from long experience.

We Americans do, however, view the French as arrogant snobs who are hung up on their precious croissants. Wink


Edited by SteveG - July 01 2016 at 14:37
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Points: 65760 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 01 2016 at 14:35
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

Originally posted by Modrigue Modrigue wrote:

Originally posted by Logan Logan wrote:


Q: How many gears does a French tank have?
A: 4 reverse and 1 forward, in case the enemy attacks from the rear.

Ok, thanks... But I'm really sorry I swear I still honestly don't understand to which stereotype it refers, the relation with Frenchs or why it can be considered racist? It's the first time I hear this joke.

Or maybe this is a stereotype on Frenchs that I didn't know?
It is a cheap joke rather than a stereotype. He/they are referring to the French surrender in 1940 after the British and French forces were beaten during the Battle of France - needless to say this stereotype is used by mostly by Americans and seldom by Brits (certainly not by any Brit who knows the history).

yeah there is this idea that the French are "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" that has gotten into popular culture. People who think that though must not be very grateful for them winning the revolutionary war for us.
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Points: 20617 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 01 2016 at 14:45
Perhaps a better thread would be to ask if stereotypes originate from something true.
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Points: 1505 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 01 2016 at 15:25
No stereotypes against Americans are false. I'm fat, loud, and obnoxious.
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Points: 4659 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 01 2016 at 15:38
Play the stereotype game.  I got 95%.
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Points: 3167 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 01 2016 at 16:48
I hate that people think American black metal is crap. Just some of it is crap. Just like Europe. :) 
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Points: 125 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 01 2016 at 17:33
I've heard the tank joke several times but always based on the Italians.

I can't think of any stereotypes that bother me
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Points: 4335 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 01 2016 at 17:36
Originally posted by Modrigue Modrigue wrote:

I'm really sorry guys, I can't help you here. It's the very first time I hear this stereotype and I honestly did not knew about it.

BTW, I still don't understand why it can be considered racist...


Time always wins.
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 02 2016 at 03:33
Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

It is a cheap joke rather than a stereotype. He/they are referring to the French surrender in 1940 after the British and French forces were beaten during the Battle of France - needless to say this stereotype is used by mostly by Americans and seldom by Brits (certainly not by any Brit who knows the history).
Dean, my  dear chap, you couldn't be more wrong. We Americans have never felt that the French are cowards and have never made jokes to that effect.  At least  that I'm aware of. And I speak from long experience.
I'll not argue with you because if you're unaware of something then you're not going to know of it, but many posts in this tread and a multitude of references elsewhere strongly suggest you're mistaken.

While I said this originated in WWII its cultural origins are older. Back in the 18th century the phrase "French leave" was commonplace and stems from social gatherings among the aristocracy and ruling classes where leaving a party without thanking the host was considered impolite. This notion of the French leaving a party unannounced quickly crossed the pond and entered American parlance as someone who is absent without permission but also introduced the idea that this was habitually associated with the French. In French the equivalent phrase is filer ą l'anglaise ("English leave") and this mutual exchange of nationalities in such phrases is common, especially when the idiom is an unsavoury one, such was the historical animosity between the two nations.

Until the advent of cheap travel and paid vacations the working folk of both nations only ever met on the battle-field so most Englishmen had never seen a Frenchman and vice versa. The apocryphal tale of the fishermen of Hartlepool hanging a ship-wrecked monkey during the Napoleonic Wars in the belief that the poor creature was a French spy as they'd never seen a monkey or a frenchman before is plausible because of that...

Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

Perhaps a better thread would be to ask if stereotypes originate from something true.
The caricature of the French onion seller wearing a striped 'breton' shirt, loose dark jacket, beret and red scarf while pedalling a bicycle laden with strings of onions did. Before the first world war a few French onion farmers would sail across the English Channel and then cycle around England selling their goods. As these were the only Frenchmen most Brits had ever seen their garb and appearance came to represent all Frenchmen in popular culture but is unrecognisable in France (except perhaps in Brittany where there is a museum dedicated to these onion sellers in Roscoff).


Edited by Dean - July 02 2016 at 04:21
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Points: 10266 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 02 2016 at 05:54
Just for your information: The French have the expression "filer ą l'anglaise" ("to leave English style"). And the "French leave" phrase was originally not meant military at all.

In German there is the expression "sich auf Französisch empfehlen". "Ich empfehle mich" is an obsolete German expression for "I take my leave".


Edited by BaldFriede - July 02 2016 at 06:01


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