No, We Don't

NO, WE  DON' T.

An essay on stereotypes and clichés of the French way of life

by Jean Lhuillery, Professeur Certifié hors classe

Images

I remember a trip I made to Saltash, Cornwall, GB, in the late 1990s. I had travelled from the town of Plougastel, Brittany with our local pipe-band to take part in the twinning ceremonies between Saltash and Plougastel. At one of the venues, we were welcomed by a man in a striped jersey and a red neckerchief, who was playing an accordion at the entrance of the hall. I asked one of the twinning committee people : "What is this funny guy doing here?" Then came the astounded answer : "But... he is... a FRENCHMAN !"

Never in my life had I seen anyone in that attire, and I would never have imagined that the striped jersey plus red scarf represented the French...

The outfit has not be created out of thin air though, in fact it has two different origins.

The striped jersey was (and still is) commonly worn by sailors in France. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, sailors from the northern coast of Brittany regularly crossed the Channel to sell their crops of onions throughout southern England, as far as London. They were called by the English "Johnnies" or              "Johnny Onions". They would go from village to village, with strings of onions, selling them on markets and door-to-door. When the use of the bicycle generalized they loaded their bikes with these strings of onions which created a spectacular image of a heap of onions on wheels (see illustration). AND they often, though not always, wore striped jerseys. These Johnnies were therefore a well-defined recognizable character. The striped jersey was also the usual stage outfit of a world-famous Frenchman, le Mime Marceau (who is probably even more famous abroad than in France...)[pic 1]

The red neckerchief alludes to the 1870 Commune de Paris upheaval of the popular classes wishing to establish Paris as an autonomous egalitarian community. Red was the colour of the movement and the revolutionaries would wear a piece of garment of that colour, often a neckerchief. (Illustration: the French singer Renaud who specialized in "revolution" songs.)[pic 2]

[pic 3]

This anecdote shows the paradox of how  a mental conception and symbol of a community can be both very vivid (to a foreigner it is definitely a Frenchman) and totally inaccurate (nobody ever dressed that way). 

What about the iconic beret, then ? To put it short, it shows that either you are in the army or you are well over 70 years old. Absolutely no-one else wears a beret.

But more than that. Remember our "Cornish Frenchman" and his accordion. Think of each and every film you have seen including at least one scene taking place in France. You can be sure to hear some accordion in the background music track. Well, a great many French just cannot stand  accordion music, as a symbol of vulgar gaudy entertainment, and see nothing romantic whatsoever in accordion music. If you have  French guests, play a CD of accordion music to please them at your own risk. [pic 4]

This article, you will have understood, is about the discrepancies between what people outside France think is "French", and the reality of French life and customs. I will also provide an explanation for the stereotype -when there is one-, as I did for the jersey and red scarf, since there is always a rational element under a stereotype, even if it is not the one you would expect. And not all clichés are wrong, either...

Smoke

Yes, the French do smoke much more than, say, the Germans, or the British neighbours.  There is an efficient government policy against smoking, including ban from public places, increase of retail price, no authorized publicity, educational campaigns, however the rate of people who smoke is significantly higher than in the USA.

Food and drinks

Yes, the French eat baguettes (why wouldn't they?), and a good baguette must be eaten fresh. That is why you will often see people carrying baguettes home. (You always notice them, of course, because the conspicuously stick out of the shopping bag!)

What about the wine, then, which our cartoon Frenchman is holding in his left hand ? Now it is a little bit more complicated.  Yes, the French do drink wine, and plenty of it, a world record of 44 litres per inhabitant per annum (UK 20, USA 10). But it is not drunk as it is represented in Anglo-Saxon movies :

-We hardly ever drink wine during the day, only with meals.

-It is not common to bring a bottle of wine to a date, or it has to be Champagne, which incidentally we do not call wine. It is just Champagne, something quite apart. You bring wine to a meal you have been invited to by friends, not to a romantic date.

-Likewise,  you will not open a bottle of wine for a particular celebration (unless  it is very old or very special, and during a meal); once again celebrations are done with Champagne (or other bubbly). In other words there is nothing particularly exceptional in opening a bottle of wine. Some thirty years ago I remember inviting the English assistant in my high school for lunch. We opened a bottle of wine. The next week we invited him over again, and we opened a bottle of wine. And he said in somewhat embarrassed surprise : "But we already celebrated last week!" We had to explain that we drink wine at every meal...            

-"Apéritif", i.e. drinks before a meal, will very often be spirits or cocktails; wine is not so common. If any, it has to be white.

So wine does not have the romantic aura you would imagine, nor is it something exceptional. A couple sitting at a café terrace sipping a glass of wine in the afternoon tells foreigners! Nobody does that in France. At home, I keep a bottle of wine at the ready in the fridge just for my foreign visitors. To everyone else I will propose, according to the time of day, coffee, tea, beer, whisky, fruit juice... but never ever a glass of wine !

Before leaving the table, we have to mention two other icons : snails and frog legs. Yes, you will find them in cookbooks. However they are not so widespread and a lot of people do not like them. Personally in my whole lifetime I must have had snails less than 20 times (they are pleasant, especially the parsley and garlic butter they are cooked in!) and frog legs once (and never again). As they aren't so common, o not imagine you will be served any of these during a short stay in France - unless you particularly request them.

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