Check your Passport (2 Viewers)

[Eazy]

Sorry to read that one. Firstly, as living in Quebec and being educated in french, I'm a Frenchman and even if my english is bad, at least I'm making the efforts to communicate in your language. Secondly, when I am selling on eBay, as my listings are in english, a potential buyer or the winning bidder who are living in France always (in the absolute sense of always) communicate with me in english (and in a better one than mine).

I am in a total disagreement with your statement and hope that it's only a joke. If not, it is, at the minimum, xenophobia.

Pierre .

Please don't be too sensitive.

It's a commonly held view here in the UK that although many French people can speak English (because their schools teach other languages better than ours in the UK) when you encounter a French official in an airport, or other such environment, and request help they will look at you blankly and claim not to understand a word you are saying.

Don't start labelling me xenophobic please. I'm half English, half Peruvian and married to an Indian lady.

I have also done my part for Anglo/ French relations in the past. I went out with a gorgeous French girl from La Reunion while I was at university.

Jokes about neighbouring countries are as old as time. I'm sorry if it offended you as it was not intended to.

BTW I was refering to France not Canada.

 

[Pierre]

Please don't be too sensitive.

It's a commonly held view here in the UK that although many French people can speak English (because their schools teach other languages better than ours in the UK) when you encounter a French official in an airport, or other such environment, and request help they will look at you blankly and claim not to understand a word you are saying.

Don't start labelling me xenophobic please. I'm half English, half Peruvian and married to an Indian lady.

I have also done my part for Anglo/ French relations in the past. I went out with a gorgeous French girl from La Reunion while I was at university.

Jokes about neighbouring countries are as old as time. I'm sorry if it offended you as it was not intended to.

BTW I was refering to France not Canada.

Please forgive me. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have react like that. I'm sure that you're a cool guy and that you mean nothing more that reporting a fact. It wasn't great for me to lend you intentions.

My best regards,
Pierre.

P.S. see my reply to your post on the other thread.

 

[Eazy]

Hi Pierre,

No apologies are necessary it was just a slight misunderstanding.
I wasn't really reporting a fact just a bit of a humourous viewpoint that the English have about the French.

Because our countries are so close geographically there is a rivalry that goes back a thousand years.

It's strange really. Despite our countries sharing many of the same ideals and cultural backgrounds our politicians constantly argue and our nations couldn't really be described as close friends.

Besides France always seem to beat us at Football and Rugby lately.

We have a stereotype of the Germans too.

On vacation they are always up early in the morning to put their towels on the sunbeds by the pool.


James

 

[Louis Badolato]

Chuck is right. I may have Italian and Scottish genetics (with a little Norman, Austrian and Maltese mixed in for good measure), but I am an American. I lived in Italy for a year, and can say with no hesitation that I am not an Italian. My language, culture and worldview are American. Differences in things as simple as basic hygiene convinced me I was no more an Italian than a California wine pressed from Cabernet grapes is French. So, I'm an American and proud of it! That being said, what I love about America, and every other country I have ever visited, is the people. This forum is a great example: people from all over the world, with a great sense of humor and interesting perspectives on historical events, getting together to discuss a common passion. It just doesn't get any better than this.

 

[panda1gen]

I say chaps steady on, we are not stereotypes, what

 

[OzDigger]

Hi Ozdigger
You have got to be kidding me ,female australians never drink beer.
I drove for contiki in europe for a couple of years and boy have i seen plenty of beer being consumed by the aussie females,
I,d better not say to much as my wife is from western australia and she might crack me on the head with an empty beer bottle if she sees this.

I did say almost never And yours isn't a fair comparison as Contiki tours are limited to younger people who are more into the grog and sex side (not that there's anything wrong with that) rather than the site seeing And I bet those girls were only drinking beer because they couldn't get their favourite drink - Bundaberg Rum.

 

[wellington]

I guess I won't bring up the conflicts French and English have had in the past here in Canada.......

Just kidding Pierre we are both Canadians and we will fight together as brothers and sisters, that includes Britain, and the U.S., etc.

Cheers
WELLINGTON

 

[sceic2]

As most everyone knows, Northern Europeans - Norwegians, Swedes, Fins, Danes, and Germans, settled Minnesota. For as long as I can remember there has been a series of running jokes about Ole and Lena, a Norwegian couple and their friends Lars, Swen, and many others. They are the typical village idiots, the brunt of much humor. The origin of these jokes is lost in time; but, the Norski’s seem to know them all. Myself, I am German, English, French, and Norwegian, not quite a Heinz 57 but close. We in Minnesota love to make good fun of each other. Blondes are a typical target for jokes. People from Iowa are a good target. The neat thing about most jokes is that you can change the country or name or whatever the main subject of the joke is to meet any ethnic need.

Speaking of Iowa jokes: Do you know why they don't have grass and use artificial turf on all the football fields in Iowa? - to keep the cheerleaders from grazing. What's a pretty girl in Iowa? - a tourist. Change the subject to any group you wish. They are funny when done properly and if people can't laugh at themselves, they riot and kill others because they lost any sense of humor (the pictures of God wearing a bomb for a hat in the Danish Newspapers that offended the Muslims for example). Those folks are far too serious. Remember, nobody gets of life alive and if you can't laugh at yourself, what an awful trip is can be. Michael

 

[Shannon Reuss]

When I read the passport post, I didn't take it as a joke, but more of a study on how times have changed. On my recent trip to New York I lost count of how many times I had to flash my proper photo id ito just about every airport worker in all the various airports I traveled through. My boarding pass wasn't enough. The fact that I had just shown my photo id to the last staffperson 10 feet back made no difference. I wished I had hung it around my neck instead of keeping it in my wallet but that's just the way it was. It became quite tiresome after a while but I knew it was all in the name of safety and security, two things high on my priority list.

I rather doubted however that my personal observations and line of thought were the point of the passport story, but that's how I chose to think about it. I was quite disappointed that the thread soon degenerated into a we/they discussion about what was wrong with the French. Having just invited the two French King & Country collectors I met over the weekend to join our "global" toy soldier forum I have to say I am now rather embarassed in having made the offer.
These two gentlemen were the first Frenchmen I believe I have ever met. One is a customer of mine, the other a fellow King & Country dealer. I interacting with them, it was obvious I spoke no French and whenever they spoke to me they did so in the best Engish they could speak. It may be because the roles were reversed and they were visitors in my country instead of vice versa but I certainly never got the feeling they were looking down on me because I couldn't speak French or wasn't French.
If they do visit the forum, expecting to find other collectors excited about the hobby, what will they find instead?
Whether you stand by the views posted here or not the fact is that this is not the appropriate place to air those views.

My point is, don't make broad generalizations on the forum about groups of people that may hurt others or give them a bad view of you and your particular country. Please continue to make all collectors feel welcomed no matter their particular nationality.

 

[Chuck Harris]

My reason for posting this bit of passport humor was. I have been in and out of France 3 times from the the UK. Never have the French bothered to take the time to check or stamp my passport going in or coming out much less take the time look me over. They were reading or talking on the phone. The job they were getting paid to do was of no interest to them.

Hitler Could have Drove Through in his Staff Car With Flags Flying and they would not have noticed

The UK people did not have this point of view. They checked and stamped everything.

 

[jazzeum]

Chuck,

That is not my experience. I have been to France 4 times and I find them pretty active in checking passports. I also find the people very friendly. I have lived overseas a good part of my life and my experience is that if you try to talk to people in their native language, that goes a long way. I'm fluent in Spanish so that's no problem in Spain. I have a knowledge of French so I would go out my way in Paris to try to talk to people in French. I might not have understood everything but people were extremely helpful. The same thing also happened when I was in Nuremberg. I knew a couple of phrases and just that helped me get along.

While I've often complained about never having one fixed home when I was a kid, my international experience is not something I would have ever wanted to give up.

 

[wadepat]

Shannon,

Once again, I thank you for your comments. Your perspective concerning broad generalizations that are made about groups of people parallel my own feelings. Long ago, I learned how much I could profit from being open to the experience, nationality, culture, and history of others who are different from me. To the best of my ability, I try to understand differences rather than to pass judgement on those differences. I usually find that my stereotypes are incorrect, my rapid conclusions are in error, and that my lack of sensitivity is hurtful. I want to avoid all those mistakes if I can.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[OzDigger]

There are huge language, religious, cultural and geographical differences between countries and races. These differences can cause barriers making communication difficult. However most people respond favourably to a smiling friendly face. But if you are worried about something while travelling overseas, which is often the case, you can give the impression you are a grumpy person, so many will respond to you in a similar way. A bit of acting does wonders at times.

Which reminds me that sometimes we think we are clever at picking who is the 'murderer' on television by how they behave. We forget that they couldn't really have done it as they are actors. Our perceptions affect real life which is why male criminals are more likely to be caught than females as most think a woman wouldn't really do something like that. Rest assured the female of the species can be just as deadly, which is why anti terrorist operatives are trained to shoot the female terrorists first - you just can't trust them

 

[vandilay]

In my early tweentys I lived in Antibe in the south of france for a year and drove tours through europe for a couple of years.
And the one observation i would make is their is a certain amount of truth in generalisations,The germans are very much by the book the french a little tempramentle etc,
but people are people and their is good and bad in every country.Try travelling through europe by train ,the efficiency or lack of from country to country gives you a little insight into the national physche.[and the way they drive ]
They used to say in a perfect europe the germans would build the cars the dutch would fix them and the english would provide the police.
As for kiwis no one has ever heard of us, so if we get into trouble overseas we just say where australian .
As for the french putting up little resistance in WW2 ,I dont think that is fair
I dont think their is a country in the world in 1939 that with germany as a neighbour could have halted a german army, at that stage fighting on only one front .