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Why do we hate the French?

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Zeze said:
The former. I think most people just joke about the french because it became a long-running joke without a real clear reason in unison.
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That's pretty much it. It's just a joke. Very few (ignorant) people actually "hate" the French. It's not like some Frenchman is going to walk into an American bar and be all "Sacrebleu!" when the patrons get all "We don't take kindly to yer kind here!"
 
Without the French there would be no Yoo Ess of Aye as we know it now. France nearly went bankrupt helping this country fight the British in the Revolutionary war so for that I salute them and don't mind saving their ass a time or two after that.

Nor are all French people dicks. Parisians are dicks. Most French people are pretty kicked-back.
 
Yeah, I don't think Americans hate the French, they just like to make fun of them.

They're rude
They smell
They're arrogant
They all smoke too much
The French & Indian war
WWII- and I'm not talking about being cheese-eating surrender monkeys. They wouldn't have needed to surrender so much and so quickly if it wasn't for that ultimate fail of a national defense strategy known as the Maginot Line. "Hey, let's build a really fortified defensive line between us and Germany so they can't attack us again!" "But what if they go around?" "Huh??"
Most Americans' only exposure to French stuff is going to Louisiana with their effed up legal system and "culture" that degenerated from some French people a couple hundred years ago

There's lots of reasons, really. Some of it is American stupidity, like not realizing that renaming "French fries" to "Freedom fries" was epically stupid b/c they're not "French fries" with a capital 'F' they're "frenched fried potatoes" with a lower-case 'f' and a completely different meaning.

Also, as fun as it is to make fun of the French, it doesn't hold a candle to making fun of the French Canadians. French Canadians combine all the LOLs of the French plus all the LOLs of the Canadians with none of the culinary contributions of the French and none of the late-90's boobage contributions of Pamela Anderson plus all of their own LOL-worthy threats of secession.
 
Because a flight on Air India is more pleasant than one on Air France.
BTW-Did you know that Air France aircraft are painted white? I know, right? Nobody could guess that.
 
I once was posting and asked a French person what she thought about the US liberating them from the Germans... she said, in all seriousness: "If you didn't the Russians would have".

... wtf...

nw9.jpg
 
DixyCrat said:
I once was posting and asked a French person what she thought about the US liberating them from the Germans... she said, in all seriousness: "If you didn't the Russians would have".

... wtf...

nw9.jpg
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Well, the Soviets would have. But then someone would need to liberate France from the Soviets.

And who stood before Europe and a Soviet invasion? The USA.:thumbsup:
 
PieIsAwesome said:
Well, the Soviets would have. But then someone would need to liberate France from the Soviets.

And who stood before Europe and a Soviet invasion? The USA.:thumbsup:
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I think the frenchy's point was she'd be happy being part of the soviet bloc; something like 1/4th of the country votes communist.
 
They sold a nuclear reactor to Saddam, and tried many times to sell weapons to China. i think it's the fact that they are part of the UN, but always seem to be working against it from the inside. They are also incapable of sacrifice for the greater good... when the United Nations wanted to intervene in the Darfur crisis after the slaughtering of innocent civilians, the french were the only ones that opposed UN intervention... and it was argued that the only reason they opposed was because it was a multilateral initiative led by the United States. During the Kosovar genocide, the french were also the only ones to oppose any action or international sanctions, and refused to give a reason when asked.
 
sactoking said:
WWII- and I'm not talking about being cheese-eating surrender monkeys. They wouldn't have needed to surrender so much and so quickly if it wasn't for that ultimate fail of a national defense strategy known as the Maginot Line. "Hey, let's build a really fortified defensive line between us and Germany so they can't attack us again!" "But what if they go around?" "Huh??"
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Even funnier when one considers the fact that the Germans had already plowed through Belgium to invade France at least once before.

By far, the best thing to come out of France is the metric system. I'm also rather envious of their nuclear power program.
 
I only envy their food. Once in a while.
Most French women are clueless in bed if I were to paint with a broad brush. Hot though.
 
Re WWII, no one has mentioned their collaboration with the Germans or Charles de Gaulle, the overly obnoxious general the Allies had to deal with during the war and later as prime minister and then first president of the Fifth Republic. He is the epitome of prickly French arrogance and their (continued) need to pretend they are still one of the truly major players.
 
Both the US and France have lots of nationalists and racists. The US has the Tea Party, France has the French. So there's actually a large similarity.

Edit: Well, to be honest some of the large cities have fewer nationalists and racists. It's pretty extreme in the more rural parts of the country though, they even hate French from other parts of France for 'not being local and therefor not belonging there'.
 
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DixyCrat said:
I once was posting and asked a French person what she thought about the US liberating them from the Germans... she said, in all seriousness: "If you didn't the Russians would have".

... wtf...
Click to expand...

It's true though. It's an objective and accurate assessment of the situation. Key is you asked her what she thought, not how she felt.
 
zinfamous said:
Odd, though, b/c Jefferson and Franklin were such raging Francophiles, you would think that there would be more of a history of appreciation rather than consternation.
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The US would be a much stronger country if we actually took anything from Jefferson or Franklin.
 
sdifox said:
Dixy said:
I once was posting and asked a French person what she thought about the US liberating them from the Germans... she said, in all seriousness: "If you didn't the Russians would have".

... wtf...
Click to expand...
It's true though. It's an objective and accurate assessment of the situation. Key is you asked her what she thought, not how she felt.
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maybe we have different definitions of liberated.
 
Would it be more accurate/helpful to ask why we hate the French government, and not French citizens per se?
 
grrl said:
Re WWII, no one has mentioned their collaboration with the Germans or Charles de Gaulle, the overly obnoxious general the Allies had to deal with during the war and later as prime minister and then first president of the Fifth Republic. He is the epitome of prickly French arrogance and their (continued) need to pretend they are still one of the truly major players.
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This. De Gaulle was a complete and utter twat.
 
I am not entirely sure. But it may have something to do with the French needing us in two World Wars and then ditching NATO when we were trying to form a strong coalition aginst communist expansion in Europe?
 
The whole question is silly, the "hatred of the french" is mostly done as a joke and for humor. We have had real issues with the French at various times in our history but there is no deep seated hatred of the French in reality in the US.
 
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