to be irritated by the premise of "French Children don't Throw Food"

[OhdearNigel]

Was in the local children's bookshop and the owner had a proof copy of this
www.amazon.co.uk/French-Children-Dont-Throw-Food/dp/0385617615/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322218169&sr=1-1
sent to her.

I freely admit that I haven't read any of it but I am irritated by it already. France is not some bloody paragon of sophistication and wonder. I have seen plenty of very badly behaved French children. I love France but the woman are not all Coco Chanel, gourmet, sexy glamourpusses. In fact walk down any street in France and you are unlikely to see such a creature.
My best friend in childhood was French and the most exotic dinner her Mum made was chopped cheese and pepper mixed with salad cream and then grilled on toast. Hardly the Ritz.

Au contraire, giveit. I've met quite a lot of French people I've liked, and enjoyed brief visits to France. I have nothing against Frenchness - it's more the lazy stereotyping of French women in particular as paragons of style and virtue. Usually as a way of looking down on British women out of one's own class.

Do English children throw food?

The only people I've ever seen throwing food are supposedly posh British adults having 'jolly' bread-roll fights. And my dad, but that's a different story.

I most certainly would reprimand someone else's child for throwing food ... but I've never had to.

It's a loooong time since I lived in France, but was most offended that strangers felt qualified to tell me off about my appearance (I was in Nice, which was much like Paris sartorially & socially.)

But I came back looking much better groomed than when I arrived

I find our relationship with the French tres interesting. We're so close geographcally but so different, with the french culture having far less impact here than one might expect, given it's proximity. We don't really have shared tv, books, brands, humour- anything really.

Oooh - I do have a french background -very far back but never quite got to grips with the language (but get by). DS has all my other backgrounds and his df's background and so I'm very happy living where I am with all the people that surround me . Don't need this monoculture stylie thing ta.

Ribbit ribbit

I've got French family so I'm allowed to mock les grenouilles

Serenity, that's because the Frenchness of French culture is protected by law, whereas English culture is inherently adaptable :) 'Tis why there's no Parlaimentary body deciding which new words we're allowed to use or how to spell 'em.

Moi, j'aime bien le beurre d'ail

J'aime les existentialistes, les filmes qui sont tres lentements et plein de unspoken meaning et Plastic Bertrand.

I really like the French.

But not half as much as the French like themselves.

Ca plein pour moi...

But the French are cool tho.

I like the French too. Time for a Froggy love in with les roast boufs

la la la lalalala lalala

Oooooooooooooooo Je t'aimeeeeeeeeeee

I recently spent ages discussing the emaning of "chav" with some French teenagers ... who'd have guessed there's no direct equivalent??

Almost incredibly, that makes the French look less 'snob' than us!

The French call them Mahgrebs instead

heh heh

French food is too good to throw. If they had a Greggs on the Champs-Elysees and a French counterpart to Bernard Matthews then French children might take up food throwing.

No no French food is RUBBISH. It's still all boeuf bourgignon and steak hache and if you don't have lunch at one you're taken out and shot.

Oh dear, Hully!

We settled on "mauvais chic, mauvais gout, declasses" but then failed to incorporate the love of designer gear and beauty treatments.

Maybe chavs are secretly French?

In my experience of living in small town France, the reason that French children behave better is because their parents are much stricter. All my French friends smack their children even in public. They are expected to behave in restaurants and not interrupt when adults talk. This does mean that they can behave like little horrors when their parents are not around.

Also French schools are much stricter too and bad behaviour is not tolerated.

spare the rod, bouf

Weirdly, as an American, I feel like the French and the Americans are more alike than the English and the Americans, or the English and French.

how so dreaming?

Meh, the french chavs wear leather jackets with their trackkie bottoms.

Very well dressed, clearly well off French children tried to wander off with items from the gift shop I worked in as a student. No better than the bunch from a deprived area of London

I agree with you, dreaming, on matters of "comme il faut". But definitely on affairs and table manners!