Why do so many Americans hate French people? (wedding, college)

[asassyvic]

I have never heard any person speak badly of the French. But have also heard how much the French hate Americans. I've been to France and drove all over it and found they are about the same as people anywhere. I did spend a lot of time learning to speak and tried it out on everyone. They were charming. The few I've met in the states are a bit more brusque and put on a business like hauteur but I’ve not found them hateful or unfriendly.
Was a bit surprised at the animosity I got when I was in England. So much for our brethren across the pond. I was actually screamed at in hate and anger when in England. Never had that happen in any other country even the U.S. I have nothing against the Brits mind you but am a bit tired of them blaming any ill or problem they have on the U.S. sometimes it’s really ridiculous. I’ve read on the BBC site where they blame us for their youth being out of control and forming gangs and dressing a certain way. Some how it’s the fault of the American’s. Gee, like they had nothing at all to do with raising their own kids.
And if I hear that stupid phrase ‘ wild west mentality’ one more time I will surely scream. I can’t believe it when I hear Brits or any other country referring to their own problems as ‘wild west’ anything. They know nothing about the days of the west and its just some dumb trite phrase made up no doubt by some journalist. I think the biggest problem is not the ‘wild west’ but the weird world wanting to put the blame for their own problems onto the shoulders of Americans. Fix it America, it’s your fault. When we try to fix it even though it’s not our problem then they say get out you ugly Americans. Well sorry for the rant. I have not heard a single person talk about French people badly. Maybe not talked about them at all really.
The only people I've heard people complain about when in Europe were the Germans. For the most part the Americans I know love the French accent and the British one too.

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by asassyvic

I have never heard any person speak badly of the French. But have also heard how much the French hate Americans. I've been to France and drove all over it and found they are about the same as people anywhere. I did spend a lot of time learning to speak and tried it out on everyone. They were charming. The few I've met in the states are a bit more brusque and put on a business like hauteur but I’ve not found them hateful or unfriendly.
Was a bit surprised at the animosity I got when I was in England. So much for our brethren across the pond. I was actually screamed at in hate and anger when in England. Never had that happen in any other country even the U.S. I have nothing against the Brits mind you but am a bit tired of them blaming any ill or problem they have on the U.S. sometimes it’s really ridiculous. I’ve read on the BBC site where they blame us for their youth being out of control and forming gangs and dressing a certain way. Some how it’s the fault of the American’s. Gee, like they had nothing at all to do with raising their own kids.
And if I hear that stupid phrase ‘ wild west mentality’ one more time I will surely scream. I can’t believe it when I hear Brits or any other country referring to their own problems as ‘wild west’ anything. They know nothing about the days of the west and its just some dumb trite phrase made up no doubt by some journalist. I think the biggest problem is not the ‘wild west’ but the weird world wanting to put the blame for their own problems onto the shoulders of Americans. Fix it America, it’s your fault. When we try to fix it even though it’s not our problem then they say get out you ugly Americans. Well sorry for the rant. I have not heard a single person talk about French people badly. Maybe not talked about them at all really.
The only people I've heard people complain about when in Europe were the Germans. For the most part the Americans I know love the French accent and the British one too.

have you seen american media? and the efforts to export american culture (intentionally or not)? have you seen the president of america? and, you've never heard anyone talk about "snooty french"?

[claire ashworth]

Originally Posted by Mooseketeer

I have been puzzling over this for years now and can't really understand it. I myself am French ( no rotten tomatoes please ) and have lived in the UK for 18 years and 3 years before that travelling around the US. I sound quite British and always found Americans delightful and friendly but on many occasions I noticed that if they found out I was French, all of a sudden I was virtually ostracized which I find utterly bizarre and upsetting.
I also heard all the jokes about the French being dirty, and arrogant and I can't quite reconcile this with the France I know.
A lot of Parisians are rude and unhelpful that is true ( and as such are very much mocked and disliked by the rest of France) but then again so are a lot of New Yorkers or Bostonians and I have never for one assumed that meant all Americans were thus.
I find people in the rest of France kind and helpful, generous and they generally have a good sense of humour.
There are bad apples like everywhere else but in general it is a friendly place.
France is by no means perfect and yes it does have high unemployment and a lot of social issues which need addressing but I can't see how this justifies the animosity towards an entire Nation. They are a proud people that is true and can be a bit too "self- centered" but I would say this equally applies to America and most countries in general.I have also been dismayed at this blatant dislike of my compatriots as most Americans I spoke to had never been to France and if so had only visited Paris. How can you judge a country if you haven't lived there and don't speak the language ?
Despite all its problems France still has the best (free) health care in the world, accessible to all ( according to the World Health organisation, not exactly known for its pro French bias) , free education and university, good social benefits ( such as paid leave, maternity leave etc...)and still manages to be more productive per hour than a US worker ( only outdone by the Norwegians).
It might not be perfect but it is hardly the stinky pit of Satan's hell which a lot of people in the US believe.
Americans also seem to think the French hate them, IT'S NOT TRUE . Most French people actually really like Americans and love talking to them. If you speak a bit of French to them they open up and making an effort is almost always rewarded ( ask my not very good French speaking British partner of 18 years by a smile and a chat. They don't like American foreign policies but I'm afraid the hard truth is neither does most of the rest of the world. Sorry.
I have actually found myself defending Americans to the Brits who really DO have a very arrogant attitude to the US and do not like them very much at all. I have heard so many snide comments about Americans and some really snobby attitude to a country I am extremely fond of.
As for cleanliness , the Brits are far dirtier than the French any day. Believe me I have seen some true horrors in my time... I have been a member of a home exchange organisation for 18 years and British people are the worse.
I'm sure I have now opened up a can of worms but I would really like some input.

As you say there are good and bad apples everywhere, including peoples cleanliness. I live in the UK and bought a house in France which was disgustingly dirty dead mice stuck to the floor, dirty pans hanging on the wall etc,etc.
As a very wise man said to me once "dont surround yourself with negative people".

[621nat]

Originally Posted by claire ashworth

As a very wise man said to me once "dont surround yourself with negative people".

I'll drink to that !!
OMG first real visit on forum and I find this thread !! How bizarre indeed as technically still French citizen myself (been happilly living in the UK for 14 yrs) & currently organising my 2nd road trip to the States !!

Have to say I am against generalisations really - as a Franglaise I have enjoyed every single trip I have made the past ten yrs whether in US or Europe and have met some fabulous people along the way - as a general rule I do find that if you go out of your way to be nice to people & speak a few words in their language then people will also go out of their way to make your stay in their country a memorable one.

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by 621nat

I'll drink to that !!
OMG first real visit on forum and I find this thread !! How bizarre indeed as technically still French citizen myself (been happilly living in the UK for 14 yrs) & currently organising my 2nd road trip to the States !!

Have to say I am against generalisations really - as a Franglaise I have enjoyed every single trip I have made the past ten yrs whether in US or Europe and have met some fabulous people along the way - as a general rule I do find that if you go out of your way to be nice to people & speak a few words in their language then people will also go out of their way to make your stay in their country a memorable one.

nice of you all to be so balanced about all this. let's be honest - there are some cultural idiosyncracies in europe, in france, in paris, that can be nice, and others that can be less nice as you get more familiar, just as there are some nice things about american culture, and some ridiculous things about american culture. i for one am finding american culture more and more...difficult these days, though would not consider it very anti-french, per se. maybe more anti-things-that-aren't-a-simple-soundbyte-or-pro-my-artificial-things. but even that's changing in a way, lately. perpetual flow of ideology that i would not consider carte blanche anti-french (many americans probably rarely think about french things other than french fries and paris hilton ).

[Rillifane]

Originally Posted by asassyvic

I have never heard any person speak badly of the French. But have also heard how much the French hate Americans. I've been to France and drove all over it and found they are about the same as people anywhere. .

Well, I've certainly heard Americans speak badly of the French and usually very foolishly and without a proper grasp of the facts.

The usual canard that the French are cowards is belied by the fact that in WWI France suffered 1,897,800 casualties (4.8% of the population) while the USA lost 117,4650 (0.1% of the population). In WWII the numbers were United States 418,500 (0.32% of population) and France 562,000 (1.35% of population). I'm not much surprised, given these numbers, that the French find the constant American harping on their role in the wars to be a bit tiresome.

Not that the French don't appreciate the American contribution. There are certainly a lot of streets in France named for 20th century Americans and a memorial to the American Expeditionary force is side by side with their own Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

And, has been mentioned, the French contribution to our own Revolution against the British Crown may well have been decisive. I have visited Paris almost every year for the last 35 years and I always make a pilgrimage to place a rose on the grave of Lafayette (over which an American flag has been flying for 200 hundred+ years).

In all these many years of visiting France I have rarely encountered anything but pleasant people.

Originally Posted by asassyvic

And if I hear that stupid phrase ‘ wild west mentality’ one more time I will surely scream.

I agree it can be annoying but there is a certain truth to it. American history is a fairly short one and we are closer to it than we may recall.

Consider that when my father was a young man the legendary wild west sherrif Wyatt Earp (died 1929) was still alive and Bat Masterson (died 1921) had died only a few years earlier. It was in my own lifetime that the last Civil War veteran died. We are not that far removed from the Wild West. Indeed, here in East Texas it sometimes seems we're still there. Our European cousins may not be that far off the mark.

[The French Maid]

It's the few bad apples in any culture that cause many to believe its mainstream. You can thank the media for pushing that gokart.

My first husband was anti-french despite being educated and intelligent. He just thought them quite arrogant.

Either way, I divorced him because he had several mistresses over the course of our marriage and remarried a 100 percent full breed Frenchman

Karma s*ucks!

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by The French Maid

It's the few bad apples in any culture that cause many to believe its mainstream. You can thank the media for pushing that gokart.

My first husband was anti-french despite being educated and intelligent. He just thought them quite arrogant.

Either way, I divorced him because he had several mistresses over the course of our marriage and remarried a 100 percent full breed Frenchman

Karma s*ucks!

frenchman, or frenchwoman?

it's not just bad apples, in my opinion. i think that american culture may be too blind to it's own ignorance and arrogance, and so sees the french and many others through that lense, if it sees them at all. perhaps the french and many others have suffered from some of that in the past and paid some prices, to some degree, that fester just a little under the surface (i can imagine that happening to the US as it has in some way or other through history, e.g., if we're not careful)? either way, it's easy to say "oh, yeah, the french suck - pass me the remote and a beer so i can watch 'american idol' in the buzz of my quasi-blissful-ignorance." feels better to enjoy the comfort of your material possessions (and addictions - "addictions!! who?!! ME?! I couldn't possibly have any FLAWS!!!" - for that matter) than to try and seek to understand another time, place, or people and you're own relationship with them. that seems to be a chunck of it, anyhow.

my understanding is that bush is now taking authors, philosophers, theologians, etc into the white house to get advice on "why people hate america" and "what am i doing so wrong?". i wonder if any of those philosophers and theologians mentioned the possibility of that blissful ignorance/american-idol phenomenon.

[chrysilla]

This so-called resentment between French and Americains is something made up and exploited my the media in both countries.

I was born and raised in France where I spent half my life, and spent the other half in California. Two years ago I moved to Greece, so it is interesting to observe the phenomenon from the outside.

Having lived in both countries long enough, I feel there is no such hatred or resentment, just a slight incomprehension based on cultural differences, nothing to write home about. When I lived in the US, people were always very excited to talk to me about France, relate a trip they took there and what a wonderful time they had. In France, most people I met were fascinated with US culture and constantly asked me what it was like to live there.

Last week I was watching a French show (not particularly high on a educational level I must admit), where they discussed new gizmos and gadgets on the market. There they were attributing a trend on people painting their cat's fur to match their closing, saying it was the latest rage in the US. It surprised me cause I know if such a thing was going on in the US, animal protection agencies would be in uproar, so I researched the stuff. What I found is that the 2 writers who published the book were from New Zealand, so not exactly the same part of the world as the US. SEcondly, the book was published in 1994..... not exactly the latest best seller either... I'll pass on the polemic on whether or not these cats were really painted (with vegetable dye by the way) or if TDE PICTURES had been painted. My point is the show's hosts were taking pleasure in demeaning Americains, and we all know people believe everything on TV.

So in my humble opinions, the US and French media hate each other, not the people.

[pirate_lafitte]

I don't hate any French persons and I am American. My theory is that if many Americans didn't "hate" the French, they sure made fun of the French in many ways. Now there is hatred and I think it has to do with Iraq.