Japan Trip!

[Sammbo101]

Avoid FRANCE at all costs! they're terrible! the people there are total snobs, its horrible. not worth the art and culture, that's for sure.

Just by what I know of France, i bet Air France sucks.

[SlowPokemon]

French language sounds cool.

In France, they will get mad for two reasons:
A) You try to speak French but suck at it
B) You speak English

You cannot win. -_-

[Roz~]

French language sounds cool.

In France, they will get mad for two reasons:
A) You try to speak French but suck at it
B) You speak English

You cannot win. -_-

Wtf nonsense. Do you know what actually makes them happy? Hearing a foreigner (trying to) speak French. It's great to see foreigners actually making efforts and try to speak your own language. Who cares if it's not perfect? At least you're trying.

Avoid FRANCE at all costs! they're terrible! the people there are total snobs, its horrible. not worth the art and culture, that's for sure.

Just by what I know of France, i bet Air France sucks.

Let me tell you something: There are snob people everywhere: Canada, USA, France, everywhere. I know a lot of people from France and they're far from being snob. By saying they're all snob you just proved you know nothing about the country.

Also, wtf France bashing.

[Ruto]

My dad doesn't want to take Korean Air right now because of the current situation with NK and SK 

Glad to hear they've updated their planes, I haven't been on a Korean Air flight for 10 years. The last airlines I used were Northwest (AWFUL and no longer exists btw) and Cathay Pacific.

Avoid FRANCE at all costs! they're terrible! the people there are total snobs, its horrible. not worth the art and culture, that's for sure.

...what.

[DrP]

Avoid FRANCE at all costs! they're terrible! the people there are total snobs, its horrible. not worth the art and culture, that's for sure.

Just by what I know of France, i bet Air France sucks.

Um, you're refering people from Paris. According to a survey taken by Departments of Commerce in other European countries, Parisians are the most unwanted tourists, followed by Americans and Chinese. Have you ever been to a European country and see a massive mob of Chinese tourists just swarm into a museum??? that's why they are unwanted.

French language sounds cool.

In France, they will get mad for two reasons:
A) You try to speak French but suck at it
B) You speak English

You cannot win. -_-

If you go to Provence, they actually love it that you're trying to speak French... they love you for it. They may even help you/respond in English for your efforts.

The Map of France is simple: Avoid Ile de France at ALL COSTS... even take another flight after you fly into Paris to Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, etc... or just fly Lufthansa over!

Wtf nonsense. Do you know what actually makes them happy? Hearing a foreigner (trying to) speak French. It's great to see foreigners actually making efforts and try to speak your own language. Who cares if it's not perfect? At least you're trying.

Let me tell you something: There are snob people everywhere: Canada, USA, France, everywhere. I know a lot of people from France and they're far from being snob. By saying they're all snob you just proved you know nothing about the country.

Also, wtf France bashing.

I agree completely... Snobs exist everywhere. Has anyone heard of East Manhattan or little places called Beverly Hills and Hollywood (places along Sunset Blvd and Wilshire Blvd)

[SuperFireKirby]

Also, wtf France bashing.

Hey Roz, how many Germans does it take to screw in a light bulb? One, because that's how many Germans it takes to scare a Frenchman into doing it for him! HARHARHAR

[Jub3r7]

lol Way off topic, I could have sworn this was about a trip that Kefka had 6 months ago.

Also, stereotypes mean nothing. (Except when they do, which is not in this case.)

[DrP]

Hey Roz, how many Germans does it take to screw in a light bulb? One, because that's how many Germans it takes to scare a Frenchman into doing it for him! HARHARHAR

Hey SFK

Why are the streets in Paris so wide??? So the Germans can march through Paris

Why are all the streets in Paris covered with Trees??? So the Germans can march in the shade!

[SuperFireKirby]

How do you confuse a French soldier? Give him a gun and tell him to shoot it.

How do you separate the men from the boys in Paris? With a crowbar.

And on to the Jokes Thread!

[Roz~]

How do you confuse a French soldier? Give him a gun and tell him to shoot it.

How do you separate the men from the boys in Paris? With a crowbar.

And on to the Jokes Thread!

I'm not from France, so I don't really care about what you said Even here we laugh at them for their military losses. So yeah.

[Mashi]

Except for the fact that France was and still is one of the most powerful nations in the world.
Every country has military losses, so I don't understand why France is stereotyped this way, especially in America, since if it weren't for them, we may have lost the Revolutionary War and they gave us the Statue of Liberty too for two common points.

[Roz~]

Except for the fact that France was and still is one of the most powerful nations in the world.
Every country has military losses, so I don't understand why France is stereotyped this way, especially in America, since if it weren't for them, we may have lost the Revolutionary War and they gave us the Statue of Liberty too for two common points.

That's probably because they've never won any war except for maybe the first world war (where they needed help from others countries because Germany managed to invade the northern part of the country). They capitulated during the second world war, lost against England during the battle of the Plains of Abraham, lost against Prussia in what is considered to be the real first world war. The list is a lot more longer than just what I mentioned. Need moar examples?

[Jub3r7]

I thought this topic was about Japan. XD

Wait, I know the solution! Making a "Flame France Thread"... Nevermind. That's stupid.

[Mashi]

They've won a few in the past; their greatness however was usually short lived due to incompetent leaders though, unfortunately.
For your example for World War I, France is right next to Germany, which at the time was also a major power.  It's no surprise that they needed help.
In the French and Indian War, France was up against Britain for control over colonies.  I would presume that Great Britain having one of the greatest navy's the world has ever seen naturally had more ease supplying and sending in troops; I don't remember this war in depth though, so this is merely an educated guess of the situation.
Britain's too pro anyways.
Prussia also was a powerful country, they were practically the new Sparta from what I can remember about them.

But these are recent battles.  France has won quite a few on it's way to become a major power.  There's the Hundred Years' War with England, the Thirty Years' War, the wars fought during the French Revolution, and most likely more that my text book hasn't mentioned. Naturally, there were other wars between these that France had failed in (Habsburg-Valois Wars with the Holy Roman Empire (Which was made up of Spain, which had one of the strongest armies at it's time, Austria, the Netherlands, parts of Italy, and a whole bunch of other powerful lands and nation; plus they were fighting Charles V who's totally the best leader ever) where they failed to win, but the fact that they were actually able to stay a major power after these losses is amazing.
In fact, shortly after the Thirty Years' War, once France received the Spanish throne, all the major powers of Europe went to war with France.  Granted, this was mostly in part because Louis XIV is the worst ruler ever, but nonetheless, the fact that the European powers were fighting solely France and were struggling, even by a bit, it really does show how powerful a nation they had become.

However, I will admit that power in France tends to fluctuate from time to time.  France may not always be on top, but the French always find a way to climb up the ladder when they're down, which is possible more impressive than winning a war at times.  Many other nations were torn apart, while some nations were demolished, such as their forever rival, the Austrian Empire.  First beginning as the Holy Roman Empire, fell apart when it lost Germany and became Austria-Hungary, and then broke apart once more into Austria.  Then countries such as Poland-Lithuania and Ukraine also split apart in Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine.  There was also most of Ireland seceding from Great Britain and a bunch more.  So as far as staying together, I think France did a marvelous job in that effect.


And I wouldn't want to say anything derogatory of any other nation, but there are much weaker nations and countries than France that have faced even worse losses.  Perhaps France is the weakest major power, but they're definitely the most persistent for always being able to recover from any damage they've received.  For example, they were one of the first European nations to get out of the recession, and they currently have the 5th (4th?  Something around there) best economy in the world I believe.  I'll have to check though.

[DrP]

Epic statement about European History!

You just proved a major point... amazing. That can probably warrant a 5 on the AP Euro test!!!

And Technically, when Poland-Lithuania split up, the land went to Prussia, Austria and Russia. (Currently, though it encompasses more of those countries than the ones you listed)

France today maintains power with a moderately-sized army/navy/air force that is the 3rd largest in Europe, after the UK and Germany. Their economic exploits have proven to be exemplary, by using traditional forms of Economics to get them out of the slightly large hole they fell in to, for example using Monetary and Fiscal Policies to drop unemployment. France is very protective of their citizens and makes sure they have a job upon passing the BAC and making sure they keep a job until retirement, not to mention they get like 1 month paid vacation every year... no furlough days like here in the United States. France has the 5th largest economy, following the US, China, Japan and Germany. (If California was in there, it would move France to 6th)... the UK is actually in 6th, so you can say that France is doing better than the UK in this sense. France was just able to get their act together for once while the US suffered massive employment casualties, as well as the banking Crisis in Greece, which is nearly over, but now that Ireland caught the Banking Cold that Greece had, it isn't turning out so well, luckily Ireland was able to start course correction and continue forward. Luckily for US here in the United States, the Unemployment rate is slowly dropping .1-.2%, perhaps will drop down to 7% by end of FY 2011. We just need to repeal some of the issued funds from the 2009 Bailout that weren't used and we need to repeal some elements of the Health Care reform bill to begin our course correction to exponential growth.

I do respect France, a lot, mostly for what has happened in the past (minus a few spots in time) and for they way they're heading in the future. France's name reputation would increase a lot if Paris wasn't included.

I do have more stuff, but I has other things I have to do -- I am in college after all!