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Hints and Hindsights: Us vs Them French Anglo cultural differences

Hints for Newcomers – Hindsights for Old-Timers French Anglo cultural differences Us vs Them

by Shari Leslie Segall

You’ve heard of speed-dating. You’ve heard of speed-networking. Welcome to speed-cultural differences! Although many of these French Anglo cultural differences are being obliterated at breakneck speed by globalization (see our earlier post of Hints-Hindsights), and many didn’t exist in the first place (yes, the French really are friendly at heart), below is an extremely incomplete quick-and-dirty list of the at times inaccurate, at times truer-than-true judgments that are at times fiercely hurled, at times gently tossed at each other by Anglos and Francos. EMOTIONS/ATTITUDE – the negative Them: Anglos-especially Americans-are big babies. Even grown women jump up and down and screech and hug when they run into each other on the street. Anglos thank you a million times for the slightest thing. How can ever…

Water in Paris – part 8: Paris flood 2016

"Current" Events: Paris flood 2016 Current events never was a more appropriate term. Here are a few photos from past years juxatposed with photos from the last few days of the Paris flood 2016. We watched daily as the water crept up on the Zouave, the quais, the Pont Mirabeau. The water was very brown, as one French lady said "marronnâtre" and that seemed to sum up the Paris flood 2016. Feel free to send us your own photos, expecially if you have some from outside Paris. submissions@fusac.org Pont Mirabeau's statues that represent navigation on the river are really navigating it right now. Read more about the bridge here. Or maybe just trying to climb to safety. Does anyone know what the pompiers were up to here on Friday afternoon? We couldn't figure it out. How can a piece of a bridge look so big one day and so small the next? The photos give perspective. Read more about what a Zouave is and why this particular statue is famous in Paris …

Interview with Nancy Ing Duclos from Inspirelle

Interview with the founder of Inspirelle : Nancy Ing Duclos first came to France in 1988 to learn French in the hopes of obtaining a foreign post for her budding TV news career. When fate intervened, she quickly dropped out of her immersion classes to learn French the best way—from her new Parisian boyfriend. She then stunned her Canadian family in Toronto by quitting her job as a reporter/producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to move to Paris. Today, Nancy lives in the French capital with her dashing photographer husband and son, and works actively as a freelance news producer for major television networks. She continues to be fascinated by French attitudes and lifestyle, and never to turn down a new challenge, is learning new skills in the digital world with the creation of www.INSPIRELLE.com, an online lifestyle magazine for women living in and traveling to France. When, where and how did you find your first FUSAC? Who hasn’t heard of FUSAC? I…

Water in Paris Part 7: Speak Easy

Water in Paris Part 7: Speak Easy Concluding our series of articles on water in Paris here is a Speak Easy of idiomatic expressions using water. Match the English word or expression with the French. Did you know that there are three volumes of Speak Easy Puzzles in books? They are available for purchase at Bill & Rosa's Book Room or via email: BRBookRoom@gmail.com and costs just 9€ each or all 3 for 25€. Great for learning idiomatic expressions in French and English. "La Seine a de la chance Elle n'a pas de souci Elle se la coule douce Le jour comme la nuit." "Chanson de la Seine", Poème de Jacques Prévert 1951 (Se la couler douce = to chill, la dolce vita, to have no worries) This article is the last in a seven part series on Water in Paris. Part 1: La Seine Part 2: Drinking water Part 3: Non-Drinking water Part 4: Crossing the Seine Part 5: Paris Canals Part 6: Tidbits Part 7 : Speak Easy, idomatic expressions using water …

Useful telephone numbers

Useful telephone numbers for France: English speaking, emergency and helpful services. Vocal Spam: Had enough? Make a complaint. Have you ever received an SMS from someone you don't know who invites you to call them back urgently at a number that is costly to call (it might start with 08 or it might be a 4 digit number) or to click a link or respond by SMS to a 5 digit number? You might be alerted that you have a package or that you won something, etc. It is likely to be spam and expensive if you respond. UNlike the spam on your email you can actually report a spam sms. First transfer the message to 33700, they will respond and ask you to then sms the phone number that sent you the sms. Voilà, easy as that to report and if there are enough complaint they spammers will have their phone number cut off! CPAM / Assurance Malade, or “Ameli” which is the French administrative body that manages healthcare has English-speaking service numbers: 36 46 or 08.11.36.3…

Baptiste W. Hamon, entre folk US et chanson française

Baptiste W. Hamon, entre folk US et chanson française Baptiste W. Hamon sort son premier ALBUM intitulé L’INSOUCIANCE, entre songwriting folk US et chanson réaliste française, comme une évidence pour ce passionné d’histoire et de cultures américaines autant que de belles lettres. « J'ai d’abord commencé à écrire des poèmes vers 17 ans, tout en écoutant des vieux disques de Townes Van Zandt et Leonard Cohen. A force d’émotions et de frissons procurés par leurs mots et leurs voix (avec quelques autres comme Bob Dylan, John Prine, ou Guy Clark), j’ai eu envie de m’y mettre aussi et d’essayer d’en faire autant avec mes mots à moi, dans ma langue à moi ». Après avoir commencé par écrire des chansons en anglais sous le nom de Texas in Paris - il a ainsi approché la scène folk scandinave quand il finissait ses études en ingénierie à Trondheim en Norvège - il se met à son retour à écrire dans sa langue maternelle. « C’est après avoir beaucoup écouté Barbara, Serge Reggiani et Ge…

Smoke detector countdown

We have had a smoke detector in our suburban Paris home for many years – it seems “normal” to me, but I realized how unusual its actually was when my housekeeper reported a mouse sound coming from the landing one day while we were on a trip. Thinking that we probably didn't have mice, but not wanting this sound to go without investigation I asked a neighbor to stop by. They couldn't figure it out. The next week my housekeeper saw nothing new and yet heard the peep again. I was quite perplexed, but since there were no other signs I did not pursue the matter. Upon arriving at home and going upstairs I immediately heard the beep of the the smoke detector reminding us to change an expiring battery. A few mintues later I burst out laughing as I realized that the smoke detector was the mouse. The incident made me realize that smoke detectors were not very common. In fact, in France only two percent of homes are fitted with detectors as opposed to 97 percent in Norway and…

Le Guide des USA à Paris

FUSAC a été mentionné dans Le Guide des USA à Paris, Editions Chêne, 2014

Exhibition Le Chat – Philippe Geluck

Le Chat is, as you may know, a comic strip by the Belgian cartoonist Philippe Geluck. It is one of the bestselling Franco-Belgian comics series. The title character, an adult, human-sized, anthropomorphic cat, first appeared in March 22, 1983 in a daily newspaper called "Le Soir". Le Chat is deeply embedded in Belgian (and French) culture.

The character often comes up with elaborate reasonings which lead to hilariously absurd conclusions e.g. by taking metaphors literally or by adding increasingly unlikely what-ifs to ordinary situations. "Can we laugh about everything?" was wondering the French humorist Pierre Desproges. According to Philippe Geluck, the answer is yes! Le chat can be very controversial and politically incorrect which is something the cartoonist wanted to voice through his famous character. In regard to people who are uncomfortable with this belief, Geluck insists that “people who don’t li…

Winged Victory

The Winged Victory of Samothrace, one of the most well-known and prestigious pieces in the Louvre, is back in place at the head of the Daru staircase after having been restored. We are now able to see the subtle juxtaposition of the two different colors of marble that make up the statue and the ship prow base. The statue is in white marble from Paros and the complementary base in a grey marble from the Island of Rhodes. Before the restoration both marbles were covered with the poisse of time that gave a brownish tint. The Daru staircase has also been cleaned. But what is Winged Victory? How did she end up in Paris? This is a statue of a winged female figure – the messenger goddess Victory -and a base in the shape of the prow of a ship. The statue was a magnificent offering to the Great Gods of Samothrace following a naval victory and dates from the Hellenistic period. It is an unequalled masterpiece of Greek sculpture, by the striking virtuosity of its drapery as well as the…

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