according to the British, anyway
Poll: French people hostile, dull, stingy
Updated 5/21/2006 11:32 AM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this




-- The Daily Telegraph editorial




The French were voted the world's most unfriendly nation by a landslide in a British poll published on Saturday. They were also voted the most boring and most ungenerous.
A decisive 46% of the 6,000 people surveyed by travelers' website Where Are You Now said the French were the most unfriendly nation people on the planet, British newspapers reported.

Germans have no to reason to celebrate the damning verdict. They came second on all three counts.

The website's French founder, Jerome Touze, told the papers he had been stunned by the thumping condemnation of his compatriots and sought to blame it on Gallic love-struck sulking.

"I had no idea that the French would emerge as such an unfriendly country," he said."I think our romantic 'moodiness' is misunderstood and I will be sure to pass on the message to my family and friends back in France to be a bit more cheerful to tourists in the future."

Italy was voted the world's most cultured nation with the best cuisine, while the United States was named the most unstylish with the worst food.

The British did not feature in the top 10 of any of the categories.

"The British fit in nowhere — good or bad. It appears that we are so completely average that the voters did not include us in any category," the tabloid Daily Express commented."And to our shame, 4% of respondents — all British of course — said they would only talk to other Britons when they are abroad."

This unwillingness to talk to the locals appears to go hand in hand with respondents' perceptions of foreigners.

While most said Spain was the foreign country where they would most like to live, they said the Spaniards were nearly as unfriendly and ungenerous as the French.

To add insult to injury, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph put the boot in on Saturday by saying in an editorial that the French smell bad.

"The French may like to think that Chanel No 5 is their scent but we all know that garlic and stale Gitanes are much more representative."

Copyright 2006 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted 5/21/2006 11:30 AM ET
Updated 5/21/2006 11:32 AM ET
[Edited 5/23/06 10:42am]

meltwithu said:

whoa. don't be shy. tell us how you REALLY feel

pompous limeys

Thanks for posting.

XxAxX said:

virginie74 said:

hell, british or french, you're lucky you're in europe

when did france move to chicago?

As an American I have to say that's something, for the English to criticize someone else's food!

I had no problems in France. Everyone seemed to be nice.

That always happens to me though. People told me horror stories about France and New York. I've been to both and had a great time.


M

new yorkers are very polite. just don't act like the world is your living room, and you'll get along just fine.

SammiJ said:

co-limey!

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

People in NYC were awesome. It gets a bad rap. Chicago does too.