On July 14 Bastille Day is celebrated in France. It was set aside in 1880 as a French national holiday. The holiday is celebrated with speeches, firecrackers, and parades. : D
1.) Men should stand, or at least initiate a move to do so, whenever a superior makes an entrance. 2.) Good posture is considered a sign of breeding a lot of the time. 3.) Despite French business culture being rather formal, people tend to stand close when speaking to each other. Also, touching a shoulder or patting an arm is also commonplace and usually within the bounds of French business etiquette. 4.) Chewing gum in public is considered vulgar. 5.) It is best to keep your hands out of your pockets when in public. 6.) Slapping an open palm over a closed fist is offensive. 7.) Snapping fingers is also considered offensive. 8.) France is said to have been the birthplace of Gothic art as well as Baroque architectural style. Gothic art was once known as 'French Art.' 9.) French love cheese. Many of them are famous: Brie, Camembert and Rochefort for example. 10.) It's been said that at least 1/3 of English originated from French. 11.) The French go to college from age 11 until age 15. 12.) There are 14 public holidays. 13.) 20 years after the Eiffel Tower was built, they were suppose to dismantle it and sell the scraps.
Thanks for the good information. Oh! When the Eiffel Tower was first built, everyone hated it. The Statue of Liberty was made in France, and given to the United States as a gift.
The English laugh at the French for eating frogs' legs and snails (escargots). If the English want to be rude about the French, they call them "Frogs" for this reason. If the French want to be rude back they call the English "Les rosbifs", because they think they eat roast beef all the time.
The public toilets in Paris used to be really stinky around forty years ago, but I believe they have cleaned them up now. But if you need to use a toilet in a restaurant, beware. I was absolutely amazed at one I used where they appeared not to have separate men's and women's rest rooms and the urinals were in front of the cubicles. So all the ladies who needed the rest room had to make their way through two row of men using the urinals in order to get to their toilets!
Because English is the language of computer programming and the lingua franca of the business world, English words are making an appearance in the everyday spoken, and written, language in many parts of the world, France included. A French person answering the telephone will now, more often than not, start with "Allo", the equivalent of "Hello" in English. Other examples are "le parking", "le bus-stop" and, of course, "le hot-dog". Because of the traditional, now mainly jokey, hostility between England and France, some French people regard this trend as an invasion of their language and would like to see it reversed. A few years ago, a prominent politician actually discussed passing a bill into law which would have made it illegal for French people to use these English loan words. They would have had to use only the French equivalents. But, as a charming Frenchman said to me. "They could not possibly enforce it. I, for one, absolutely refuse to go into McDonald's and ask for "un chaud chien"!"
Hope these thoughts are of some help. France is a wonderful country, with some beautiful monuments, and charming, friendly people. I heard a comedian say on the radio once that the main difference between an Englishman and a Frenchman is that, whereas the Englishman will shake hands with a person he has not seen since the day before, a Frenchman will shake hands with a person he has not seen for ten minutes. But if the person in question is a pretty young lady, he is more likely to kiss her on both cheeks than to shake hands. Remember, that is a joke rather than a fact, but there is an element of truth lurking behind it, or it would not be funny.
