Four Things I Never Knew About France – Before I Lived There
No matter how informal the get together, no matter how young (ahem) you are, you must say goodbye to everyone. That means touring the room and kissing each partygoer on at least both cheeks. To do otherwise invites accusations of filer à l’anglaise. This translates to leaving like an Englishman, never a compliment.
-The Etiquette for Arriving at a Party, the Office, the Beach….
No matter how informal the get together…oh, OK you get the drift. You must say Bonjour to everyone and kiss them. This gets time consuming and the repetitive slobbering ruins your make-up, but press on and kiss them all!
-The Importance of Cheese
Every valley in the mountains, every village in the plains, each has their own type of cheese. In fact, I’ve barely heard anyone mention the word for cheese – fromage – it’s way too generic. Even when watching films dubbed into French, the translators cannot bring themselves to use it. Instead they replace it with their best guess for the cheese in question (usually gruyère.)
-That People Really Do Say Ooh la la!
Many a Frenchman will deny using this phrase but I’ve failed to understand why. I hear it almost every day. In throaty gasps in museums. In bullet-fire speech during football matches, rising to oooh la la la la la la la la la la la as someone scores a goal. I’ve even heard a heart-warming oh la la-ah as a father watched his son ride a bike for the first time.
(Never sacre bleu! I’m afraid)
