Mucky

perhaps you had toilet paper trailing from your skirt..

;-)

Muck

ira

Hi Janis,

>...you can hear American voices all the way across the terrace.<

May I suggest that it is because you are an American (or United Statesian as another thread would have it)?

Since your ear is attuned to American English, it stands out above all other sounds.

francophile03

I read that the Parisians stare if they admire you, your clothes, your jewelry, etc. I guess that can be true in many cases, but I'm sure many stare because they are critical. A long stare as moxie describes sounds like an effective cure for their stares.

Woody

This thread reminded me of some sage advice in Sandra Gustafson's "Great Eats Paris" book.

"The French can spot Americans in any dining establishment without looking: they are the ones with the loud, booming voices that seem to carry out into the street. If you want to blend in and not look like a green tourist, keep your voice down."

Woody

janis

ira: I'm sure there is a bit of that (my ear being attuned to American voices) - but in general -- and I DO mean this as a generalization - Americans do talk louder than many other nationalities.

I lived outside of the US for several years and am pretty attuned to many/most accents.

I am not the first one who has noticed this - look at the quote from Woody/Sandra G. It is not that we are trying to be rude - but many Americans are loud and demonstrative w/o even being aware.

My point was that staring once or twice - it's just probably a rude diner(s). But if it happens again and again - arriba may be doing something to cause it. But heck - I don't think we yet know if the OP is American so this may not apply at all.

.

ahotpoet

Hopscotch
You are my kind of voyageur!
Arriba: The proximity of tables in France and Italy has on occasion led to some very interesting encounters. If you want to learn if the starer is friend or foe I suggest you raise your glass in salute to the person and gauge the reaction. If they smile and do the same it may be just enough to acknowlegde their presence. Sometimes they are just daydreaming. Rudeness on your part only can make it worse.

crefloors

Maybe the loud, booming American voice aren't all our fault. I don't know if this is an American thing, but there are so many restaurants that I have gone to and will never return because it is so loud in them that I have to shout at my table mates all through the meal. It seems the "new decor" is, high industrial ceilings, concrete, hardwood, or tile floors, concrete walls and loud "background" music. So we are maybe all used to screaming at each other over our meal?

LoveItaly

Crefloors I agree with you. SF especially has such noisy restaurants that the SF Chronical includes the noise factor in their ratings. It is irritating to not be able to hold a decent and quiet conversation while dining.

Spygirl

It seems whenever I go someplace in Europe, I notice Germans, Russians and OTHER EUROPEANS with the loudest voices, and getting the looks-I think some of the information contained in those books/guides talking about American travelers' behavior overseas is rather outdated, and way overly-generalized, to say the least.

And Arriba-this happens to me frequently as well, but not just in Paris, other places in Europe, and many times in the US. It's odd-many times with women, who aren't being purposely nasty, I think, but, just STARING AT ME. Did no one teach these people any manners, I think constantly to myself? And I have a number of techniques to deal with it, some of which have been mentioned here, the direct haughty stare back, mumbling something, and then speaking to your companion and looking back at them, and oh yes, if you're by yourself, and you happen to have a newspaper, (this works partic. well if you are the recipient of the cold and sometimes, rather malevolent stare on a metro, but equally well with the cold stare at the table) - throw up your newspaper in front of your face and start reading it holding it up with both hands! This works like a dream-you can feel the stare burning through-and how they know you've cut them off them without saying a word!

francophile03

I need to try your second suggestion, Spygirl. I'll walk with a newspaper for sure. Otherwise, I'll reciprocate by staring and see if I can outstare the offender.

arriba

Thanks to all who posted. I don't mind people glancing or looking around the room, who doesn't do that? What has really annoyed me is a neighbor craning his neck to face me(he was seated beside me), never averting his gaze and TOTALLY ingnoring his companion! I always wonder what the neglected dinner partner is thinking while being ignored! We have struck up conversations with people seated near us and have received some very good restaurant tips like that, so it is not that we are being overly sensitive.
I like the suggestion to raise a glass and smile and watch the result!

Beatchick

Oh, in that case, arriba, I would have talked to the neglected companion while pointedly ignoring the starer - LOL!

AnthonyGA

I've never noticed any tendency of French people to stare. Then again, I don't spend my time looking at them to see if they are staring at me.

Americans are definitely louder than the locals. They can be recognized by how loudly they are talking even _before_ one recognizes the language, so it's not a matter of having one's ear attuned to a particular language. You can often hear Americans on the street from twenty feet away, whereas it's hard to hear what French people are saying unless you are right next to them. Sometimes in restaurants it's easier for me to hear Americans four tables away than it is to hear the French person sitting at my own table.

ira

Hi arriba,

I thinnk that you had two people out on a date that wasn't working out, or a couple that has been married too long.

I suggest that they weren't staring at you, but had withdrwan into themselves and were simply staring blankly at nothing in particular.

jules4je7

I was born in Brazil, and live in Denver where Spanish abounds alongside English, and I've managed to learn enough Spanish that I now call my Portuguese "Sportuguese".

However, I was in a grocery store and heard a language, but hadn't heard Portuguese in so long in public, I had to listen for a minute to nail it for sure. I found myself watching the woman for a moment, and she caught me. Redhanded.

I busted into Portuguese and asked if she was from Brazil. She laughed, and we had a great time talking for a few minutes. She just arrived in Denver from a city near mine in Brazil. She sure was thrilled to hear her own language out of a stranger. She probably got a false sense of thinking there are people like me wandering around America who speak Portguese all though time though, LOL.

Relax, sometimes people stare at you because they're just trying to verify the language. If you get the sense that it's rude, I'd take up the Ferris Bueller "Scorching CASE OF HERPES" and see where it get you, but you might find a lot MORE people are listening than you thought! LOL

Good luck,

Jules