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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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 Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 7:33 am Post subject: |
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| Slaps wrote: |
| They also have a 35hr work week which they were prepared to riot about to save from reform. |
^ And, lest anyone is unclear, that is a point very much in their favour!! |
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browneyedgirl
Joined: 17 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 8:11 am Post subject: Re: OMG! The French freaking rule! |
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| I had a roommate who was from France. She was the worst smelling person I've ever met--possibly because she didn't believe in using toilet paper. She also thought the toilet was a trash can, and broke the toilet three times because apparently toilets don't handle soda cans, bananas, or Q-tips very well. |
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ReeseDog
Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Location: Classified
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 8:35 am Post subject: |
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| visitorq wrote: |
You forgot to mention the French taking over, colonizing and then subsequently ruling England for centuries. Also that the French ruled over most of Europe on a few occasions, and were more important than England in every way up until early modern times. |
Yes, that whole 1066 thing. The modern states of France and Britain didn't exist as such then. Since then, the French have gone steadily downhill. In recent history, they've almost always had their asses handed to them or repeatedly needed other nations to defend/liberate them. In very recent history, they've even refused to help their "allies."
This is not to say that France does not have some culturally redeeming qualities about her. I just think that the French need to get off their high horses and remember the sacrifices repeatedly made for them by several nations.
I'm off to eat some freedom fries!
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visitorq
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:22 am Post subject: |
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| ReeseDog wrote: |
| visitorq wrote: |
You forgot to mention the French taking over, colonizing and then subsequently ruling England for centuries. Also that the French ruled over most of Europe on a few occasions, and were more important than England in every way up until early modern times. |
Yes, that whole 1066 thing. The modern states of France and Britain didn't exist as such then. |
Obviously. But given the post I was quoting was talking about the "French" (Gauls) getting conquered by the "Italians" (Romans)  , I went along with it. Anyway, the point stands that England was a relatively unimportant backwater country greatly civilized and strengthened by the French speaking norman aristocracy. And modern English is still roughly half-French, which is a good thing, else it would be a vulgar sort of off-German.
| Quote: |
| Since then, the French have gone steadily downhill. In recent history, they've almost always had their asses handed to them or repeatedly needed other nations to defend/liberate them. In very recent history, they've even refused to help their "allies." |
I don't think they've gone downhill. They have an arguably better standard of living than we do in a lot of ways, as the OP said:, better food, hotter women, nicer architecture, less religious interference etc. Other than that, despite what you may want to believe, there's not all that much difference (we are both wildly rich and successful countries, America just being more so since it's bigger). We are good and long-time allies; don't forget the French also helped a fair deal with American independence (they even sent us the Statue of Liberty later on as a memento).
| Quote: |
| This is not to say that France does not have some culturally redeeming qualities about her. I just think that the French need to get off their high horses and remember the sacrifices repeatedly made for them by several nations. |
Meh, I never really bought that whole argument. Sure they were pretty lame at first in WWII, but to suggest that the U.S. single-handedly 'saved' Europe is pretty arrogant, given the ocean of separation between us and Hitler. The Europeans (and above all Russia) took the vast brunt of the damage and casualties, we just kind of came in and mopped up near the end. France had almost the same number of military casualties as the U.S., and their civilians suffered infinitely more, under Nazi occupation. It was very nice of us to come help, but let's not get on a 'high horse', as you say, since it was also in our very best interest (else Hitler might have conquered all of Europe, and even attacked us later on, on our home soil).
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| I'm off to eat some freedom fries! |
Oh, you mean that fried potato snack invented by the Belgians? Sounds tasty, don't forget the mayo. |
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ReeseDog
Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Location: Classified
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 11:11 am Post subject: |
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I didn't say that the U.S. singlehandedly saved the French. Read my post again.
The French bailed on us (the coalition) during the gulf. Tried-and-true my ass.
I like fries with mayo. Picked up the taste for it in Germany. |
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visitorq
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 11:44 am Post subject: |
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| ReeseDog wrote: |
| I didn't say that the U.S. singlehandedly saved the French. Read my post again. |
Either way you're implying the French didn't also make great sacrifices, which is false. They had approximately the same military casualties as the U.S. (hundreds of thousands). Both paled in comparison to the USSR. So should the U.S. get off it's 'high horse' and bow down to the Soviets for saving the day? That would be absurd, since they were allies and fought for the same cause. So did the French, who resisted the Germans against great odds after (well, except for a few traitors, who were strung up afterwards).
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The French bailed on us (the coalition) during the gulf. Tried-and-true my ass.
I like fries with mayo. Picked up the taste for it in Germany. |
Oh, you mean the monumental f-ck up that was (and still is) Iraq? The one we continue to dig an ever deeper hole for ourselves, having accomplishing less than nothing? Right. I know hindsight rules, so I won't get too into the obvious. But the French (and the Germans et al.) were so right on that one... damn them. |
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ReeseDog
Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Location: Classified
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 12:48 pm Post subject: |
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I didn't say that the French didn't sacrifice. I just said that they needed to be bailed out in the end.
I also wasn't discussing whether the coalition (NOT exclusively U.S.) involvement in Iraq is ill-advised. I only stated that France refused to help from the outset. It's a statement of fact.
The French are a lot like Koreans, actually, in their ubernationalism. |
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Insidejohnmalkovich
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
Location: Pusan
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 2:27 pm Post subject: Re: OMG! The French freaking rule! |
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| Justin Hale wrote: |
(1) France achieves 79% of its electricity production via nuclear power
And probably dumps its nuclear waste in various ex-colonies in the Pacific.
(2) Because of (1) largely, France produces 83% of the C02 emissions of South Korea and with a larger population (60m in France v 50m in Korea) and 63% of the C02 emissions of the UK with a similar population.
(3) The French are militant secularists. They banned conspicuous religious symbols in schools. Good on them, eh?  We in the West owe our freedoms, rights and privileges in no small part to the French Revolution (which saw the total dechristianization of a nation). Contrast this to the US, where 76.5% of the population subscribe to celestial despotism and seek to have these mean, base and totally vulgar ideas taught as science!
The French Revolution was a Terror similar to Stalinist Russia. This was followed by the police state of Napoleon. Our freedoms and rights came from the parliamentary system of England, which managed to kill a king without purging the populace.
I will leave it to the more fervent evangelicals to debate about secularization.
(4) France has an obesity rate of 9.4% (compared to 30.6% in the US, 23% in the UK and 21.7% in Australia)
The French government has recently found it necessary to legislate against the promotion or enabling of anorexia nervosa.
(5) The French have an old, aesthetically outstanding culture based on sensible alcohol consumption, wine production, world-renowned cuisine, arts, literature and science.
Touche. But I prefer German music and historiography and English food portions.And I much prefer American hygenic habits.
(6) The French are renowned for being sexy. The same can scarcely be said of one or two English-speaking francophobic countries that spring to mind.Bony,smoking,feminist,smelly Frenchwomen cannot match Korean women. |
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ReeseDog
Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Location: Classified
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah! What he said!
...and they're still sissies when it comes to war!
Nyah!  |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 5:02 pm Post subject: Re: OMG! The French freaking rule! |
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| browneyedgirl wrote: |
| I had a roommate who was from France. She was the worst smelling person I've ever met--possibly because she didn't believe in using toilet paper. She also thought the toilet was a trash can, and broke the toilet three times because apparently toilets don't handle soda cans, bananas, or Q-tips very well. |
I thought it was because they didn't bathe. |
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Justin Hale
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Location: the Straight Talk Express
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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| InsideJohnMalkovic wrote: |
| And probably dumps its nuclear waste in various ex-colonies in the Pacific |
Since nuclear waste storage is no scientific problem in the short, medium or long term, it's of low importance. The French and the Swedes are world leaders in nuclear waste storage expertise.
| Visitorq wrote: |
| And modern English is still roughly half-French, which is a good thing, else it would be a vulgar sort of off-German |
Very much like Dutch or Danish, I'd imagine, but I fail to see how vulgar follows. Otherwise, your posts are excellent. |
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visitorq
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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| ReeseDog wrote: |
| I didn't say that the French didn't sacrifice. I just said that they needed to be bailed out in the end. |
Yeah, well that's easy for you to say, as you didn't have to experience blitzkrieg first hand on the ground. At the outset the Germans could not be beat in that regard, and devastated every country they attacked. Don't forget that the British expeditionary force had to retreat as well. Give the Brits credit for withstanding the air blitz, but without that ocean in between, they'd have had no chance of not being occupied either. It took two fronts (Russia) and a naval blockade to bring them down after years of intense conflict. The French were right next door, and had no chance.
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| I also wasn't discussing whether the coalition (NOT exclusively U.S.) involvement in Iraq is ill-advised. I only stated that France refused to help from the outset. It's a statement of fact. |
YSo what? Tthey were right to do so, so your point is null. Half of the U.S. strongly disagreed too. Iraq was completely ill-conceived, and benefited nobody, least of all ourselves. The French do have NATO troops in Afghanistan though, which you failed to point out.
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| The French are a lot like Koreans, actually, in their ubernationalism. |
No, that's just silly, they're nothing like Koreans. They're a lot like Americans though (and I've lived in France). The more 'ubernationalistic' ones sound a lot like you, actually (and I take it you're Southern?). |
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visitorq
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:15 pm Post subject: Re: OMG! The French freaking rule! |
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| bacasper wrote: |
| browneyedgirl wrote: |
| I had a roommate who was from France. She was the worst smelling person I've ever met--possibly because she didn't believe in using toilet paper. She also thought the toilet was a trash can, and broke the toilet three times because apparently toilets don't handle soda cans, bananas, or Q-tips very well. |
I thought it was because they didn't bathe. |
Pot kettle black.
| Justin Hale wrote: |
| Quote: |
| And modern English is still roughly half-French, which is a good thing, else it would be a vulgar sort of off-German |
Very much like Dutch or Danish, I'd imagine, but I fail to see how vulgar follows. Otherwise, your posts are excellent. |
I meant vulgar mainly in the linguistic sense (as French is a vulgar form of Latin), but "off" as in a backwater frontier dialect of German. French is a more refined language (imo) making up a very important body of world literature, so it's only beneficial to have so many French words in our lexicon. |
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anyangoldboy
Joined: 28 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:18 pm Post subject: |
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| If only the sdom were like the French |
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Chris Kwon
Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Location: North Korea
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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Wow not the replies I was expecting... I was expecting this thread to be full of "France sucks ballsssssssssssssssssssss" comments
BTW where can I get some real french bread here? Not the crap at Paris Baguette |
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