The French - is it personal?

Following on from your comments Jillybird, one of my sons had a Norwegian girlfriend, schooled over here, but nevertheless born in Norway and Norwegian parents. I've never in my life met anyone so insulting about the Swedes as her, not that I'd ever heard the Swedes being insulted before, clear dislike, bit like "all roads lead to Scotland, I'll include it every thread, I hate the English, even if I say I don't Paddyan" up thread. Seems the twee little ditty relates to you an 'all if it's Britain per se. Shame

Talking of Australians, when I was in Australia, there were quite a few anti Brit comments flying around over there, quoted it before, but "clean as a pommies bath towel" was a fave.

My French ex husband, although loving the English and England, how strange! did profess to say they could be "double faced" at times his version of two faced, well we weren't known as Perfidious Albion for nothing. Nevertheless, you can't always wade in with exactly what you feel otherwise feelings can be hurt. I had a very good German friend at work who could be pretty blunt. One of the girls in the office bought a new dress and held it up for all to see German friend came right out with it "I think it's horrible", brutal but honest I suppose

Italy and France aren't exactly bosom buddies at the moment, but that's another discussion.

Whitewave, you wouldn’t welcome Boris Johnson into your house even if he hadn’t been rude to you! In fact, I think you would be more likely to be rude to him. My opinion only of course!

All the usual bunkham about chlorinated chicken. Doesn’t anyone know that much of our salad stuff is washed in chlorine already?

Am I the only one who assumed all along that AM and EM had agreed their joint line before BJ ever London?

It’s the reason for the chlorinated chicken that is the problem- it’s because the chickens are squashed up in unhygienic conditions which are against EU welfare standards. The chickens are washed in chlorine to remove the bacteria on the dead chickens body that it was exposed to in its short and miserable life.

From twitter:

Bryan Smith@BpsmithUk
·
Aug 17
Im a microbiologist.
American chicken is chlorine-washed to kill bacteria from bad handling & farming practices (it doesnt work, it just hides the infection).
Its more like putting bleach in your toilet than the tiny amount of chlorine which keeps water bacteria-free in pipes.

and:

The chlorine on chicken encysts bacteria. In that form they evade food poison tests but emerge, during cooking, to cause illness and death. It’s not the chlorine that is the problem but what it masks. Food poisoning rates in the USA are 16 times higher than the UK.

One in 6 Americans get food poisoning every year. Compared to one in 60 Brits.

bit like "all roads lead to Scotland, I'll include it every thread, I hate the English, even if I say I don't Paddyan" up thread.

Nothing like reinforcing that belief, is there, TerriBull?

MaizieD I am glad you have put that quote up. Many people fail to understand just how poor food quality is in the USA
They put money beofer everything and I want to see animal welfare put first, which also makes for safe food to eat.

As to the endless arguments of which country is the best or worst I will add that when i lived in France I go the impression that the French disliked the Germans more than us and also as an individual if you can speak some French then all is well.
All countries seem to harbour some type of racism towards another country. Seems to be part of the human psyche, perhaps going back to tribal days.
I think we all need to evolve some more.

Maddyone salad and filthy chicken are not the same. Farming and food standards are not the same in the USA, their use of antibiotics to fatten animals far exceeds ours, as does their use of other chemicals.

Is it personal?
Well, people have their likes and dislikes, so to some, no doubt. We have a French friend who once lived over here quite happily. We met up with him and his family years later in London when they were over for a visit. Apparently his father had won the tickets in a competition, but detests the English so much that he wouldn't use them. We were actually quite taken aback that our friend dropped that into the conversation so casually!

I once worked with somebody from Yorkshire who was the most obnoxious and ignorant I have ever known. Does that mean everybody from Yorkshire is an obnoxious and ignrorant **?

I dont hate the English..just Westminster .Like all you "leavers" on here I believe MY country would be better off without the westminster chains around our necks .In fact I know we would.Even the BBC ,not known for telling the truth had to retract its statement on Scottish finances and Apologise!!!

Who knew there were people in the Beeb who can decipher figures and get them right for a change ?

To answer the OP on ‘is it personal?’ I think the French have always been far more anti-British than we have been anti-French, which historically goes way back and possibly seeps into a nation’s subconscious.Then of course, over the 20th century, we twice helped to liberate them ( no good deed goes unpunished, as they say.) On a national and probably personal level, the French people felt a great humiliation when Germany marched in and took over.
I imagine that Macron speaks good or passable English, but French Presidents usually make a point in only speaking their own language anyway.
I think also that France has a much worse problem with casual racism than we do here.
Citizens of Paris tend to look down on anyone who isn’t actually from Paris, including their own countrymen.

I agree with Polnan, I voted for the Common Market, visiting Luxembourg in 1972 with the huge building. Did not know when it changed to Brussels and all these MEPs? We had great trade before that ?‍♀️

How can you justify that the French are more anti-British than the British are anti-French? Have you read some of the things Johnson has said about France? I think Macron is too professional to be "personal" about the UK.

WW2 ended over 70 years ago, for goodness sake. France and Germany had been natural enemies for centuries and almost constantly at war with each other. The last 70 years have been nothing short of miraculous from a historical perspective. Since the collapse of the other empires at the end of WW1, France and Germany have been the most powerful and richest countries in mainland Western Europe, but they had the good sense to work together after WW2 rather than against each other.

The world has moved on a bit since 1972, which was before half the UK population was born.

I've lost count of the number of times in France that we've been assumed to be English. As soon as we say we are Scots, attitudes immediately and become more welcoming. This predates the EU by many years - my first personal experience was in 1963.

Frankly I am far more accepting of the EU's position on brexit than of Westminster's.

Some of us are actually trying to answer the OP growstiff

Johnny Hallyday - I still have some of his records tucked away somewhere Terribull from my misspent youth!

I heard a theory that some French have never forgiven the British for rescuing them not once, but twice.

I think we've always had a love/hate relationship, strange as many of us have French origins

So did I, lemongrove, which is why I wrote that I think Macron is too professional to be personal.

PS growstiff? Sorry, but I've run out of Viagra and I'm not male

Most French people I've ever met under the age of 70 couldn't really care less about De Gaulle or Anglo-French relations.

Yes, MawB, I would pin my hopes on Merkel too.
Sensible and steady

It is only by virtue of being an Island we weren’t invaded in 1940, doesn’t make us superior to the French. Anyway, I’m a Francophile , I love France and the beautiful little villages dotted around the Loire and the Dordogne plus loads of other lovely places. I’ve never met any anti English sentiment, everyone I have met on a personal level has been charming, especially if you speak a bit of French.

Sorry growstuff....fast typing on my part.