Preliminary warning: this may not be the best piece I have written. It was pretty difficult to write, emotional at times. I wrote it in several sessions, so the style may be uneven, typos may be plentiful. Sorry about that. Wednesday night, last week, I returned home from work […]
Ask a Frenchman!
25 posts
(asked by Ravi from the UK) Hello, I can’t understand why the French, especially those in Paris hate the British so much. Despite the historical wars of CENTURIES ago, we have been through so much together, especially during the World Wars. We have worked together since then, the Channel […]
(asked by Emma) Is there a specific strategy to deal with secretaries and administrators in France? I feel that they often take a dislike to me. They will be incredibly rude, downright mean, ignore what I’m saying, invent rules, make insulting comments, pretend they can’t do the job or […]
(asked by David L. from Miami) This is one of the very first posts from the original Ask a Frenchman blog that I’m republishing here today. It was from a series of very stereotypical questions that my friend David L. from Miami had asked me partly as a […]
(asked by Sculi from Citra, Florida) I knew this question was gonna come sooner or later. So let’s get it out of the way. Let’s start with the armpits. I’ll make it short: French women do shave their armpits! Pretty much 100% of French women under the age of […]
What is the Gallic shrug? Mmm… Let’s see… First of all – but I could be wrong – I’m under the impression that the Gallic Shrug “exists” only in the English speaking world, or should I say in the eyes of the English speaking world. I don’t […]
Just when I thought that it’s been a while since I last posted a “Ask a Frenchman” question and that I could do one this week-end, I got an e-mail from Lisa in the US about spending Christmas in Paris and around (especially Versailles). So Lisa, you’re the […]
I guess that July 14th is the perfect day to tell you a little bit about Bastille Day, especially because there are a lot of misconceptions about it in the English speaking world, or rather about how Bastille Day is celebrated in France. So, here are a few debunked misconceptions, […]
Ismael from California asks: I work at an outlet in California. We attract many tourists and I have noticed that many of our French tourists smoke a lot. This makes me wonder because here in America (at least in California where I live), it is socially unacceptable to smoke […]
John asks: Why Basque and Catalan separatism is much weaker in France than in neighbouring Spain (or at least why it appears to be so). I know that in Spain the Basque and Catalan regions constantly clamour for independence, yet French Basques/Catalans seem happy to be part of […]