#29 - French stereotypes – true or false?

A tour through the charming, amusing, and sometimes misunderstood world of French stereotypes.

We’re going to take a light-hearted look at some of the common stereotypes about the French - from fashion to rudeness and smoking like chimneys. From the famed French culinary prowess to reputation for romance. A land where people apparently say 'Oh là là' every five minutes and eat frogs’ legs at a drop of a hat (or beret).

Let's separate the fact from the fiction and have some fun along the way…

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Podcast 29 - French stereotypes – true or false?

Janine: Bonjour and a great big warm welcome to The Good Life France Podcast. I’m your host Janine Marsh, I’m a Brit, born in London but I now live in Pas-de-Calais, in the far north of France, where I write books about life in France, am a maid to 4 dogs and 8 cats, ducks, chickens and geese, and I’m the editor of The Good Life France Magazine and website. In between being a maid to my animals, writing and travelling around France, I just love to chat to you on this podcast alongside my podcast partner Olivier Jauffrit.

Olivier: Bonjour, salut, salutation, coucou… – yes, they all mean hello in French! I am Olivier – you can call me Oli – and I am French, but I think I sound almost British after having lived in the UK for 20 years. Non?

Janine: Erm. Not really Oli. I don’t honestly think anyone listening might be thinking ooh, I wonder which part of the UK Oli comes from – maybe London? No, that is not happening.

Oli: Really - you don’t think? Well, I will soon be sounding more French anyway because I’m going to be living in lovely Lyon in the far south – a city which has more than 4300 restaurants – and I am looking forward to try them all.

Janine: All of them?!

Oli: Yes, why not? It might take me a while, but you know, we French love to eat so… this is my plan! One restaurant per week times 4300 equals = 82 years. I’ll be about 130 years old once I’ve tried them all. That’s realistic.

But now, Janine – tell us - what is our topic for the podcast today?

Janine: Well as you say the French love to eat and that is going to feature in today’s episode because our topic is French stereotypes! We’re going to look at some of the beliefs that foreigners have about the French, some are inspired by my nan, and some are commonly held beliefs and we’re going to decide whether they are true or false!

Oli: Hmmm this should be interesting – here we go with French stereotypes!

Janine: So, we’re going to take a light hearted look at stereotypes about the French and see how they hold up. France is the land of wine, cheese, and apparently, people who say 'Oh là là' every five minutes. Let's separate the fact from the fiction and have some fun along the way…

Oli: Oh la la (very exaggerated)!

Janine: Ok let’s talk berets, baguettes, and beyond – are we going to confirm or debunk those French stereotypes?!

If pop culture – and Emily in Paris - are anything to go by, every French person owns a striped shirt, a beret, and walks around with a baguette under their arm. Last time I was in Paris, I must've missed the mandatory beret shop! But seriously, while berets are a traditional French accessory, they're not a daily fashion staple for most French folks. Oli – do you wear a beret?

Oli: Only in Paris! Lol! No, I don’t wear a beret. Some people do wear them, you do see old timers wearing them at the bar sipping a pastis (another stereotype but it is true!), especially in the south. And in the Basque country berets are quite traditional still. But no, it’s not something you see every day in most of France so that’s false.

Janine: And the baguette? Well, that part's true I think – the French do love their bread! And quite right – French bread is the best in the world. And a baguette does fit nicely under the arm. I’m going to say this is true.

Oli: Yes, me too, we learn to love baguettes from a young age. Parents give the crunchy end to teething babies, we eat baguettes at breakfast, lunch and dinner. And if you listened to our last episode which was all about French bread and baguettes, you’ll know it’s true that we are besotted with baguettes in France and consider a good baker to be an artist. It’s true…

Janine: What about the striped shirt?

Oli: It’s called a marinière in France, and the striped cotton shirt was traditionally worn by sailors. Coco Chanel made it a French couture item when she introduced it into her collection in 1917 – and it’s a been a firm favourite ever since!

Janine: Yes, it’s true – pretty much everyone seems to have one here in France. You can the wear the striped top with jeans, tailored trousers, accessorise with a scarf – simple but sophisticated.

Oli: We’re going with true for that one!

Janine: Ok next, the age-old stereotype: the French are rude. Well, what is true is that plenty of people think that the French are generally rude and arrogant. Oli what do you think?

Oli: Well of course I think it is not true! I don’t even know why people think this.

Janine: Well, I think it partly comes from the idea that waiters in Paris can be a bit surly at times. Maybe?

Oli: Well, that’s Paris – that’s not France. Paris is like a different country!

Janine: I don’t know if you have ever seen a film called European Vacation, it’s quite old, 1985, and it’s about an American family who visit Europe for their holiday and in France they come across a Parisian waiter who insults them and offers them dishwater to drink!

Oli: I never heard of that. But I did read about a waiter in Canada who got fired from a restaurant because his bosses said he was aggressive and argumentative and a bit of a bully to his colleagues. But he said that he was not at all rude, he was only guilty of being French!

Janine: I remember that – it was a few years ago. And he appealed against being fired because he said that being French, he was more direct and honest than his colleagues and they mistook this for rudeness! Apparently, his bosses said he was a very good employee, professional, great with customers but brusque with colleagues. The appeal committee granted him the chance to present his case against being fired and provide evidence about what exactly the stereotype is with respect to people from France. I don’t know what the outcome was. But clearly a lot of people believe that French people are rude!

Oli: What do YOU think Janine?

Janine: Of course, I can’t speak for every French person, there are after all some 67 million people in France and logically there must be some really really rude ones in amongst that lot. But after 20 years of having a home here, I haven’t seen a shred of evidence to support the common belief of many that the French are generally rude and arrogant.

In fact, if anything, they are the politest race I know, and I’ve been to more than 15 countries! Everyone says bonjour when they enter a shop, and I think that’s so polite and respectful, when I go back to the London to visit my family, I always say hello when I walk into shops – some people do say hello back, but mostly they just look at me because it’s not that normal in London.

But there are some cultural differences that may seem a little off to other nationalities. For instance, while Brits are taught from a young age that it’s important to be polite and smile at strangers, this is not so important in France. The French smile pretty much only when they really mean it. So, if you come across a French person, you don’t know and wonder why they don’t smile back at you, don’t think they are being rude – it’s just their way! There’s a scene in Emily in Paris where her boss, the fabulous Sylvie, says to Emily “Stop smiling. People will think you’re stupid.”

Oli: That’s true about the smiling. In fact, if you smile too much at strangers, they may think you’re odd though not necessarily stupid. And you shouldn’t smile too much in meetings, or job interviews either – they might think you are trying too hard or trying to hide something, and they get a bit suspicious! It’s not that we French don’t smile though, we just think there needs to be a reason to smile!

Janine: The French may not seem as outgoing as some other nationalities, but this is more about cultural differences. The French value privacy and politeness in public interactions, so they might come off as cold compared to more overtly friendly cultures. But if you try to speak a bit of French and get to know the customs you know like saying bonjour madame or bonjour monsieur when you enter a shop, you'll find warmth and friendliness are reciprocated. I also think that so many people go to Paris - but not to the rest of France, so they base their findings on Paris, which as you say is not France.

Oli: I think we are both 100% agreed dubbing the French rude as a race is totally false. Vive la difference.

Janine: Oh la la. Do the French say this every 5 minutes? Well maybe not that much but in my experience they do say it quite a bit, but not quite in the way that some imagine them too. The syllables are not long and drawn out, and the tone is not over the top as we might think. While the stereotype has it that the French say ooh-la-la when faced with some kind of naughtiness or nudity for instance, in fact it’s more likely to be used to express surprise – anything from admiration to dismay. Oli would you like to demonstrate.

You see a perfectly cooked baguette that I have made, and since I have never made one before and it looks rather delicious – how would you oh la la to express your surprised admiration for my baguette?

Oli: oh la la – up beat

Janine: Now you see a soggy baguette, badly cooked by a top French chef, after you have been salivating over the experience about eating this masterpiece, compared to the baguette I have cooked – it’s rather shocking! How would you you oh la la.

Oli: oh la la, shocked tone. Oh la la la la. Oh la la la la la la.

Janine: hmm you’ll have everyone thinking being dramatic is a French thing next! But do French people say it every other sentence? Non! It's more of a versatile exclamation rather than a conversational crutch.

So what do we say oh la la every 5 minutes – true or false? In between?

Oli: A bit of both maybe…

What about the French stereotype that all French people are intellectuals?

Janine: Really? I never heard that one! Dismissed.

Oli: Ok French people are all great cooks!

Janine: You’re not supposed to press the buzzer until we both agree! Lol!

Oli: But we all know it’s true!

Janine: We need proof!

Oli: Well we are not born with a toque – what we call a chef's hat on our heads but French people do love to cook! We’re not all out wining and dining every night, home cooking is normal! In fact according to statistics by a French cookery site reported that 78% of the French cook every day!

Janine: In that case I am certainly almost French – I cook pretty much every day! And in my experience, French people love to cook, to talk about what they’re going to eat, to plan what they are going to cook, to share with everyone where they buy great ingredients, the best markets, share recipes and a meal together.

Oli: I think that the French generally have a deep appreciation for good food and the tradition of sharing meals, which, let's be honest, is pretty fantastic.

Janine: Yes I agree. France is the nation that invented the restaurant, haute cuisine and Cordon Bleu, the picque-nique, baguettes and crème brulée. The French certainly live to eat, not eat to live.

Oli: In France, great chefs achieve legendary status like Hollywood film superstars.

Janine: And it doesn’t matter if you’re not a great chef with a Michelin star, all chefs of whatever level take the profession seriously and though the divide between haute cuisine and home cooking is wide, but there is a shared quest for perfectionism.

Oli: The great American cook Julia Child once said ‘In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport.’

Janine: She was right! I don’t think I have a single French friend who doesn’t love to cook and though there must be some who aren’t good cooks on the whole I think this is true!

Janine: Right I think I’m just going to get this one over with. When I was a kid, my nan, my grandma, told me that all Frenchmen ride bikes with strings of onions round their necks!

Oli: What? I never heard that one before. I never saw a Frenchman with onion round his neck either! Why would anyone think that this might be a thing? I’m flummoxed!

Janine: Well my nan was pretty old and I was just a little kid when she told me this and I think her mum told this! but it came from the fact that in the early in the UK, it actually was a thing! Onion Johnny was what British people called French onion sellers who used to come over from Brittany and cycle round the streets of Britain, strings of onions tied to their bikes, knocking at doors and selling their onions!

They wore their berets at a jaunty angle, Gaulloise cigarettes hanging from their lips, bicycles smothered in plaited strings of onions – each of which weighed between one and two kilogrammes. French onion sellers were once a familiar sight on the streets of Britain, plying their trade from door to door, from the Channel ports to as far north as the Orkneys and Shetlands.

Born at the dawn of the 19th Century, at its peak, the trade involved some 1,500 so-called Onion Johnnies – all of whom came from one tiny area around the Breton port of Roscoff. There’s even a museum dedicated to them in Roscoff.

Oli: Nonnnnn.

Janine: yep – it’s true!

Oli: Well, that might have happened years ago but it’s definitely false now, I’m pressing the buzzer on that one!

Janine: Ok – how about French people smoke all the time!

Oli: It’s not true. I hope!

Janine: Statistics are that around 25% of French adults smoke regularly. 15% more than Americans, 12 % more than Britain. So, it’s high that number but the number of smokers is declining. So, it’s false, French people don’t smoke all the time!

Janine: Lets go for something that I was asked recently. Is it true that all French men are romantic.

Oli: Yes absolutely.

Ah, l’amour! It is true: the French have a reputation for being romantic and seductive.

Janine: It’s the accent! And also the language. I say – I LOVE you – you say:

Oli: je t’aime

Janine: I asked some of my French girlfriends what they think of this belief. And they laughed!

Ah France, the land of love and romance! The stereotype that French is the language of love might be subjective, but it's hard to deny the romantic allure of a sunset by the Seine or a stroll through the lavender fields of Provence.

I’m going to say it’s false, no different in France than anywhere else in terms of romance. But I do think that French men are generally flirtatious, and the language is really romantic. I remember meeting a French journalist and he emailed me later and signed off “je t’embrasse” and I though ooh blimey, but then I found out that actually this is quite normal to sign off emails between friends, he wasn’t being romantic – but it felt like he was to a non-Frenchie!

Oli: Non, I disagree!

Oli: how about all French people are all wine experts

Janine: Hmmm. I think this might be right.

Oli: We French treat wine with respect. We don’t just fill a glass to the top and glug. The wine is poured so that there’s enough room for it to breathe. Then it is swirled in the glass to release the vapour, all the better to sniff it. We may observe it in the glass, comment on the colour, the aroma, and the ‘legs’ – the traces of wine that stick to the side of the glass when you swirl, an indication of its ‘body’

Janine: I think the biggest indication that the French are all wine experts is the tradition of pairing wine with food. When I grew up wine wasn’t a big thing in the UK really – at least not for ordinary people like us. I remember wines being called Blue Nun and Black Tower – and we knew nothing about them except they were white. And there was Mateus rosé. We didn’t really think about the grape, whether the wine was pinot noir or pinot gris, whether it was dry or very dry or whether it went with roast dinner on a Sunday or Christmas pudding. It was white, pink or red. But in France it’s long been a tradition to teach a healthy respect and understanding of wine even in kids though you might be surprised to learn it was only in 1956 that the French Government banned the serving of wine in school canteens!

Oli: So, we’re agreed? All French people are wine experts.

Janine: Yup – I’m in.

Janine: All French women are chic.

Oli: Coco Chanel once said La mode se démode, le style jamais, fashion fades, style remains.

Janine: Well not everyone is Coco Chanel in France, and I have to say that it simply isn’t true that all French women are chic – it’s not that simple. In Paris yes, but where I live in a rural village of farmers in northern France – I don’t think I’ve seen anyone wear a pair of high heels in the 10 years I’ve been here.

That said – there is a difference in some ways that all French women treat fashion. Lingerie for instance. French women love good lingerie - nearly every town has a good lingerie shop and a knowledgeable assistant who can size you up with one glance! And if you wear good lingerie it makes you feel good, and if you feel good it can help you look good. And it’s true that most of my French friends do believe that you should have a couple of very well-made staples in your wardrobe – jeans, jacket, shirt. And everyone seems to have a selection of scarves to accessorise their outfits with.

Oli: yes, we do love our scarves!

Janine: Hmmm – ok French women are not all chic, but they do have chic rules for dressing then – well made staples, scarves, good lingerie… it’s an in between one for me.

Oli: OK. Next. Some people say we all eat frogs’ legs!

Janine: Not true! I’ve only seen them on sale twice in France – once in the supermarket Lidl they had a bag of frogs legs in the frozen section. And once in a Chinese food restaurant I saw on the menu that they had crispy fried frogs legs!

Oli: Yes – you’d have to be hopping mad to think we eat frogs’ legs all the time.

Janine: Sigh. I’m ignoring that.

Moving swiftly on. There is a stereotype that all French people are always on strike! Or they are always on holiday!

Well this stereotype is an exaggeration, but there's a kernel of truth here. The French do value their leisure time, and they're not afraid to protest for workers' rights. It's not about working less, but about living more.

Oli: Maybe not always on strike or on holiday but it is true that Work-life balance is something we French fiercely protect. So half true maybe. In between!

Janine: So there we have it, a tour through the charming, amusing, and sometimes misunderstood world of French stereotypes. From fashion faux pas to culinary expectations, it's clear that while some stereotypes have a basis in truth, others are just nonsense!

Oli: We hope you enjoyed this humorous “jaunt” through cultural clichés!

And now it’s time for a reader’s question.

Janine: In every episode of this podcast, we answer one of your questions – and we don’t mind what you ask us! Let’s find out what today’s question is. And Oli – it’s your turn to choose a question.

Oli: Well Janine, we’ve had a question in from Philip Tracy who is an American who lives in Burgundy in France, and he has asked us: “Is it true that it is the law that if you have frogs in your pond, you are responsible for keeping them quiet? My neighbour told me this and I have a lot of frogs in my pond and at certain points of the year – they’re quite loud.”
So, Janine, is it true or false – if you have a frog in your pond, you have to teach him to be quiet and respect the law!

Janine: It’s true! In France, according to an old law, if your frogs make too much noise, the neighbours can complain and theoretically you may be told to get rid of the pond and the frogs!

Oli: But it’s also true that frogs are a protected species in France and you can be fined if you damage them or their environment.

Janine: So – though it’s a French law to get rid of noisy frogs if someone complains, its also the law you can’t get rid of frogs in France! That is just so French!

Oli: The first law makes frogs unhoppy. The second one makes them hoppy!

Janine: Ignoring it again! Thanks so much for that question Philip (I think). If you also have a question for us – feel free to send it to janine@thegoodlifefrance.com or via our podcast newsletter.

Thank you, a huge merci beaucoup, to everyone for listening to our podcast from all around the world! And an enormous thank you for sharing the podcast with your friends and family, we’re truly grateful when you do that.

Oli: You’ve been listening to Janine Marsh and me Olivier Jauffrit. You can find me at parischanson.fr

Janine: And you can find me and heaps of information about France – where to visit, culture, history, recipes – everything France - at thegoodlifefrance.com where you can subscribe to the podcast, my weekly newsletter about France and our totally brilliant, totally free magazine which you can read at magazine.thegoodlifefrance.com

But for now, it’s au revoir from me.

Olivier: And goodbye from me.

Janine: Speak to you soon!

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#29 - French stereotypes – true or false?

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