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View Full Version : [Joke] The Americans' Guide to France


tommykjensen
20th of October 2004 (Wed), 13:43
A German user posted this on my site the other day. I thought it was really funny. :lol:


The Americans' Guide to France

France is a medium-sized foreign country situated in the continent Of Europe.
It is an important member of the world community, though not nearly as important as it thinks.

It is bounded by Germany, Spain, Switzerlandand some smaller nations of no particular importance and with not very good shopping.

France is a very old country with many treasures, such as the Louvre and Euro Disney.
Among its contributions to western civiliZation are champagne, Camembert cheese and the guillotine.

Although France likes to think of itself as a modern nation, air conditioning is little used and it is next to impossible for Americans to get decent Mexican food.
One continuing exasperation for American visitors is that local people insist on speaking in French, though many will speak English if shouted at.

Watch your money at all times.

THE PEOPLE


France has a population of 57 million people. 52 million of these drink and smoke (the other 5 million are small children).

All French people drive like lunatics, are dangerously over sexed, and have no concept of standing patiently in line.

The French people are in general gloomy, temperamental, proud, arrogant, aloof and disciplined; those are their good points.

Most French citizens are Roman Catholic, though you would hardly guess it from their behavior.
Many French are communists.

Men sometimes have girls' names like Marie or Michel, and they kiss each other when they meet.

American travelers are advised to travel in groups and wear baseball caps and colorful trousers for easier recognition.

SAFETY


In general, France is a safe destination, although travelers must be aware that from time to time it is invaded by Germany.

Traditionally, the French surrender immediately.

A tunnel connecting France to Britain beneath the English Channel has been opened in recent years to make it easier for the French government to flee to Londonduring future German invasions, and for them to offload all their illegal immigrants.

HISTORY


Charlemagne discovered Francein the Dark Ages.

Other important historical figures are Louis XIV, the Huguenots, Joan of Arc, Jacques Cousteau and Charles de Gaulle, who was President for many years and is now an airport.

GOVERNMENT


The French form of government is democratic but noisy. Parliament's principal occupation is setting off atomic bombs in the South Pacific and acting indignant
and surprised when other countries complain.

According to the most current AmericanStatedepartment intelligence, the President is now someone named Jacques. Further information is not available at this time.

CULTURE


The French pride themselves on their culture, though it is not easy to see why. All their music sounds the same and they have never made a movie that
you would want to watch for anything but the nude scenes.

CUISINE


Let's face it, no matter how much garlic you put on it, a snail is just a slug with a shell on its back.

Croissants on the other hand, are excellent, although it is impossible for most Americans to pronounce this word. In general, travelers are advised to stick to
cheeseburgers.

ECONOMY


Francehas a large and diversified economy, second only to Germany's in Europe, which is surprising because the French hardly work at all.

If they are not spending four hours dawdling over lunch, they are on strike and blocking the roads with their trucks and tractors. France's principal exports,
in order of importance to the economy, are wine, nuclear weapons, perfume, guided missiles, champagne, guns, grenade launchers, land mines, tanks, attack
aircraft, miscellaneous armaments and cheese.

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS


Francehas more holidays than any other nation in the world. Among It's 361 national holidays are:
197 Saints' days,
37 National Liberation Days,
16 Declaration of Republic Days,
54 Return of Charles de Gaulle-in-triumph-as-if-he-won-the- war-single-handed Days,
18 Napoleon-sent-into-Exile-Days,
17 Napoleon-Called-Back-from-Exile-Days, and
2 "France is Great and the Rest of the World Stinks" Days.

CONCLUSION


At least it's not Germany.

robertwgross
20th of October 2004 (Wed), 13:59
Excellent.

---Bob Gross---

aam1234
20th of October 2004 (Wed), 20:12
Liked these:

"According to the most current American Statedepartment intelligence, the President is now someone named Jacques. Further information is not available at this time."

"France has more holidays than any other nation in the world. Among It's 361 national holidays are"

Belmondo
20th of October 2004 (Wed), 20:43
Before any French or Germans take offense at this thread, please note that it comes from Denmark and not America. :lol:


Escargot. Ewwwww.

aam1234
20th of October 2004 (Wed), 21:12
Escargot. yummyy (one of my fav. dishes).

Ikinaa
21st of October 2004 (Thu), 01:08
The only responses till now are from americans as far as I see...
So I guess Americans really see France as described.
Living in one of these smaller nations of no particular importance some parts of the text are true, especially the part about strike (no day without a strike anywhere in france, be it the railroad company, or the meds, or ...)
The part American travelers are advised to travel in groups and wear baseball caps and colorful trousers for easier recognition is true I guess also, because the few americans I've seen in this part of the world that were tourists were easily recognised by being often older than 60, wearing baseball caps, not very slim, and wearing sport-shoes (like the ones used in basketball or tennis...).

I have to defend a bit my wife's country :wink:

Aylwin
21st of October 2004 (Thu), 02:42
Very funny! :lol:

To me, it's like a double-edged sword. I think it pokes as much fun at the French as it does at the Americans' general.... err.... lack of knowledge about the rest of the world. :wink:

Ikinaa
21st of October 2004 (Thu), 03:18
Very funny! :lol:

To me, it's like a double-edged sword. I think it pokes as much fun at the French as it does at the Americans' general.... err.... lack of knowledge about the rest of the world. :wink:

Now that's an interesting point :
You Americans : Do you really have a 'general lack of knowledge about the rest of the world.'?
What are the usual legends you have about us Europeans? or other parts of the world?

jyrgen
21st of October 2004 (Thu), 04:33
Everybody has certainly seen that before, but fits the theme nicely :D

http://www.msxnet.org/humour/world-according-to-america.png

Ikinaa
21st of October 2004 (Thu), 05:19
Updated version...
http://www.jigsawlounge.co.uk/kungfu/world/world-usa2003.gif

dewmuw
21st of October 2004 (Thu), 05:48
The following are actual stories provided by travel agents:

I had someone ask for an aisle seat so that their hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window.

I got a call from a woman who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information then she interrupted me with, "I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts." Without trying to make her look like the stupid one, I calmly explained, "Capecod is in Massachusetts, Capetown is in Africa." Her response ... click.

A man called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, "Don't lie to me. I looked on the map, and Florida is a very thin state."

I got a call from a man who asked, "Is it possible to see England from Canada?" I said, "No." He said, "But they look so close on the map."

Another man called and asked if he could rent a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had a 1-hour lay-over in Dallas. When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said, "I heard Dallas was a big airport, and I need a car to drive between the gates to save time."

A nice lady just called. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:20am and got into Chicago at 8:33am. I tried to explain that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she could not understand the concept of time zones. Finally, I told her the plane went very fast, and she bought that!

A woman called and asked, "Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know who's luggage belongs to who?" I said,"No, why do you ask?" She replied, "Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said FAT, and I'm overweight, is there any connection?" After putting her on hold for a minute while I "looked into it" ( I was actually laughing) I came back and explained the city code for Fresno is FAT, and that the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.

A client called in inquiring about a package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, she asked, "Would it be cheaper to fly to California and then take the train to Hawaii?"

roanjohn
26th of October 2004 (Tue), 15:35
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Everything!!!! TOo funny!!!!

Thanks guys!!!

Ro1