http://tinyurl.com/2gvxq4

Loved the article, thanks for sharing

Deborah

I'm going to miss her takes on Paris.

Thanks. I enjoyed the article and will keep the advice in mind as I return for my longer term stay next month.

gg

Thank you! Oh, to be in Paris.....

I suppose these things don't matter much for those of us who are only short terms visitors, but the article certainly does contradict those who deny that they matter at all. As does experience, of course.

Cute article! Gotta love the French!

Loved it. She was a college pal of mine.

Well the next time a senior French foreign ministry official, the Swedish ambassador, and the French deputy treasury secretary stop by to talk to me when I'm out in my neighborhood which happens to be "not just any street... [but] one of the most chic places to see and be seen", I'll be sure to keep her advice in mind.

What was the point of that particular anecdote anyway? She was caught in sloppy clothes. Whenever I have to make a quick trip downtown, straight from the barn in my riding togs, I can guarantee I will run into everyone I know. So that's what happened to her. So what? Was her passport revoked? Was she given the cut direct? No, they all still talked to her. And she didn't know until THEN that the French look down on sloppy dress more than many Americans do? Wow, her investigative journalism skills are impressive.

Geez, I'm sorry, but parts of this article sound like a parody of pretentiousness and name-dropping(hers, not the French) and there is "no there, there". She doesn't say anything that hasn't been said MANY times before in books like "French or Foe" or "Almost French".

Pas mal, can also mean 'quite a few'

I agree, it is horribly pretentious.

But you have to like the butcher draped in saucisson.

That would be saucisses, not saucissons, which are dry.

P.E.D.A.N.T.

thanks! these are definitely wet.

Anyway, I was just pretentiously looking for an excuse to say "saucissons," which you must also admit is a lovely word.

St. Cirq: Sorry to be dense, but if you absolutely must ask, for example in a restaurant, what word(s) do you use for the bathroom, "w.c."?

Thanks!

"C’est combien ces six saucissons-ci?
C’est six sous ces six saucissons-ci?
Six sous ceux-ci, six sous ceux-là.
C’est six sous, ces six saucissons-là."

Veh Ceh.

Toilettes is not a rude word at all.

Hi, ekscrunchy.

I honestly don't know what she was talking about. I've never said anything other than "Ou sont les toilettes, SVP?"

The piece is caricature. It takes some aspects of French (more Parisian, really) mores, and exaggerates them for humourous effect. Yes, there is a grain of truth in it, but it should not be taken seriously.

To be fair to the writer, I think she clearly intends it as fun rather than guidance.

I completely agree, Padraig. She's a very well-known and accomplished writer and not pretentious in the least. This was meant to be humorous.