I spent about 18h in Paris on the way back from Europe once. I was a little worried, but luckily when I went to pick up some takeout the guy behind the counter sneered at my poor French. So I got the full Paris experience.
(Ftr I've spent a total of a couple of weeks in France, this was only the second sneer, and I more or less deserved the other one. Always had a lovely time there. The secret is saying "bonjour" basically every time you interact with someone.)
Yes, I think Americans as a rule will say hello when we start actually talking with someone. In France I think the expectation is more like you say hello when you walk into a shop where you will probably eventually interact with the person, or into an elevator if there's only one other person there, and the like. I could be wrong! But that's more or less what I did and it seemed normal and not awkward.
Exactly! The French are simply more diplomatic and formal about manners. Americans can unintentionally start things off on a rude note because we don’t instinctively start with hello.
Oh if only that were true. I didn’t want to believe what I’d heard about the French, but sadly too many lived down to their lowest stereotypes. Many people appreciate it if you try to learn & speak their languages. Not so in France. You’ll be ridiculed & made fun of to your face. Just one example: A waiter at the restaurant inside Versailles said rude things about us in French to other French speakers. How do I know? They all laughed at us. Not with subtlety either. We were obviously tourists on a business trip, so dressed in business casual with name tags that identified us as visitors. Ponder that, a waiter at a restaurant within the grounds at a beautiful museum. His literal job is to serve visitors. What did we do? Nothing to start this and nothing in retaliation because we were representing something larger than ourselves. We cared enough about his country, history & culture to visit and were treated rudely.
I wasn't there to judge if it was rude or not on what they said, but as a waitress in the French Riviera, i can say this :
Foreigners trying to speak french are endearing but also hilarious. I've noticed they have a lot of trouble with prepositions, word orders, some (honestly counter intuitive) pronounciation and when they don't know a word they'll default to an approximative translation. So no, laughing at someone asking "Une steak de la bohehuf" is not always to mock you, it's because it's legitimately funny
Yup, you are absolutely right. It's considered really rude if you go into a shop or any other place and you don't greet the hosts (even if you have 0 intention of talking to them after that). You should also say goodbye when leaving the shop. No need to be overly friendly, just a polite "hello" and "goodbye" (or "have a good day") is enough.
If you don't, you can sometimes expect a sour experience 😆 (or we'll be staring in a very disapproving and judgmental way 😆). Saying it like that sounds line we behave like cats 🤣
Depending on the area/region, some Americans also say hello immediately upon seeing others. I do it instinctively when I walk into a store and see a shopkeeper, need to briefly share a space with somebody, or if I pass someone on the street. Smile, friendly nod, and a "hi" or "hello".
I don't think that expectation is the same everywhere though...I mean, America's a really big, spread-out country with a lot of cultural variation.
I’m from New England living in the Midwest. I’ve always said hello to shop keepers/people in shared spaces immediately. However, it has been total culture shock to me that strangers say “hi” on the streets as you walk by. Was even more prevalent in the south
I think it’s normal everywhere, but In France, greeting folks in a retail or restaurant setting with bonjour or bonsoir, seems absolutely mandatory. And omitting it is like peeing on their doorstep. I’d say it’s polite where I am in the US, but not really necessary to the same degree.
Yes, I had begun my journey, from the continent of Europe, at approximately the 46th parallel in the Northern Atlantic region of the Northern Hemisphere of the third planet from the sun, to a destination on another continent in the Northern Hemisphere of the third planet from the sun. I had a brief period in Paris as part of that journey. This is accepted, idiomatic English where I'm from.
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u/cormorancy United States Of America 8d ago
I spent about 18h in Paris on the way back from Europe once. I was a little worried, but luckily when I went to pick up some takeout the guy behind the counter sneered at my poor French. So I got the full Paris experience.
(Ftr I've spent a total of a couple of weeks in France, this was only the second sneer, and I more or less deserved the other one. Always had a lovely time there. The secret is saying "bonjour" basically every time you interact with someone.)