Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
around. But this generation is thinning out, and the Parisians
of today are two generations hence. History has moved on
and so have they.
Of course, there are people who are rude anywhere, in any
city of the world. It's unavoidable. There are bureaucrats who
get tired of answering the same question again and again.
There are also Parisians who react negatively to something
outside of their own cultural assumptions. And even French
who have lived in Paris all their lives have occasional woes
of how they were mistreated by someone, sometime. For
newcomers, the stories we tell and retell are those that draw
a laugh, most often at ourselves for having gotten it all wrong
or at how we were, yet again, misunderstood. It takes some
time to get it right. All you can do is be patient and have a
sense of humour about it all.
How They Were Brought Up
The real truth is that most Parisians are polite and wouldn't
dare be otherwise. It's important to French parents that their
child be respectful, considerate and
bien élevé
(well brought
up); calling someone
mal élevé
(badly brought up) is an insult.
These expectations are passed down through the generations,
and although parents these days despair of their children's
manners (as parents seem to do everywhere), French children
are basically
bien élevé
and grow up to be well-mannered
adults. Think of how, when you go into a store, salespeople
will say “
Bonjour monsieur
” or “
Bonjour madame
”. They also
express thanks at the end of a transaction and wish you
“
Bonne journée
” (a good day) when you depart. This is, as they
say, '
normal
' (perfectly normal
and expected).
If you are elderly, someone
will give you a seat on the bus.
A person who bumps into you
will sincerely apologise and ask
if you're okay. And, if you have
some kind of real problem,
there's no one like the French to
take it in hand. They're eager to
At the start of 2007, smoking
was banned in most public
places; eating and drinking
establishments changed over
in 2008. After the total ban was
finally in effect, smokers—both
old and young—readily adapted
to the new conditions. There
were few complaints, and those
who predicted the demise of the
convivial bar must have been
pleasantly surprised.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search