Fancy France

¶ 11 March 06

Before coming to live in France, I enjoyed the same stereotypes as everyone else – of elegant women and smooth cultured men in the cities, and rugged earthy peasants in the countryside.

Now that I’ve lived among both the city and rural folk here, I can say that these stereotypes do hold up to a degree. But, aside from the outrageous popularity of weekend cycling – where hordes of Frenchmen dressed like sleek, shiny bugs hog the Sunday roads – one thing that I was not expecting from this country was its slightly unnerving infantile side.

You find it in their humour, their love of broad comedy and the baffling ubiquity of men in drag and garish make-up talking in flustered high-pitched voices, letting the joke go at that. You find it in their impulse to give everything a cute nickname, from common words – resto, zizi, dodo, titi, tata… (ok, at least they don’t call banks banban, but you get the drift) – to men’s christian names: phiphi, jojo, jéjé, nono… even shotgun-toting, boulder-heaving men. Viens, Nono, pose ta carabine et fais-moi un zoubie.

You find it in incongruous prizes included with cleaning products – fridge magnets decorated with Sponti! the grinning kitchen sponge – and in endless cartoon characters on adult clothing: ducklings and oh so sleepy teddy bears on all women’s pyjamas not intended for seduction (perhaps they are meant to draw the line – I wouldn’t care to meet the man whose ardour is sparked by the sight of cutsey widdle bunnies); men’s shirts, ties, underwear, pyjamas, slippers, etc. with Tweety birds, Betty Boop and the cast of Tex Avery.

And I suppose this is the most unnerving thing of all. Now every time I watch a late night book chat, the air filled with smoke and muscled debate, I’m forced to imagine these men with thrilling minds leaving the studio to rush back home to (et hop!) jump into their great big Smurf pyjamas, before pouring themselves a cognac.

 

·  ·  •  ·   ·

Comment

  1. Well that’s certainly what I do – mine’s actually a spiderman costume
    — Julian    Mar 11, 9:39pm    #
  2. Italy and France are frighteningly similar. I was especially surprised at the junior high-level scatological humor popular even among the “sophisticated” folks.

    I think the image of cognac-sipping, Smurf-pyjama-wearing Frenchmen is now going to hant me forever, though. Hee!
    — Plin    Mar 11, 11:34pm    #
  3. i can vouch for the shit-faced spiderman….
    — ruth    Mar 12, 9:42am    #
  4. So the French go for that astounding bad drag thing too? I thought is was only the Mam’s boys in Italy.
    — Jeremy Cherfas    Mar 13, 8:54am    #
  5. It’s been downhill ever since they started their love affair with Jerry Lewis.
    — wizmo    Mar 13, 5:07pm    #
  6. Susan,

    Send me your damn e-mail address (please); all was lost when the old computer went fzzzt.
    — gail    Mar 13, 5:39pm    #
  7. You bemoan the fact that you are living in the south of France, and not Canada ? Boyoboy ! Would I trade places with you ! We now have 300 cm of snow, ( and probably more on the way, as we usually do in March), I can’t see the people passing in the streets in front because of the snowbanks, it’s beginning to melt (hurray), but that means the streets, as every year, will turn into rivers, and for weeks, so your boots get soaked, and wear rings of white calcium, and it freezes promptly at night, so you have to watch your steps, and last Saturday, didn’t I fall flat on my back ? And got my clothes all wet, and had to walk 20 minutes like that, before getting home. Ah ! Would I looooove to live in the south of France, my girl.
    — Michèle    Mar 13, 8:46pm    #
  8. Well Gail, that is France for you.
    Me, as that laughing-stock Belgian, -one looks with amazement indeed at those shows, their ‘humor’... Total inbreed, m’a ta vu.
    More amazing though, I find that Sorbonne hacking thing going on.
    Not sure what the premisse was, but the fact that in an mature European country youngsters still have that urge to make that romantic sorta revolutionairy point anno 2006, that is still an example of some sorts…
    And I think THEY won’t be seeing Jaja/jojo/blablateevee.
    — Crachàt    Mar 14, 12:12am    #
  9. maybe it’s nations with great food – something very similar goes on in Japan. (Although I have to say – earthquake procedure instructions with cutesey manga characters are quite a good idea.)
    — uli    Mar 14, 11:21am    #
  10. Personally, I do not find the French funny at all. Their jokes at work are just tricks to avoid work, their jokes in the bar are about the Americans (and Canadians too!) and the jokes in my neighbourhood are about the foreigners.

    I do not find Jean Marie Le Pen’s jokes funny, I do not think that Asterix is funny. If you are into cartoons, I would rather recommend Belgium, if into smiling people go for the Suedes, if into well delivered humour go for England, if you want heart-felt jokes go to Spain, if you want flirting word games then Italy is the paradise. Even Germany has great Carnivals in Cologne and other cities.

    Europe is a great mix of cultures, don’t be trapped by the French propaganda, think and go beyond.

    Uranus
    http://manyyearsinthemerde.blogspot.com
    — Uranus    Mar 23, 2:44am    #
  11. But you have to agree that it is funny (funny ha ha) how the desire to propagate vitriol can impede one’s ability to read.
    — gail    Mar 23, 11:43pm    #

commenting closed for this article