As a French woman who lived in NYC for years, I can attest to Americans' unfounded fascination with with France, Paris and la Parisienne. From people asking me how French women stay thin (answer: they smoke) to being told what I was saying didn't matter because my accent was so charming (true story), I was often reduced to my Frenchness. It's OK, I had fun with it!
Funnily enough, now that I am back in France, I see French people's enamored vision of America (and esp. NY) everywhere - from photos of Times Square in a restaurant in a random village in Burgundy to people peppering their conversations with US slang and expressions.
Thanks for sharing your perspective! My partner is French and he studied in the US for a few years and he received a lot of WWII jokes while he was there and his American friends nicknamed him Frenchie. I never really noticed the fascination and French cliches until I started dating my partner.
I think there’s a weird love-hate relationship between the US and France. Each country makes fun of the other, yet is seemingly endlessly fascinated by it!
My parents were French and I grew up in the US and France (i went back to the US for college) and go back to France often. There are things I love about France but OMG there are so many things that I dislike about France. (Same with the US too by the way.)
I guess that I would consider myself a Francophile, which is kind of weird, as I have no real background in French to speak of other than that my name probably was derived from a French word—either pauvre or pouvoir. (I joke that I've lived up to the former). I've been trying to learn the language for going on twenty years for that improbable day that I move to Paris. I have friends there and Bordeaux and elsewhere, so a middle-aged guy can always dream, right? I have found that when a French person has corrected me, it's a good thing. I've always taken it as someone trying to help—not rudeness. I can't explain why I'm drawn to French culture as I've never been big on fine foods (possibly because I have virtually no sense of smell); I no longer drink (no wine); and I'm vegan (no cheese). I think my appreciation for the French has to do with THEIR appreciation of culture as a whole, and, of course, their pride in their own culture. I've found, too, that the French (along with other Europeans) are more informed about the rest of the world and its history than Americans.
As a French woman who lived in NYC for years, I can attest to Americans' unfounded fascination with with France, Paris and la Parisienne. From people asking me how French women stay thin (answer: they smoke) to being told what I was saying didn't matter because my accent was so charming (true story), I was often reduced to my Frenchness. It's OK, I had fun with it!
Funnily enough, now that I am back in France, I see French people's enamored vision of America (and esp. NY) everywhere - from photos of Times Square in a restaurant in a random village in Burgundy to people peppering their conversations with US slang and expressions.
Thanks for sharing your perspective! My partner is French and he studied in the US for a few years and he received a lot of WWII jokes while he was there and his American friends nicknamed him Frenchie. I never really noticed the fascination and French cliches until I started dating my partner.
I think there’s a weird love-hate relationship between the US and France. Each country makes fun of the other, yet is seemingly endlessly fascinated by it!
My parents were French and I grew up in the US and France (i went back to the US for college) and go back to France often. There are things I love about France but OMG there are so many things that I dislike about France. (Same with the US too by the way.)
I guess that I would consider myself a Francophile, which is kind of weird, as I have no real background in French to speak of other than that my name probably was derived from a French word—either pauvre or pouvoir. (I joke that I've lived up to the former). I've been trying to learn the language for going on twenty years for that improbable day that I move to Paris. I have friends there and Bordeaux and elsewhere, so a middle-aged guy can always dream, right? I have found that when a French person has corrected me, it's a good thing. I've always taken it as someone trying to help—not rudeness. I can't explain why I'm drawn to French culture as I've never been big on fine foods (possibly because I have virtually no sense of smell); I no longer drink (no wine); and I'm vegan (no cheese). I think my appreciation for the French has to do with THEIR appreciation of culture as a whole, and, of course, their pride in their own culture. I've found, too, that the French (along with other Europeans) are more informed about the rest of the world and its history than Americans.