112 Gripes about the French (Published in 1945)

[Feuer Frei!]

I found this quiet interesting:

http://www.e-rcps.com/gripes/

[mookiemookie]

That is a nice bit of history! Good find.

[Betonov]

Entertaining and yet educational, with a generous amount of solidarity. I like it

[Freiwillige]

I like this bold faced lie.

76. "The French have no courage. Why can't they defend themselves against the Germans ?"

Maybe it would be better to ask, "Why don't the Germans pick on someone their own size ?"

Modern warfare is not simply a matter of courage. A great lightweight can't lick a great heavyweight - even if he has courage to spare.

Hitler threw the manpower and industrial resources of over 80,000,000 Germans against 40,000,000 Frenchmen. The French did not have, and could not have had, the military and industrial power to beat Germany. (For instance, for the past hundred years France has not had enough coal, especially coking coal, to supply her peacetime needs. French iron ore normally flows to Germany's Ruhr valley for smelting, just as the ore of Minnesota goes to the coal and limestone area of Pittsburgh.)

France was beaten by Germany because Germany was enormously superior to France in manpower, equipment, resources, armament, and strategy. Germany had the incalculable advantage of having planned an offensive, Blitzkrieg war - while France, which wanted peace desperately, devoted its energies and training entirely to defensive measures. (That's why they built the Maginot Line.) The few advocates of modern mechanized armies (such as General de Gaulle) were like voices crying out in the wilderness. German propaganda, and "fifth column" activities financed from Berlin, helped to demoralize and confuse a nation that didn't want war in the first place.

The French lost 1,115,000 men and women, military and civilian, in dead, wounded and disabled. That is an enormous loss for a nation of 40 million. (The United States military casualties, up to V-J Day, were about 1,060,000 in dead and wounded.

[Herr-Berbunch]

112? Must've had ink/paper rationing still on :yep:

[Rockstar]

69. "The French aren't our kind of people. The Germans are."The French were our allies during the American Revolution. They were our allies in 1917-1918. They were our allies in 1941-1945. What were the Germans?Excellent point. Go to Yorktown in the spring when all the flags are up on the berms and gun emplacements see what flags fly there. Remember the Battle of the Capes a turning point in the war that prevented relief for Cornwallis.

However WWI was just a mess since I don't think anyone really knew what the heck they were fighting for. Just turned into a big chit storm when Austro-Hungarians were pressing for war with Slav states.

[krashkart]

Now this is quite an interesting find. :up:

[Sailor Steve]

Fascinating article. Now bookmarked.

Thanks. :sunny:

[frau kaleun]

35. "The French do things different than we do. That's what I don't like."

It is always something of a shock when you run into different ways of talking, eating, doing things. But what is different is not always inferior: "different" does not mean "worse". There is more than one way of skinning a cat.

The story is told of an American soldier who saw some Chinese putting rice on the graves in a Chungking cemetery. "That doesn't make sense", said the American with a smile. "When do you expect the dead to eat the rice?"

"When your dead return to smell your flowers", was the answer.


OMG I wonder if I my dad was issued a copy of this or saw one that was passed around or was familiar with it or whatever. Because he used to tell that one about the flowers and rice ALL THE TIME. :haha:

[Jimbuna]

Nice find but being a Brit I prefer this one :smug:

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html

And yes Steve I know I've posted this before :DL:03:

[Bakkels]

Wasn't there a joke from Google a while ago? When you searched for "French military victories" above the results it would say "Did you mean French military defeats?"

Don't know if it's true, but damn funny!

[Feuer Frei!]

Wasn't there a joke from Google a while ago? When you searched for "French military victories" above the results it would say "Did you mean French military defeats?"

Don't know if it's true, but damn funny!

Yea they are true

http://i51.tinypic.com/14t6g6d.png

[nikimcbee]

Nice find but being a Brit I prefer this one :smug:

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html

And yes Steve I know I've posted this before :DL:03:

:haha:
- French Revolution
- Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French.

[TLAM Strike]

23. "The French are out for what they they can get. They always play the winner."
They didn't in 1939, when it looked to all the world as though the Germans were sure winners. The French and British could have let the Germans rape Poland without a protest. The French and British declared war on Germany.Yes they declared war on Germany... and spent the next nine months sitting behind the Maginot Line while Germany and the Soviet Union raped Poland... :roll:

[Sailor Steve]

Nice find but being a Brit I prefer this one :smug:

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html

And yes Steve I know I've posted this before :DL:03:
I've seen that one a hundred times in a hundred places, and I don't remember you posting it before.

If I'm going to complain about anything it would be about how quickly this interesting French-supporting article got turned into just another French-bashing thread.

Just another day on the web.

[Herr-Berbunch]

If I'm going to complain about anything it would be about how quickly this interesting French-supporting article got turned into just another French-bashing thread.

What were you reading? It's not 112 Nice Things About The French... :hmmm:

[Hottentot]

What were you reading?

The foreword of the original authors and the answers given in the booklet to those gripes?

[Sailor Steve]

What were you reading? It's not 112 Nice Things About The French... :hmmm:
It most certainly is. It takes common slams at the French and carefully explains why they're wrong. The article is about great things the French have done for us. Did you miss that part?

[Jimbuna]

I've seen that one a hundred times in a hundred places, and I don't remember you posting it before.

If I'm going to complain about anything it would be about how quickly this interesting French-supporting article got turned into just another French-bashing thread.

Just another day on the web.

Can't say I've seen many if any 'French-bashing threads' on here of late.

But yes, I do agree....just another day on the web.

[Freiwillige]

But some are outright fabricated lies. Not to mention the German bashing in the original article.

In all honesty I really don't see any french bashing just humor based on outdated stereotypes, which is humorous in itself.

Kind of like this one, "Did you guys hear about the new Italian tanks in Africa? Its got eight gears! 7 reverse and one forward in case someone gets behind them!"

I don't think anybody truly hates the French or any other European nation and their idiosyncrasies but If we can't laugh at each other then whats left? Another War?

[Sailor Steve]

But some are outright fabricated lies. Not to mention the German bashing in the original article.

In all honesty I really don't see any french bashing just humor based on outdated stereotypes, which is humorous in itself.
Not in the article. I love ethnic and national jokes, and put-downs of all types. I just thought that the jokes that followed were just the opposite of what the thread was about in the first place.

But that's just me.

[Jimbuna]

Can't we all just move on....there's a bus due I need to jump under it:timeout:

As Brits we drive to work in our German cars
spend our day dealing with Chinese companies
we come home and sit on our Swedish sofas
to watch American tv shows
on our Japanese tv
we eat our French food
and drink Australian beer
and finish with a desert of Belgium chocolate
and when we are tired we check the time on our Swiss watches
and we dream of holidays on a Spanish beach

and all this from a people who hate foreigners.

I guess we really are just Brit-ish

http://imgcash6.imageshack.us/img91/5841/greatbritaincj6.gif

[Sailor Steve]

:rotfl2:

Many years ago there was a commercial from a domestic muffler-replacement chain that got a laugh:

"I believe in buying American! That's why I take my Datsun to Aamco!"