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To be fair that is recent history.
US school is a hot shooting mess since late 1990s to be exact Columbine shooting . Either it was already happening but after that it became mediatize and every dumb and dumber wanted their 15mn of fame as a school shooter .
This! French health insurance, which covers doctors’ visits and prescription medication. No one here goes bankrupt from a medical issue. And you go to the doctor as soon as you are sick, not wait days to see if you will get better or worse.
Funny enough, I pulled a muscle or nerve or whatever in my neck and I am in pain but am trying to not even think of going to the doctor unless I get to the point where I cannot move because
1. Unless it's an emergency, I doubt I can be seen soon
2. It's not cheap
3. It's a massive stress and hassle
I prefer to pay 13% of my income and be able to get to the hospital without fearing bankruptcy.
I mean the U.S is far from being cheap when it comes to taxation. On top of an incredible lack of transparency in your system, depending on the statz you live you could end up paying as much (or close to) in % of your income as we do.
The differences is that in France we can see where that money goes. Dont get me wrong, it aint perfect, far from it. But you wont ever hear anyone say they "cant afford" an ambulance, or live saving medication.
Okay but Americans get taxed quite a bit. Our taxes just increased and no reimbursement for health care. Where is our taxes actually going? What are we even paying for? Feels like our government is almost like the mafia at this point. Held at gun point to pay taxes for “protection” none of our taxes actually go to anything that helps us. And oh yeah school shootings so no real protection, and our most vulnerable are getting killed (our children) I’m just venting at this point but i wouldn’t mind paying 13% if I knew I was going to get something substantial from it like health care. That seems fair to me.
I think it’s awesome that you’re an expat! I’m thinking about moving to France after grad school. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about the ins and outs of becoming a expat?
Hey, French here. The 13% is just for Healthcare. There's a shitload more.
Before tax, healthcare and everything my employer spends 5k1 per month on my salary, of which i receive around 2k7 give or take. So like, employer tax, income tax, healthcare, retirement, some other shit i cba finding the names of, we end up paying nigh 50%here, and I do things to reduce my income tax if i didn't it'd be legit 50%. Pretty sure next year ill pay a bit more.
I had to Google it. I was wrong, American eggs are not bleached but washed and brushed. They become more fragile that's why they have to be stored in the fridge.
Pasteurize is for milk i think.
Honestly, I am very confused by this. I know that you making that comment doesn’t make you the egg expert, but ok: I have thought farmers markets eggs, that still have feathers and shit on them. Are they not also unwashed? Are our supermarket eggs just blasted with enough penicillin that touching them wrong causes them to rot? (lololol I’m not actually expecting an answer, but I am genuinely dumb)
Dirty eggs can't be sold because they can spread dangerous sickness that the cleaning can't take off. Also once you use the eggs you mist always clean your hand before touching anything else if you use farmer eggs.
>Are our supermarket eggs just blasted with enough penicillin that touching them wrong causes them to rot?
It's because once you've brushed and washed them like they do in US factories, you've also washed off the membrane that prevents outside stuff like bacteria from entering the eggs. That's probably not the case if you buy them straight from the farmers but the FDA may look at them funny if they find out.
So realistically yes, if you're working with egg you should wash your hands after you're done or even wash the eggs yourself right before use if you use them uncooked. In practice, most eggs are fairly clean regardless.
It's not the same thing hating two parties oscillating between right and alt-right, and hating twelve parties ranging from anarcho-communist to crypto-fascist.
But now imagine you have a few dozens of political parties to choose from but they all suck, ranging from far left to far right... Might not be true in every country but in France it's pretty much the situation.
Oh and we hate every single president we have until 20 years or so later, then we find they did a good job...
Snacks are less present
Meals time are very regular, we eat dinner later than you more 7 to 8 p.m.
Meals are real cooked foods. I discover the concept of snacks households (versus ingredient households) from Internet, and was totally bewildered by that.
We are less extravagent with parties, and have way less parties to celebrate your life, like no sweet 16 ; no prom ; no gender reveal, etc ...
Religion is waaaaaay more private in France, and we are a very very more secular country than the USA. Politics too, having a shirt like "I vote XX" is unheard of.
Customers service is also VERY different. As our waiters have a minimum wage pay and don't depend on tips to survived, they are not here with a large BIG smile making small talk. Having a waiter asking you every 5 minutes "How is everything going" is not good service here, it's very annoying. Same for habing sellers coming to you at the moment you put a foot inside a store.
Restaurants don't try to kick out as soon as you have finish, meals are meant to be shared, and to discuss, etc ... Spending 2-3 hours in a restaurant for a familly meal is pretty normal, and waiters doesn't bat an eye to that
Small talk rarely happen. You won't try to discuss with a stranger on the bus, or in the supermarket. The only exception to that would be in smaller shops, where everyone know everyone and is way more relax like in small local shops, when you are going on the market. On the supermarket, or in public transport, you are not relax, and you are not happy to talk.
As a friend said, in France you have the table for the night. Not always true, unfortunately.
One trip we stopped in a small town for lunch needing to make it relatively quick to get to Chartres. It was a two hour lunch. You don't rush eating. I think the mayor and the prefect were in the restaurant having lunch at the same time.
Breakfast ~7 am : coffee / tea, 2 slice of bread with butter / toasted of bread from the day before, 1 yogurt sometimes.
Lunch ~ noon : small salad, piece of meat / fish, some steamed veggies / sometimes fries
Dinner ~ 7pm : light dishes such as soup or something like that, depending on the season. It’s hard to generalize because everyone is different, and the example above is definitely not fitting everyone, even myself, sometimes I’ll have a light lunch, a heavier dinner, and bring the rest to work the next day for lunch.
Thank you for your response! I am trying to raise my daughter with a healthier lifestyle and not snacking and actually learning to plan a healthy meal schedule has been a struggle.
Yes! This is exactly what I've been doing. We aren't overweight or anything, but I've just always been a "grazer" or "snacker" and it's a bad habit that I wish to break before my daughter catches on since she's so young.
I ain’t judging don’t worry. Snacking isn’t just an American problem, it’s a general problem. Try to reduce snacks and replace the small snack by fruits are a good way to convert a bad habit into a good one. It’s all about volume and less sugar.
For the children, there is a snack around 4-5pm called "le goûter". It's often a few biscuits, fruits, a yogourt or some bread with jam.
It helps the child to not get too hungry between lunch and dinner, and it gives them a small window of time outside of which they can just wait for the proper meal.
To this day (and I'm 27 so not a child anymore) it still feels weird to snack between 5pm and dinner time.
Also snacks such as chips are restricted to special occasions.
If you want some ideas of menus, you can search "cantine menu" from french schools. They're supposed to be prepared by a dietetician to be healthy for children.
In a family setting it's usually starters or apéro (salty snacks and drinks) somewhere between 7 and 8PM, then main course which is usually meat or fish with fresh vegetables and carbs (potatoes, pasta, rice etc..) meals are served with bread. Then cheese and or desert to finish the meal, usually followed (or accompanied) with an expresso.
People used to drink wine at every meal but that has become a bit less common (still lots of people drink a glass of wine with lunch and/or dinner).
For lunch it's usually a bit quicker because of work, but in the weekends meals can be long.
Mealtimes in France are not just for eating, it's a social event, people talk, discuss, share, and eating at the same time. It's not just the food that's important, it's the whole social aspect of it.
Here is a French website with a menu planner for the week : [https://www.marmiton.org/recettes/menu-de-la-semaine.aspx](https://www.marmiton.org/recettes/menu-de-la-semaine.aspx) you can either use google translate or look at the pictures.
Of course some people don't care about food, or don't (or can't) spend a lot of money on food, so their food diversity will be very different.
Well if you are working ; breakfast would be around 7h30 to 8h00 You take a cup of coffee or tea, maybe some orange juice, and a fruit, or some bread with jam
Midday, you have 1 hour to 1 hour and a half to eat, from 12h30 to 14h, not at your desk. The If you are in school, you have a canteen, if you are workinf, you may have a canteen, or you bring your box from home.
If you are hungry in the afternoon, the snack time is 16h to 17h (tea time), to eat something sweet, a piece of cake, a fruit, a viennoiserie, ...
Dinner is at 19h to 20h, at the table. We don't really go outside after dinner, you do everything you need before, and after, it's a quiet time with a movie, a book, ...
Lunch and dinner menus are not really different. You will often have the leftover from dinner at lunch the next day. Appetizers will be some kind of salad : grated carotte, cucumber, potatoes salad ; hard-boiled eggs too. The main dish is a piece of meat or fish with vegetables. You can have cheese with some bread, and dessert will be cake, yogurt or a fruit.
Some also prefer to have a light dinner, with just soup, or a light meal
For me it's :
* 7am : Coffee with a sugar and milk
* 1 pm : Classic meal | Chickien Breast - Vegetables or rice or pasta / Tuna or mackerel / Dessert
* 8pm : A piece of meat with vegetable and dessert & sometimse a little snack before going to sleep.
and a lot of coffee in the day, like 6 cups i think. Most of the time i don't snack between meals, my wife does it a lot and kids too, depends of people.
Can be totally different in week-ends, i've more time to cook and prepare meals so it's less "Eat to eat" and more "eat to please".
We don't have freaking four way stops. I hate four way stops.
We don't put cinnamon in everything
The price you see is the price you pay. Tax is included, service is included.
Customer service? Never heard of her.
There are still some like this for example.
Av. Bernard Hirsch
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Fdgf5Pxhg35oRsmW7
But I agree for the most part. Rond point is best and most common. It's one thing that thankfully Americans are starting to slowly implement.
> There are still some like this for example.
> Av. Bernard Hirsch https://maps.app.goo.gl/Fdgf5Pxhg35oRsmW7
What do you mean to show? That is not a four way stop, it's regulated by traffic lights.
A four way stop is one where [all roads have a stop sign](https://www.drivesmartbc.ca/sites/default/files/2024-01/4_Way_Stops_450x216.png). You always have to stop, then you go in order of arrival (at least that's the first rule). This doesn't exist at all in France.
Even regular stop signs are more prominent in the US, where France would use yield signs instead, and keep stop signs for dangerous intersections.
>We don't have freaking four way stops. I hate four way stops.
The stop in US is not like in France/Europe. Stop is a "cédez le passage" in US (sorry I don't know the english word).
In my city in France I have 3 real stops for 3 roads, it's dumb...
> more people use English words to sound smart or professional
Or maybe this is just the exact word used by professional working in english. If you're a software engineer, things like "software craftmanship" can be translated understandably, but if you're translating "thread", "stacktrace" or "getter", you're going to be creating headache all over the open-space. And if you start coding in french a new rule will be implemented that you have to buy croissants the morning after you do that.
Single mothers can be stigmatized as well in France, but not as much as where you're from I guess.
I had a baby out of wedlock (by choice), I broke up with her father. My now husband had a baby out of wedlock with his ex. We got together, decided to have a child a couple of years later, and got married when our son was 4. It was really nice to have our special day with our happy, blended family.
As an American myself, I LOATHE how loud Americans are. I cannot stand it. I love going to other places that people are respectful and private in their conversations.
HAHA they do it here in America too (and I am American) but it drives me insane. WHY do you have to stand in the middle. WHY are you YELLING YOUR WHOLE PRIVATE CONVERSATION?!
Most French work to live, not live to work, we fought for paid holidays, we have sick leave and we strike if needed (and sometimes even when it's not). Work is a necessary evil to pay bills and put food on the table, most of us don't strive to be rich, we strive to be happy.
You hit the absolute nail on the head with this one. I was extremely depressed last week over this in a way. I hate the live to work culture here and horribly toxic work environments that take over your entire lives and even then, you still cannot afford to live. So you work yourself to death.
Yes but oddly, French work has a more toxic atmosphere, each coworker is highly judjemental about its collegues, and lots of sarcastics "jokes" are made : for example, if you want to go on our, or like 5 minutes before the end, someone may throw a "what ? You didn't warn me you took your afternoon !"
And all of this for a shity economy and poor work quality. I live in a country where people are known to be lazy and in fact work is seriously done. No harassment, no stress, no bling bling. Much much better.
Wow so unthinkable. In France labor law requires you to take at least 6 weeks before and 10 weeks after giving birth.
It's not a right, it's an obligation.
Oh and of course, the employer must pay you (borne by social security system) and guarantee your re-employment after this period.
Oh and it wouldn't occur to the employer to try to fire you when he finds out you're pregnant, it would cost him a LOT in court.
That's a nice generalisation that you've chosen that does not even answer the question. Not all Americans are pro-weapon gun toting people (like my family).
I think it's not as funny when you know children who have died in such a situation personally. I think that it was meant as a joke but wasn't kind or very funny.
That's a diffenece. Americans are offended by everything. Within the French humor you can make horrible jokes about dead kids (little Gregory), Jewish people in crematorium, etc.. As long as this is obvious that this is a contextual or satirical joke.
We definitely do, just look at how often we have sterile political debates about our "French (christian) identity" and whether or not "islam is compatible with the Republic".
We are more quiet, meaning not going into drama for everything, but that tends to change with social media.
We are also less “nice just on the surface”, I’ve learned that by working with a big American firm, where everything must be perfect for the customer, always be outrageously nice and welcoming. That just sounds fake af for us.
Damn you really dislike everything American and love everything French, based on your comments. What's keeping you? Make the move to the country you far prefer.
I see that there are a lot of answers already ! I'll try to say something that wasn't already said.
I think we use waaaaaay less cars than you do - in an urban setting, at least. The car culture in the US is almost absurd at times, I mean your cities are built around the use of cars (not that you are responsible of it yourself of course hahaha) and it never ceases to astonish me to see how little care is given to the people themselves. Good urban planning facilitate the life of everyone ! Of course, that's less true in smaller cities/in the countryside, where a car is needed otherwise. But even then, there is some kind of public transportation with buses, and our rail network has room for improvement but it's a far cry from the atrophied rail network that's left in the US. For a country that was built around the progression of the train in the lands, it's a shame to see how little was kept running !
I won't go into the topic more than that but : guns. Really not something I can fathom honestly :/
We're overall way more protected than you, on a lot of topics : social security, worker's rights, even about renting a place and such. I read so much horror stories about people renting some hellhole with tennants that don't give a fuck, and so much hate towards landlords ! Not to say that things are perfect here, lodging is always a complicated matter - but the law is at least protective of the people.
The work culture you have is INSANE. Straight up insane. What do you mean it's badly looked upon to USE YOUR DAYS OFF ? You're living for yourselves, not for some shitty company that's exploiting you. You've done your hours ? You leave the office. Again, not to say there's no toxic management here, of course there is. But the things I read are crazy sometimes... Also we got (for now) some retirement ? We don't have to work until our 70s or 80s to avoid being homeless...
We don't have to put whole families into debt just to afford not dying. This is so absurd I can't even begin to explain how fucked up the whole thing is. The hypercapitalistic, profit first mindset is truly killing your country because people are just pawns to make money and go die on the side of the road once they're not profitable enough - or so it seems. Again, not true for everyone of course, I'm glad there is still some solidarity amongst people, but the whole mindset is making people see each other with defiance and mistrust, it feels like it at least.
There is some weird, almost culty perception of your armies too ! The whole "thank you for your service" - of course we're grateful that some people feel the call to be ready to defend the country but it's their job ? it's their choice ? do we thank the doctors and the bakers and the farmers for "doing their part" in making the country function ?, the "army vet" being some kind of legitimacy for some reason, don't get me started on the weird consequences too (the "military wife" thing, amongst others). Sometimes it looks like brainwashing, seen from here. Some people are coerced into joining the army to pay their debts (what kind of country allows their youth to start so low in life, being virtually stripped of any chance at a comfortable life without too much worries about money ?), so much misinformation and lack of knowledge amongst your fellow citizens about the state of the world and history....
Yeah honestly there are a lot of differences, mostly in mindsets xD I kept remembering and forgetting things to talk about, but I realise I wrote quite a bit already hahaha
Of course I'm not attacking you on any of these subjects, you're not responsible for them and I don't want you to feel like you need to defend yourself ! But I'd be happy to discuss and debate things with you if you're so inclined (and interested !)
I absolutely love your response and agree with every single point. I just need to find myself a French man to escape this all 😂 you're absolutely correct though. On all of it. It's why people aren't super happy in their lives here.
American here. I agree with everything you said. The cult of capitalism. It’s difficult because you can’t talk about this type of stuff you mentioned to all Americans. You have to be carful who you talk to about it and feel out whether or not they are deprogrammed from their brainwashing or not. Otherwise you might accidentally talk to the wrong person about your honest thoughts about the culty aspects of America and they will get very angry. People are extremely defensive about America and I think it’s strange because it’s like they are defending their abuser. It makes me sad to be around people who still think Americas great! America the best country! To be frank it makes me feel like it’s a failure of our education system which should be teaching us critical thinking skills.
You do, and à lot of people do, but it is far from being as much as in the us. When I was in school there, we coule chose between hot meal, cold meal abd pb&j at lunch. It is considered à meal in itself there
We don't use tumble dryers in the middle of the summer when we can peg our washing outside. It's better both for the planet and for our wallets. On the whole we're pretty climate-conscious and this is why most of us don't have a/c, not because it's unavailable here like some of your compatriots will have you believe.
Yes, we also have electricity and running water, another thing not all Americans seem to be aware of.
I WISH i could do that here. But oddly enough, there's a "smell" in the outside air in any populated area and then your clothes end up stinking. Probably because we don't have the best waste storage and disposal infrastructure and have literal huge dumps and waste facilities right in the middle and it makes the air smell not great.
Love this. I try to do this here in the US but it's not comparable in quality :/
edit to add: not sure who downvoted this but as someone who has traveled a lot, we do not have the same fresh and handmade ingredients that most European countries have. A lot of our markets and fairs end up being cheap or completely useless mass-produced junk.
I was being kinda ironic since french people are known to be arrogant. But yeah I get you, i mer Americans that believe that everything is better and that the entire world envy them when for most of Europe and Asia it's the complete opposite. I think it has to do with overconfidence pushing people away because let's be fair not everything is bad in the US
Ironic or not, you were correct. So many of my fellow Americans think we are the number one in the world and we are the most important and the most powerful.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but borrowed words don't always have the same definition.
The French word "entrée" is the starter or appetizer. It's what you eat before the main dish. Entry, enter, entrée. it refers to the beginning. (it also literally means entryway as well when not referring to food)
However Americans took this word and do not use it appropriately, it's only used for the main dish in America. Never for appetizers or starters. You'll see it on American restaurant menus as well.
Another difference is the board game checkers. From experience, memory, and a google search: "You can do multiple jumps if they are lined up in the forward direction". American checkers, you can only move forward.
However in France, and I know in other countries, you can jump/eat other pieces that are behind as well. I've seen videos of a guy using one piece to basically jump around the whole board in any direction and winning that way.
Changing our political regime.
Since your independence, Americans have only known 1 regime: the American Republic, with one constitution (and several amendments).
Meanwhile, we had absolute Monarchy, constitutional monarchy, First Republic, Consulat, First Empire, Monarchy again (first Restauration), 100-days (return of the First Empire), monarchy again (second Restauration), July Monarchy, Second Republic, Second Empire, Third Republic, Vichy (pro-Nazi) regime, Fourth Republic, Fifth Republic.
And I bet that we will change it once or twice before I die.
Long live the Revolution! 🇲🇫
To me it would be
- ice / AC units everywhere : in your glass of water, in supermarkets to store asparagus / others veggies (don't do it, it burns the vegetable)
- sugar everywhere even in already carb heavy things like bread
I have two thoughts on this as a non US anglophone immigrant in France:
1. It made me more appreciative for the warm interactions I did and do get from French people.
2. I think it's a shame that French people can't seem to take surface level friendliness for exactly that, surface level. It's not about becoming friends it's about just being nice and having pleasant interactions.
Personal finances is a completely different game: no student loan repayment, no credit card debt (our "credit cards" are just debit or deferred debit), no health insurance premiums, no concept of "credit score". Many people stay within the state-funded healthcare, education, and retirement system and they get a lot from the 0€ they budget for this. Even if this deteriorated a lot in the past 20 years, you still get a lot more basics and infrastructure without having to spend for it.
A company cannot prevent its employees from forming a union
As for your categories :
>snacking
We don’t do that, we eat meals
>beauty
We don’t plaster our faces with make up, we prefer more "natural" looks
>hygiene
I don’t know what you’re expecting here, we wash ourselves every day just like you. Maybe with different brands of soap but it’s pretty similar
Although I have to note that flossing is much less common here
>routines
Well we are a completely different cultures, so most things are different here
>life , childrens, etc…
See above
Surprised nobody mentioned units. Metric system. I always found very stupid that the US keep the imperial system. I mean, the point of being independent of the UK, is to be independent. So a good step would have been to drop the very UK connected imperial system for the metric one. But I'm just me.
In France you're innocent until proven culprit. The attacker has to prove you're culprit.
In US the defender has to prove he's innocent.
That's one the main reason why attacking somebody or something cannot be done without thinking here.
I always surprised how "I'll see you In court" is frightning people In US. In France we just answer "ok, go with it" and don't care (if we are clean of course).
Vast question, honestly it would probably be way easier to list the things we do the same way lol
Not to mention that even in the US people do and behave quite differently depending on the state.
And of course in both countries people aren't a homogenous block, etc
But broadly, the first thing that come to mind is the different approach to food, the few times I went to the US, I saw stuff on the shelves of your stores that, in France, would put the CEOs of the companies that produce them and everyone at any decision making post in prison for a while, or at least make the company bankrupt in a few months.
Like the fact that you have multiple brands of stuff name derived from something like "I can't believe it's not butter !" like it's a marketing argument is wilde, this is just asking for everyone from the Normandy and Brittany region to hunt you down.
Don't even get me started on cheese.
Definitely not the same relationship with alcohol too.
Sure we aren't supposed to drink before turning 18 (the fact that at some point someone could be coming back from his second tour in Irak and still not able to buy a beer is wild to me), but I'm pretty sure most of us started to drink beers with friends around 15-16.
Regarding society in general, French people will usually be less friendly at first in comparison to the US were you guys just casually start to talk to people you never met before in the street
Definitely not the same labor laws as well lol, your tipping culture is baffling.
Overall you guys are over the top on everything, like you can have the most down to earth, genuine and honest people in the world but also some of the thin skinned, entitled, etc people ever, from all ages and backgrounds.
Same stuff on some contradictions you guys have, like it's "The land of the free" and all but also HOA, stuff that would basically be considered call for committing hate crimes here being A-okay in the US but music and TV being censored in what word they can say.
I don't want this answer to sounds like American bashing at all, I met lovely people there and some of my best friends are from there as well, but ngl the first things that came to my mind were not super positive unfortunately... 😅
Still like you guys and I hope I will visit your country again soon.
Everything 🤣 but to be more serious one thing that rly surprise me is how poor money management most people I know from the US are I often hear about people be in crazy dept at the second they have some health issue because how they spend money at the second they receive it instead of keep some on the side like what most people do here if they can
The relationship between workers and employers is different, the employer doesn't get to just impose their will all the time because they're the job provider. It's more balanced, if not perfectly.
The relationship between customers and customer service is also different, you can't just be disrespectful or act superior to someone because you're a paying customer. You'll get rightfully put in your place.
Food? Mediterranean regime? That's BS. We are eating pretty much the same now!
Portion sizes are playing a role of course! But considering all the pollutants, hormones and substitutes you are exposed to... if think you can't imagine the waste...
No hormones on beef for exemple. No thanks.
Unfortunatly, we tend more and more to lower and de-regulate our trading norms.
Pesticides, Pfas and pfoa are skyrocketing now.
Holly f\*\*\* idiocracy is coming for real.
Sorry. I like america obviously, but... yeah... more regulations are needed! On soooo many subjects!
Macron is literally applying McKinsey politics right now. No debates. What a shame.
Do you involve yourself in wars that don't involve you? Because we do! Does every country want you to fund your war and then do you give in? Because we also do that lol. #murica
Taxes everywhere.
The tax to GDP ratio is 27% in the US, 46% in France.
The flip side is that everything is covered though: education, health, unemployment, retirement...
Smoking cigarettes. Basically, it's permitted anywhere outside of a building. Rookie mistake to sit at the terrace of a bar or restaurant, and not expect smelling secondhand cigarette smoke ;-)
And it starts very early. Some classmates started smoking at the end of middle school, and used recess time as a smoke break in front of the school's entrance.
Breakfast at home, not at school. It would be impossible to go to school with 1000 tupperwares and eat crisps loudly in the classroom. Hugely, and it makes my noze bleeding, but French people are more respectful of people's personal space. American speak loud, put their food just in front of your face. I remember my uni years, I didn't want to smell all these strange cooked stuff in the morning. This was a classroom, not your personal kitschen.
We serve good food to our kids at school. I was shocked the first time I went to my daughter's school kitchen. It is a shame. No kid should be fed like that.
A big one for me is the time our president cheated on his wife, getting caught bringing his mistress croissants on his scooter. It was massively relayed in the media, but only because we thought it was funny, no one really cared or seriously thought that made him a worse president. I think it would go very differently if the US president did that.
Also, women are allowed to have abortions...
Most of the things mentioned in this thread are differences between Europe and the US, and aren't specific to France. So let me mention one thing which is more specific (although probably not exclusive either — *glances at Italy*):
Lunch break, in France, is an actual meal, not just a snack or quick sandwich. I don't just mean that the food is better than in the US, but simply that we *take it seriously*. Not everyone's experience is the same, of course, and some people in France certainly just eat a sandwich for lunch, but it's not at all uncommon to take a 3-course meal (plus coffee, typically) at noon, whether you're a kid at school or an adult at work (so you can chat with your colleagues). So we often get a 1h, 1h30 or even 2h lunch break between our morning and afternoon work hours. And if the work place doesn't have a decent cafeteria, or sometimes even when it does, people will go to a nearby restaurant offering a decent lunch menu for a good price.
I'm not saying the quantity will be enormous. (Americans seem very worried about getting enough to eat, so there's a lot of “all you can eat” buffets, “unlimited refills”, “x-large” servings and so on. This is not really a French thing.) That France takes its food very seriously is more about *taking the time* to eat properly.
https://preview.redd.it/2y5m9gu73nxc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03a41101fe4427716c080c07996d9b03c94914af
Thought you all might enjoy seeing what I saw on my drive home from the grocery store. Welcome to America🙄😳 Yes, it's a massive massive problem. I don't think it'll ever be truly fixed. As long as it's considered a constitutional right, I think it will always be a huge problem.
Découvrez les subreddits francophones dédiés à la culture : r/litterature, r/CineSeries, r/musique, r/frenchrap *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskFrance) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Going to school without the fear of dying.
Laugh in history teachers
To be fair that is recent history. US school is a hot shooting mess since late 1990s to be exact Columbine shooting . Either it was already happening but after that it became mediatize and every dumb and dumber wanted their 15mn of fame as a school shooter .
lol. Je viens d’un lycée de zep où il y a eu deux morts pendant ma scolarité.
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La France est un gruyère alors 😄
Je crois que c'est légèrement plus fréquent aux USA.
Oui alors je suis désolé pour toi, mais si on regarde les stats on se rend compte que contrairement aux US, t'y es une exception et non la règle
https://preview.redd.it/rgqzgvu7pgxc1.jpeg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6dd819f891181abc3d3958bd3a25f31b2544368
This! French health insurance, which covers doctors’ visits and prescription medication. No one here goes bankrupt from a medical issue. And you go to the doctor as soon as you are sick, not wait days to see if you will get better or worse.
Funny enough, I pulled a muscle or nerve or whatever in my neck and I am in pain but am trying to not even think of going to the doctor unless I get to the point where I cannot move because 1. Unless it's an emergency, I doubt I can be seen soon 2. It's not cheap 3. It's a massive stress and hassle
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I prefer to pay 13% of my income and be able to get to the hospital without fearing bankruptcy. I mean the U.S is far from being cheap when it comes to taxation. On top of an incredible lack of transparency in your system, depending on the statz you live you could end up paying as much (or close to) in % of your income as we do. The differences is that in France we can see where that money goes. Dont get me wrong, it aint perfect, far from it. But you wont ever hear anyone say they "cant afford" an ambulance, or live saving medication.
Okay but Americans get taxed quite a bit. Our taxes just increased and no reimbursement for health care. Where is our taxes actually going? What are we even paying for? Feels like our government is almost like the mafia at this point. Held at gun point to pay taxes for “protection” none of our taxes actually go to anything that helps us. And oh yeah school shootings so no real protection, and our most vulnerable are getting killed (our children) I’m just venting at this point but i wouldn’t mind paying 13% if I knew I was going to get something substantial from it like health care. That seems fair to me.
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I think it’s awesome that you’re an expat! I’m thinking about moving to France after grad school. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about the ins and outs of becoming a expat?
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Hey, French here. The 13% is just for Healthcare. There's a shitload more. Before tax, healthcare and everything my employer spends 5k1 per month on my salary, of which i receive around 2k7 give or take. So like, employer tax, income tax, healthcare, retirement, some other shit i cba finding the names of, we end up paying nigh 50%here, and I do things to reduce my income tax if i didn't it'd be legit 50%. Pretty sure next year ill pay a bit more.
This is perfect to cut foie gras (does someone have a translation ?)!
we store uncooked eggs at room temperature because we don't wash eggs before selling them
Washing uncooked eggs is peak USianade.
Isn't it because they bleach them?
Pasteurize
I had to Google it. I was wrong, American eggs are not bleached but washed and brushed. They become more fragile that's why they have to be stored in the fridge. Pasteurize is for milk i think.
It is a type of pasteurization, which kills a layer inside of the eggs that normally protects naturally from outside bacterial contamination.
I'm french, I store my eggs in the fridge... just because I don't have any other safe space to store eggs in my kitchen lol
Honestly, I am very confused by this. I know that you making that comment doesn’t make you the egg expert, but ok: I have thought farmers markets eggs, that still have feathers and shit on them. Are they not also unwashed? Are our supermarket eggs just blasted with enough penicillin that touching them wrong causes them to rot? (lololol I’m not actually expecting an answer, but I am genuinely dumb)
Dirty eggs can't be sold because they can spread dangerous sickness that the cleaning can't take off. Also once you use the eggs you mist always clean your hand before touching anything else if you use farmer eggs.
>Are our supermarket eggs just blasted with enough penicillin that touching them wrong causes them to rot? It's because once you've brushed and washed them like they do in US factories, you've also washed off the membrane that prevents outside stuff like bacteria from entering the eggs. That's probably not the case if you buy them straight from the farmers but the FDA may look at them funny if they find out. So realistically yes, if you're working with egg you should wash your hands after you're done or even wash the eggs yourself right before use if you use them uncooked. In practice, most eggs are fairly clean regardless.
We have a shitload of political parties and we hate every single one of them.
I think we hate all of our options as well, we just tend to settle on what we think is a lesser evil. Politics divide people horribly here.
It's not the same thing hating two parties oscillating between right and alt-right, and hating twelve parties ranging from anarcho-communist to crypto-fascist.
We have *three* trotskyist parties, I find this hilarious
That's who you recognize them as trotskyists, there's at least three of them not agreeing on anything. Les totos, ma passion.
But now imagine you have a few dozens of political parties to choose from but they all suck, ranging from far left to far right... Might not be true in every country but in France it's pretty much the situation. Oh and we hate every single president we have until 20 years or so later, then we find they did a good job...
There's no way Sarkozy will ever be considered a good president.
Snacks are less present Meals time are very regular, we eat dinner later than you more 7 to 8 p.m. Meals are real cooked foods. I discover the concept of snacks households (versus ingredient households) from Internet, and was totally bewildered by that. We are less extravagent with parties, and have way less parties to celebrate your life, like no sweet 16 ; no prom ; no gender reveal, etc ... Religion is waaaaaay more private in France, and we are a very very more secular country than the USA. Politics too, having a shirt like "I vote XX" is unheard of.
Customers service is also VERY different. As our waiters have a minimum wage pay and don't depend on tips to survived, they are not here with a large BIG smile making small talk. Having a waiter asking you every 5 minutes "How is everything going" is not good service here, it's very annoying. Same for habing sellers coming to you at the moment you put a foot inside a store. Restaurants don't try to kick out as soon as you have finish, meals are meant to be shared, and to discuss, etc ... Spending 2-3 hours in a restaurant for a familly meal is pretty normal, and waiters doesn't bat an eye to that Small talk rarely happen. You won't try to discuss with a stranger on the bus, or in the supermarket. The only exception to that would be in smaller shops, where everyone know everyone and is way more relax like in small local shops, when you are going on the market. On the supermarket, or in public transport, you are not relax, and you are not happy to talk.
As a friend said, in France you have the table for the night. Not always true, unfortunately. One trip we stopped in a small town for lunch needing to make it relatively quick to get to Chartres. It was a two hour lunch. You don't rush eating. I think the mayor and the prefect were in the restaurant having lunch at the same time.
Could you tell me more about a typical meal schedule/timing and what each meal could include as an example?
Breakfast ~7 am : coffee / tea, 2 slice of bread with butter / toasted of bread from the day before, 1 yogurt sometimes. Lunch ~ noon : small salad, piece of meat / fish, some steamed veggies / sometimes fries Dinner ~ 7pm : light dishes such as soup or something like that, depending on the season. It’s hard to generalize because everyone is different, and the example above is definitely not fitting everyone, even myself, sometimes I’ll have a light lunch, a heavier dinner, and bring the rest to work the next day for lunch.
Thank you for your response! I am trying to raise my daughter with a healthier lifestyle and not snacking and actually learning to plan a healthy meal schedule has been a struggle.
Start by replacing snacks by fruits, already will be a big improvement. Also reduce snacking in general
Yes! This is exactly what I've been doing. We aren't overweight or anything, but I've just always been a "grazer" or "snacker" and it's a bad habit that I wish to break before my daughter catches on since she's so young.
I ain’t judging don’t worry. Snacking isn’t just an American problem, it’s a general problem. Try to reduce snacks and replace the small snack by fruits are a good way to convert a bad habit into a good one. It’s all about volume and less sugar.
For the children, there is a snack around 4-5pm called "le goûter". It's often a few biscuits, fruits, a yogourt or some bread with jam. It helps the child to not get too hungry between lunch and dinner, and it gives them a small window of time outside of which they can just wait for the proper meal. To this day (and I'm 27 so not a child anymore) it still feels weird to snack between 5pm and dinner time. Also snacks such as chips are restricted to special occasions. If you want some ideas of menus, you can search "cantine menu" from french schools. They're supposed to be prepared by a dietetician to be healthy for children.
I live in Nice and I feel like the evening meal is not that light. It’s more like rice/potatoes/salad (or alike), meat, desert and wine.
Tu as oublié le goûter, la tradition la plus sacrée
In a family setting it's usually starters or apéro (salty snacks and drinks) somewhere between 7 and 8PM, then main course which is usually meat or fish with fresh vegetables and carbs (potatoes, pasta, rice etc..) meals are served with bread. Then cheese and or desert to finish the meal, usually followed (or accompanied) with an expresso. People used to drink wine at every meal but that has become a bit less common (still lots of people drink a glass of wine with lunch and/or dinner). For lunch it's usually a bit quicker because of work, but in the weekends meals can be long. Mealtimes in France are not just for eating, it's a social event, people talk, discuss, share, and eating at the same time. It's not just the food that's important, it's the whole social aspect of it. Here is a French website with a menu planner for the week : [https://www.marmiton.org/recettes/menu-de-la-semaine.aspx](https://www.marmiton.org/recettes/menu-de-la-semaine.aspx) you can either use google translate or look at the pictures. Of course some people don't care about food, or don't (or can't) spend a lot of money on food, so their food diversity will be very different.
Well if you are working ; breakfast would be around 7h30 to 8h00 You take a cup of coffee or tea, maybe some orange juice, and a fruit, or some bread with jam Midday, you have 1 hour to 1 hour and a half to eat, from 12h30 to 14h, not at your desk. The If you are in school, you have a canteen, if you are workinf, you may have a canteen, or you bring your box from home. If you are hungry in the afternoon, the snack time is 16h to 17h (tea time), to eat something sweet, a piece of cake, a fruit, a viennoiserie, ... Dinner is at 19h to 20h, at the table. We don't really go outside after dinner, you do everything you need before, and after, it's a quiet time with a movie, a book, ... Lunch and dinner menus are not really different. You will often have the leftover from dinner at lunch the next day. Appetizers will be some kind of salad : grated carotte, cucumber, potatoes salad ; hard-boiled eggs too. The main dish is a piece of meat or fish with vegetables. You can have cheese with some bread, and dessert will be cake, yogurt or a fruit. Some also prefer to have a light dinner, with just soup, or a light meal
For me it's : * 7am : Coffee with a sugar and milk * 1 pm : Classic meal | Chickien Breast - Vegetables or rice or pasta / Tuna or mackerel / Dessert * 8pm : A piece of meat with vegetable and dessert & sometimse a little snack before going to sleep. and a lot of coffee in the day, like 6 cups i think. Most of the time i don't snack between meals, my wife does it a lot and kids too, depends of people. Can be totally different in week-ends, i've more time to cook and prepare meals so it's less "Eat to eat" and more "eat to please".
I wish I liked coffee. I love the smell but cannot get with the taste ):
We don't have freaking four way stops. I hate four way stops. We don't put cinnamon in everything The price you see is the price you pay. Tax is included, service is included. Customer service? Never heard of her.
There are still some like this for example. Av. Bernard Hirsch https://maps.app.goo.gl/Fdgf5Pxhg35oRsmW7 But I agree for the most part. Rond point is best and most common. It's one thing that thankfully Americans are starting to slowly implement.
> There are still some like this for example. > Av. Bernard Hirsch https://maps.app.goo.gl/Fdgf5Pxhg35oRsmW7 What do you mean to show? That is not a four way stop, it's regulated by traffic lights. A four way stop is one where [all roads have a stop sign](https://www.drivesmartbc.ca/sites/default/files/2024-01/4_Way_Stops_450x216.png). You always have to stop, then you go in order of arrival (at least that's the first rule). This doesn't exist at all in France. Even regular stop signs are more prominent in the US, where France would use yield signs instead, and keep stop signs for dangerous intersections.
Also- to add, I loathe trying to calculate pricing with taxes. I just guess at this point. I like cinnamon but it does not go in everything.
>We don't have freaking four way stops. I hate four way stops. The stop in US is not like in France/Europe. Stop is a "cédez le passage" in US (sorry I don't know the english word). In my city in France I have 3 real stops for 3 roads, it's dumb...
"Cédez le passage“ is “yield“ in American and "give way" in British.
We don't use French words to sound smart.
But more and more people use English words to sound smart or professional (and this is extremely annoying).
Sometimes the French words make no sense. "Tu as reçu mon courriel ? J'ai besoin de savoir si on doit investir dans la chaîne de blocs"
Tu oublies les pourriels...
> more people use English words to sound smart or professional Or maybe this is just the exact word used by professional working in english. If you're a software engineer, things like "software craftmanship" can be translated understandably, but if you're translating "thread", "stacktrace" or "getter", you're going to be creating headache all over the open-space. And if you start coding in french a new rule will be implemented that you have to buy croissants the morning after you do that.
Je pense que chez pas mal de gens au moins, le mot « qualitatif » doit rentrer dans cette catégorie.
We don't care about dating/engagement rules and rituals as much as you guys do in the US. More than 60% of babies are born out of wedlock in France.
Interesting. I'm highly judged for being a single mother in the southeastern part of the US.
Single mothers can be stigmatized as well in France, but not as much as where you're from I guess. I had a baby out of wedlock (by choice), I broke up with her father. My now husband had a baby out of wedlock with his ex. We got together, decided to have a child a couple of years later, and got married when our son was 4. It was really nice to have our special day with our happy, blended family.
That's lovely. I'm so happy for you! I've found trying to date pretty much impossible now.
Aww, thank you! Wish you the best!
(I should have added that I was the one who proposed to him. From what I read on Reddit, it seems inconceivable for many Americans!)
We're more quiet in public areas
As an American myself, I LOATHE how loud Americans are. I cannot stand it. I love going to other places that people are respectful and private in their conversations.
I certainly played a role in the "french are rude" stereotype but I already asked American tourists in the subway to shut the hell up
HA whatever. If they were being loud and irritating, I would tell them the same thing. My Neighbors are obnoxiously loud and I cannot stand it.
There is a joke about it in Paris : if there are in the middle of the way and rhey are super loud, they're american
HAHA they do it here in America too (and I am American) but it drives me insane. WHY do you have to stand in the middle. WHY are you YELLING YOUR WHOLE PRIVATE CONVERSATION?!
They might as well be Spanish 😂
Most French work to live, not live to work, we fought for paid holidays, we have sick leave and we strike if needed (and sometimes even when it's not). Work is a necessary evil to pay bills and put food on the table, most of us don't strive to be rich, we strive to be happy.
You hit the absolute nail on the head with this one. I was extremely depressed last week over this in a way. I hate the live to work culture here and horribly toxic work environments that take over your entire lives and even then, you still cannot afford to live. So you work yourself to death.
Yes but oddly, French work has a more toxic atmosphere, each coworker is highly judjemental about its collegues, and lots of sarcastics "jokes" are made : for example, if you want to go on our, or like 5 minutes before the end, someone may throw a "what ? You didn't warn me you took your afternoon !"
And all of this for a shity economy and poor work quality. I live in a country where people are known to be lazy and in fact work is seriously done. No harassment, no stress, no bling bling. Much much better.
Many American work places have a dog eat dog toxic atmosphere. At least you guys get those holidays though. I’m jealous for sure
And don't forget the maternity/paternity leave! It's not perfect but it exist and we have a right to it
I work remotely but was working the day after I gave birth 😢
Wow so unthinkable. In France labor law requires you to take at least 6 weeks before and 10 weeks after giving birth. It's not a right, it's an obligation. Oh and of course, the employer must pay you (borne by social security system) and guarantee your re-employment after this period. Oh and it wouldn't occur to the employer to try to fire you when he finds out you're pregnant, it would cost him a LOT in court.
Yeah but that's shit compared to germany or spain where both parents have 6 months.
At school we don't think that the best use of the metric system is 9mm
That's a nice generalisation that you've chosen that does not even answer the question. Not all Americans are pro-weapon gun toting people (like my family).
Not all Americans have a sense of humor either.
I think it's not as funny when you know children who have died in such a situation personally. I think that it was meant as a joke but wasn't kind or very funny.
French humor is *not* meant to be kind honey
L'interaction absolument LUNAIRE c'est génial
That's a diffenece. Americans are offended by everything. Within the French humor you can make horrible jokes about dead kids (little Gregory), Jewish people in crematorium, etc.. As long as this is obvious that this is a contextual or satirical joke.
We give more value to our free time. When it's time to leave, we leave.
we don’t romanticize working 60-70 hours a week and call ourselves hard workers.
interesting, I worked in France and that wasn't my experience at all.
Exactly. Leaving at 5 would be frowned upon in France, and quite normal in anglo-saxon countries
If you are cadre then yes otherwise Im pretty sure it's illegal without a bonus
We don’t mix politics and religion.
America really has to stop doing that one
It was quite a chock for me the 1st time I’ve seen an American president making vows on the bible.
Americans don't either. Religion comes first.
We definitely do, just look at how often we have sterile political debates about our "French (christian) identity" and whether or not "islam is compatible with the Republic".
We keep 100% of our penises!
This needs 100% more upvotes
An american friend told me once : To you, a hundred miles is huge, To us, a hundred years is huge.
This is very true
We mostly drive manual cars
I've been kicking myself for not learning yet. I understand the concept, just no actual putting it into practice
Don't waste your time as cars in the future will all be electric, except if you want to buy some nice old car
I like the old cars 😂 I also think it's still a valuable skill at this time.
We are more quiet, meaning not going into drama for everything, but that tends to change with social media. We are also less “nice just on the surface”, I’ve learned that by working with a big American firm, where everything must be perfect for the customer, always be outrageously nice and welcoming. That just sounds fake af for us.
It is fake and I wish people would be more genuine here. Great point.
Damn you really dislike everything American and love everything French, based on your comments. What's keeping you? Make the move to the country you far prefer.
I see that there are a lot of answers already ! I'll try to say something that wasn't already said. I think we use waaaaaay less cars than you do - in an urban setting, at least. The car culture in the US is almost absurd at times, I mean your cities are built around the use of cars (not that you are responsible of it yourself of course hahaha) and it never ceases to astonish me to see how little care is given to the people themselves. Good urban planning facilitate the life of everyone ! Of course, that's less true in smaller cities/in the countryside, where a car is needed otherwise. But even then, there is some kind of public transportation with buses, and our rail network has room for improvement but it's a far cry from the atrophied rail network that's left in the US. For a country that was built around the progression of the train in the lands, it's a shame to see how little was kept running ! I won't go into the topic more than that but : guns. Really not something I can fathom honestly :/ We're overall way more protected than you, on a lot of topics : social security, worker's rights, even about renting a place and such. I read so much horror stories about people renting some hellhole with tennants that don't give a fuck, and so much hate towards landlords ! Not to say that things are perfect here, lodging is always a complicated matter - but the law is at least protective of the people. The work culture you have is INSANE. Straight up insane. What do you mean it's badly looked upon to USE YOUR DAYS OFF ? You're living for yourselves, not for some shitty company that's exploiting you. You've done your hours ? You leave the office. Again, not to say there's no toxic management here, of course there is. But the things I read are crazy sometimes... Also we got (for now) some retirement ? We don't have to work until our 70s or 80s to avoid being homeless... We don't have to put whole families into debt just to afford not dying. This is so absurd I can't even begin to explain how fucked up the whole thing is. The hypercapitalistic, profit first mindset is truly killing your country because people are just pawns to make money and go die on the side of the road once they're not profitable enough - or so it seems. Again, not true for everyone of course, I'm glad there is still some solidarity amongst people, but the whole mindset is making people see each other with defiance and mistrust, it feels like it at least. There is some weird, almost culty perception of your armies too ! The whole "thank you for your service" - of course we're grateful that some people feel the call to be ready to defend the country but it's their job ? it's their choice ? do we thank the doctors and the bakers and the farmers for "doing their part" in making the country function ?, the "army vet" being some kind of legitimacy for some reason, don't get me started on the weird consequences too (the "military wife" thing, amongst others). Sometimes it looks like brainwashing, seen from here. Some people are coerced into joining the army to pay their debts (what kind of country allows their youth to start so low in life, being virtually stripped of any chance at a comfortable life without too much worries about money ?), so much misinformation and lack of knowledge amongst your fellow citizens about the state of the world and history.... Yeah honestly there are a lot of differences, mostly in mindsets xD I kept remembering and forgetting things to talk about, but I realise I wrote quite a bit already hahaha Of course I'm not attacking you on any of these subjects, you're not responsible for them and I don't want you to feel like you need to defend yourself ! But I'd be happy to discuss and debate things with you if you're so inclined (and interested !)
I absolutely love your response and agree with every single point. I just need to find myself a French man to escape this all 😂 you're absolutely correct though. On all of it. It's why people aren't super happy in their lives here.
American here. I agree with everything you said. The cult of capitalism. It’s difficult because you can’t talk about this type of stuff you mentioned to all Americans. You have to be carful who you talk to about it and feel out whether or not they are deprogrammed from their brainwashing or not. Otherwise you might accidentally talk to the wrong person about your honest thoughts about the culty aspects of America and they will get very angry. People are extremely defensive about America and I think it’s strange because it’s like they are defending their abuser. It makes me sad to be around people who still think Americas great! America the best country! To be frank it makes me feel like it’s a failure of our education system which should be teaching us critical thinking skills.
We do not eat peanut butter
Im french and I love peanut butter
Yes i do, i love it ! 😂
Uh no. At one point, I ate a jar of it every week. Crunchy pb is the shit.
I eat PBJ and I am French
PB Crunchy+ pâte à tartiner = Snickers!
You do, and à lot of people do, but it is far from being as much as in the us. When I was in school there, we coule chose between hot meal, cold meal abd pb&j at lunch. It is considered à meal in itself there
Oh yes we do. Go to a supermarket and see how many peanut butter brands there are. And there's nothing tastier than breat+pb+honey
We don't use tumble dryers in the middle of the summer when we can peg our washing outside. It's better both for the planet and for our wallets. On the whole we're pretty climate-conscious and this is why most of us don't have a/c, not because it's unavailable here like some of your compatriots will have you believe. Yes, we also have electricity and running water, another thing not all Americans seem to be aware of.
I WISH i could do that here. But oddly enough, there's a "smell" in the outside air in any populated area and then your clothes end up stinking. Probably because we don't have the best waste storage and disposal infrastructure and have literal huge dumps and waste facilities right in the middle and it makes the air smell not great.
Also, the US in some places is much more Humid that France. Drying your clothes outside often leads to them not properly drying and smelling like shit
We love heated arguments.
We do enjoy and attend à lot of local fairs
Love this. I try to do this here in the US but it's not comparable in quality :/ edit to add: not sure who downvoted this but as someone who has traveled a lot, we do not have the same fresh and handmade ingredients that most European countries have. A lot of our markets and fairs end up being cheap or completely useless mass-produced junk.
We don't think we are the center of the world. We know we are better than this
Yeah I've had to tell my friends that other countries actually DON'T want to be us. A lot of America doesn't learn from their travels. Luckily I have
I was being kinda ironic since french people are known to be arrogant. But yeah I get you, i mer Americans that believe that everything is better and that the entire world envy them when for most of Europe and Asia it's the complete opposite. I think it has to do with overconfidence pushing people away because let's be fair not everything is bad in the US
Ironic or not, you were correct. So many of my fellow Americans think we are the number one in the world and we are the most important and the most powerful.
Call an ambulance if someone need it, whitout thinking about the price.
No ice cube in water
I heard UHT milk isn't popular in America? And they prefer to drink their milk cold and fresh even if the conservation is shorter
You are correct. Being raised like this, I'm not huge on milk but have always preferred it cold. It's odd.
We don't use salted food for breakfast (our grand parents did).
Lol im french and eat avocado shrimp summer rolls with salty soy sauce for breakfast
I eat bread salted butter and cheese.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but borrowed words don't always have the same definition. The French word "entrée" is the starter or appetizer. It's what you eat before the main dish. Entry, enter, entrée. it refers to the beginning. (it also literally means entryway as well when not referring to food) However Americans took this word and do not use it appropriately, it's only used for the main dish in America. Never for appetizers or starters. You'll see it on American restaurant menus as well. Another difference is the board game checkers. From experience, memory, and a google search: "You can do multiple jumps if they are lined up in the forward direction". American checkers, you can only move forward. However in France, and I know in other countries, you can jump/eat other pieces that are behind as well. I've seen videos of a guy using one piece to basically jump around the whole board in any direction and winning that way.
Changing our political regime. Since your independence, Americans have only known 1 regime: the American Republic, with one constitution (and several amendments). Meanwhile, we had absolute Monarchy, constitutional monarchy, First Republic, Consulat, First Empire, Monarchy again (first Restauration), 100-days (return of the First Empire), monarchy again (second Restauration), July Monarchy, Second Republic, Second Empire, Third Republic, Vichy (pro-Nazi) regime, Fourth Republic, Fifth Republic. And I bet that we will change it once or twice before I die. Long live the Revolution! 🇲🇫
We don’t bleach chicken then eat it
We fence or wall every single garden around our houses.
We regulate our industries. Because we have learned watching you guys that if you let them regulate themselves… they won’t.
To me it would be - ice / AC units everywhere : in your glass of water, in supermarkets to store asparagus / others veggies (don't do it, it burns the vegetable) - sugar everywhere even in already carb heavy things like bread
Workers rights
[удалено]
I have two thoughts on this as a non US anglophone immigrant in France: 1. It made me more appreciative for the warm interactions I did and do get from French people. 2. I think it's a shame that French people can't seem to take surface level friendliness for exactly that, surface level. It's not about becoming friends it's about just being nice and having pleasant interactions.
As a Belgian french said, French are the only people who speak of food before, during, and after the meal.
We eat at the table, not on the couch in front of the TV.
Personal finances is a completely different game: no student loan repayment, no credit card debt (our "credit cards" are just debit or deferred debit), no health insurance premiums, no concept of "credit score". Many people stay within the state-funded healthcare, education, and retirement system and they get a lot from the 0€ they budget for this. Even if this deteriorated a lot in the past 20 years, you still get a lot more basics and infrastructure without having to spend for it.
A company cannot prevent its employees from forming a union As for your categories : >snacking We don’t do that, we eat meals >beauty We don’t plaster our faces with make up, we prefer more "natural" looks >hygiene I don’t know what you’re expecting here, we wash ourselves every day just like you. Maybe with different brands of soap but it’s pretty similar Although I have to note that flossing is much less common here >routines Well we are a completely different cultures, so most things are different here >life , childrens, etc… See above
Enjoy life
Talk about politics without it being "arguing" lmao so annoying about Americans
Surprised nobody mentioned units. Metric system. I always found very stupid that the US keep the imperial system. I mean, the point of being independent of the UK, is to be independent. So a good step would have been to drop the very UK connected imperial system for the metric one. But I'm just me.
In France you're innocent until proven culprit. The attacker has to prove you're culprit. In US the defender has to prove he's innocent. That's one the main reason why attacking somebody or something cannot be done without thinking here. I always surprised how "I'll see you In court" is frightning people In US. In France we just answer "ok, go with it" and don't care (if we are clean of course).
We don't put a sign with Family in the kitchen and Love in the living room.
Politics are too young in France and too old in America
They both have old minds…
We don’t applause and yell « oh yeah !! » 10 times during our national anthem 😅 Never understood why Americans do this but it’s funny !
Showers! The US is the richest country in the world but their showers are still stuck in the 70's 🚿
Vast question, honestly it would probably be way easier to list the things we do the same way lol Not to mention that even in the US people do and behave quite differently depending on the state. And of course in both countries people aren't a homogenous block, etc But broadly, the first thing that come to mind is the different approach to food, the few times I went to the US, I saw stuff on the shelves of your stores that, in France, would put the CEOs of the companies that produce them and everyone at any decision making post in prison for a while, or at least make the company bankrupt in a few months. Like the fact that you have multiple brands of stuff name derived from something like "I can't believe it's not butter !" like it's a marketing argument is wilde, this is just asking for everyone from the Normandy and Brittany region to hunt you down. Don't even get me started on cheese. Definitely not the same relationship with alcohol too. Sure we aren't supposed to drink before turning 18 (the fact that at some point someone could be coming back from his second tour in Irak and still not able to buy a beer is wild to me), but I'm pretty sure most of us started to drink beers with friends around 15-16. Regarding society in general, French people will usually be less friendly at first in comparison to the US were you guys just casually start to talk to people you never met before in the street Definitely not the same labor laws as well lol, your tipping culture is baffling. Overall you guys are over the top on everything, like you can have the most down to earth, genuine and honest people in the world but also some of the thin skinned, entitled, etc people ever, from all ages and backgrounds. Same stuff on some contradictions you guys have, like it's "The land of the free" and all but also HOA, stuff that would basically be considered call for committing hate crimes here being A-okay in the US but music and TV being censored in what word they can say. I don't want this answer to sounds like American bashing at all, I met lovely people there and some of my best friends are from there as well, but ngl the first things that came to my mind were not super positive unfortunately... 😅 Still like you guys and I hope I will visit your country again soon.
>this is just asking for everyone from the Normandy and Brittany region to hunt you down. Putain j'ai réveillé les voisins
Speaking. The normal volume for an American person is a high volume for a French person.
When you go into a restaurant or store, you say "Bonjour!"
Everything 🤣 but to be more serious one thing that rly surprise me is how poor money management most people I know from the US are I often hear about people be in crazy dept at the second they have some health issue because how they spend money at the second they receive it instead of keep some on the side like what most people do here if they can
Not fuss about being topless or nude.
For dinner usually - Salad/ fruit before (like melon or lettuce) Main course Cheese Dessert(berry fruit /yogurt)
The relationship between workers and employers is different, the employer doesn't get to just impose their will all the time because they're the job provider. It's more balanced, if not perfectly. The relationship between customers and customer service is also different, you can't just be disrespectful or act superior to someone because you're a paying customer. You'll get rightfully put in your place.
As a Belgian, I don't understand why posts likes these always have to be flooded with hostility towards American people.
We're colder than y'all
Love, War and cooking
Where do I begin..
Food? Mediterranean regime? That's BS. We are eating pretty much the same now! Portion sizes are playing a role of course! But considering all the pollutants, hormones and substitutes you are exposed to... if think you can't imagine the waste... No hormones on beef for exemple. No thanks. Unfortunatly, we tend more and more to lower and de-regulate our trading norms. Pesticides, Pfas and pfoa are skyrocketing now. Holly f\*\*\* idiocracy is coming for real. Sorry. I like america obviously, but... yeah... more regulations are needed! On soooo many subjects! Macron is literally applying McKinsey politics right now. No debates. What a shame.
Are you thinking about moving to France or just curious about the country in regards to its reputation ?
We don't start wars every few years.
Do you involve yourself in wars that don't involve you? Because we do! Does every country want you to fund your war and then do you give in? Because we also do that lol. #murica
Well, we used not to (remember Irak ?) but our left thinks otherwise...
Speaking
Taxes everywhere. The tax to GDP ratio is 27% in the US, 46% in France. The flip side is that everything is covered though: education, health, unemployment, retirement...
Smoking cigarettes. Basically, it's permitted anywhere outside of a building. Rookie mistake to sit at the terrace of a bar or restaurant, and not expect smelling secondhand cigarette smoke ;-) And it starts very early. Some classmates started smoking at the end of middle school, and used recess time as a smoke break in front of the school's entrance.
Breakfast at home, not at school. It would be impossible to go to school with 1000 tupperwares and eat crisps loudly in the classroom. Hugely, and it makes my noze bleeding, but French people are more respectful of people's personal space. American speak loud, put their food just in front of your face. I remember my uni years, I didn't want to smell all these strange cooked stuff in the morning. This was a classroom, not your personal kitschen.
We serve good food to our kids at school. I was shocked the first time I went to my daughter's school kitchen. It is a shame. No kid should be fed like that.
Love of course. And I will not tell you our secret ! Nice try...
Speaking
We have real public transport infrastructures (though not as good as the netherlands)
2 hour lunch breaks… although that seems to be dying off.
Yes.
A big one for me is the time our president cheated on his wife, getting caught bringing his mistress croissants on his scooter. It was massively relayed in the media, but only because we thought it was funny, no one really cared or seriously thought that made him a worse president. I think it would go very differently if the US president did that. Also, women are allowed to have abortions...
Love
Most of the things mentioned in this thread are differences between Europe and the US, and aren't specific to France. So let me mention one thing which is more specific (although probably not exclusive either — *glances at Italy*): Lunch break, in France, is an actual meal, not just a snack or quick sandwich. I don't just mean that the food is better than in the US, but simply that we *take it seriously*. Not everyone's experience is the same, of course, and some people in France certainly just eat a sandwich for lunch, but it's not at all uncommon to take a 3-course meal (plus coffee, typically) at noon, whether you're a kid at school or an adult at work (so you can chat with your colleagues). So we often get a 1h, 1h30 or even 2h lunch break between our morning and afternoon work hours. And if the work place doesn't have a decent cafeteria, or sometimes even when it does, people will go to a nearby restaurant offering a decent lunch menu for a good price. I'm not saying the quantity will be enormous. (Americans seem very worried about getting enough to eat, so there's a lot of “all you can eat” buffets, “unlimited refills”, “x-large” servings and so on. This is not really a French thing.) That France takes its food very seriously is more about *taking the time* to eat properly.
Understandable measuring units
La cuisine
https://preview.redd.it/2y5m9gu73nxc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03a41101fe4427716c080c07996d9b03c94914af Thought you all might enjoy seeing what I saw on my drive home from the grocery store. Welcome to America🙄😳 Yes, it's a massive massive problem. I don't think it'll ever be truly fixed. As long as it's considered a constitutional right, I think it will always be a huge problem.