How can I be more "French"?

oh but that sounds like actual real spasmophilie.. I was talking about the kind you flaunt to look dramatic and highly strung after 10 black coffees and your ex turning up at the bar with a new woman dressed like you used to

And the wild success of Pomme de Pain and Class'Croute flogging sandwiches every day to office workers?

I have been diagnosed iwth that as a young adult. That's the best translation I found.
So not really about worrying too much about being slim. I was in Math Spe at the time and then working in a very stressful job later on. I actually scared my boss the day I got one attack

Probably been said already, but take a 3 hour lunch break and go home for lunch every day.

Celebrate your saint's name day.

Do absolutely nothing on a Sunday as all shops, cafes restaurants etc should be shut on the Lord's day.

Confess your sins. :-)

ppeat You should always flirt back with a butcher, that's how you get the best rognons de veau, gigot and filet

spasmophilie I reckon is because french women worry far too much , about being slim, their man being a cheating arsehole or not, their children not doing well enough at school, the dog being incontinent, the blanquette being too fatty...

I still don't know what it is and I'm french

and if you get this more readily than other women because of a poor circulation, you have heavy legs

And they take medicine for it?

Heavy legs! Omg! I remember buying a product in a department store for this very condition. It was a cold gel, possibly by Elancyl, and apparently could be applied over nylon tights??

Don't bother with Flaubert, that's an arse ache. Read Gemma Bovery by Posy Simmonds, it is sublime.

spasmophilie is basically panic attack isn't it?

if you are standing up all day, you get swollen , numb , tired legs.... that's all it is.

I don't really understand this Heavy Legs 'condition'. Wikipedia's tone is less than credulous.

heavy legs, a torticolis and spasmophilie
and make sure you have corresponding medicines always handy in your handbag

Mysotisbleu, planqués, exactement! But out of the thousands of employees in France, only 2 of us at the time were not French. That and paying only 10% of your electricity bill and having a week's paid company holiday every year somewhere exotic, made it a great job! Sadly, since leaving (18 years ago, God I'm old!), I've discovered that not all work is created equal.....

Oh and you'll need to develop a torticolis every so often (sore neck). It's very popular in France.....

In anyway, packed lunches just don't exist in France so one can only guess what they could be.

But it IS a special occasion that is treated as un piquenique. That's what they would do for that.
But they wouldn't be happy for their dcs to eat like this every single day which is what a packed lunch is for.

Mamanofthree

I did une sortie de classe with my CE2 DD on Monday and all the (French children') packed lunches looked exactly the same:

--sandwich
--crisps
--bottle of Oasis / can of coke / botter water

My dd with her Tupperware of chopped melon, breadsticks, cherry tomatoes and cheese stuck out like a sore thumb!

lardons? means kids

I once spent hols with a french close friend, her 2 sons and mine.
next to us at the campsite ( in Fr ) was a family , the parents spent all day playing with their kids , they had an arsenal of plastic games, skittles, boules etc.
My friend stared at them, shivered and muttered " I don't understand parents who devote themselves completely to their kids"
ahem... I do and spent every single night reading stories to her kids who were astonished at the fact

leur lardons = their children

The Bee very simply something that is NOT a sandwich with a packet of crisps!
Crisps are only for special occasion anyway .

So my dcs have quite a lot salads at the mo (anything with frech vegs, a bit of chicken or cheese etc..) plus a dessert (most of the time fruits but they've had yogurts in the past and I would have loved a compote if you could find some here!). Or a fully cokked meal (eg a curry, chili con carne, left overs ...) plus a fruit.
Our agreement is that they can have some crisps on the last day of the term, just before the hols so they don't feel too left out....

Thanks theDuchessIn but i don't understand the argot saying please translate for me

You should've offered the little girl a snack or something, poor little thing.

Well done ppeatfruit
my friends back home drive me ( mostly ) mad putting leur couple before leurs lardons.
I once spent 2hr in a Eurostar train with my eldest son staring ( I know, v. french of me ) at a glamourous couple next to us, reading magazines, sulking, looking bored, while their young daughter ( 6 or 7 ) spent the whole time, completely ignored, colouring in something or other. Her parents never once talked to her or offered her a drink or snack. She seemed used to it.
I know a few kids like her back home....

Generally we Brits are more laid back with our dcs. I don't quite understand why the fr. repress their kids so much.

you're just making a show of telling them off

I'm not generally assertive but I got so annoyed in a TGV by a woman hissing at her little girl to shut up every time she just chatted quietly, asking maman what colour she should use in her colouring book, not crying or shrieking or anything, that I had to tell her that I liked the sound of children's voices. The woman looked amazed and "Oui, mais" as if everybody was hating her child. But the other ladies smiled encouragingly at ME not at Mdme hisser.

Oh and hog the beach showers but moan if tourists use them for more than 20 seconds.
Say sarcastic things about the "monstrously tall Scottish woman" then backtrack when she turns round and ticks you off in a Paris accent.

Think you have well behaved children when your children are doing the same as all the other (British, German and Italian) children - you're just making a show of telling them off more.
Puree food or hide children to eat until they are well past food throwing age. That's why they don't throw food. My mum knew kids of 3 who were still considered "not ready" to eat outside the home and would help them learn to eat. This was in the 70s so it is hopefully more relaxed now.