How does the rest of Europe see the French? Well, the Telegraph (do I detect a little gloating, chaps?) has the details:
โPerhaps unsurprisingly, Britons described them as โchauvinists, stubborn, nannied and humourlessโ. However, the French may be more shocked by the views of other nations.For the Germans, the French are โpretentious, offhand and frivolousโ. The Dutch describe them as โagitated, talkative and shallow.โ The Spanish see them as โcold, distant, vain and impoliteโ and the Portuguese as โpreachingโ. In Italy they comes across as โsnobs, arrogant, flesh-loving, righteous and self-obsessedโ and the Greeks find them โnot very with it, egocentric bons vivantsโ. Interestingly, the Swedes consider them โdisobedient, immoral, disorganised, neo-colonialist and dirtyโ.But the knockout punch to French pride came in the way the poll was conducted. People were not asked what they hated in the French, just what they thought of them. โInterviewees were simply asked an open question โ what five adjectives sum up the French,โ said Olivier Clodong, one of the studyโs two authors and a professor of social and political communication at the Ecole Superieur de Commerce, in Paris. โThe answers were overwhelmingly negative.โ
Mon Dieu.






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