I don't find alot of this true

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/fa...mp;oref=slogin

Hi C,

I think that this has been the subject of another thread.

Please, when you have a long URL take it to www.tinyurl.com and have it shortened.

Long URLs mess up the formatting here on Fodors.

This is in today's N.Y. Times.
Thanks for your usual comments towards me

"Long" URL????? It doesn't even wrap around unless you reply to the post...

I replied to the post, Dukey.

>This is in today's N.Y. Times.<

OK. It's new to the NYT, but I recall a recent post regarding teaching Americans about proper manners in France, which was also full of misinformation.

I think that it was http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34918423

I didn't read the entire thing but, at every restaurant I ate in, the waiter said "bon appitit" when putting my plate in front of me. I did notice that in places like Monoprix etc., as people were going through the line, they always greated the cashier. I followed suit. I was bon jouring all over the place and it seemed that most of the french did that also.

It's interesting reading both this article and the one referred to in the previous thread. Apparently there is enough controversy about proper French etiquette that the same information or misinformation was posted by two unrelated authors in two unrelated papers. This gives more validity to the assertions in the articles.

>the same information or misinformation was posted by two unrelated authors in two unrelated papers. This gives more validity to the assertions in the articles. <

Not necessarily, Nikki.

One author might be copying from the other, or they might both be copying from someone wlse.

In doing research for my one and only venture into writing a textbook, I discovered that all of the ones in my field had exactly the same error.

I was able to trace it to a misprint in the 1932 edition of a book by a famous person, who died soon after that edition was published and couldn't correct it.

Ira: that is so true! I have a stack of books beside me with Paris restaurant reviews, and I've been using some websites, too, and I keep seeing the same sentences. At first I thought I was nuts, but I did some double checking, and there were things on the web that were lifted from books and newspapers. Now, if any of that info was wrong, it sure got passed around.

Also, when I was writing the Tuscan Life Newsletter, I would do research in English, and often find misinformation, and often find the same misinformation, in almost the same words, in a few (or several) places.

I read both those articles, and unless things have changed drastically since my last visit, about 2.5 years ago, they certainly did not seem accurate.

I take it back, I mistook the Times article for another that I had recently read. My apologies.

This writer reads like a Polly Platt wanabee whose remarks do not apply to the average person. My French friends always appreciate the wines we bring, unlike Platt's friends who have wine cellars. I never have seen anyone eat sorbet with a folk. Hear Bon Appeitie alot and see peole leave the table to use the toilette.

This certainly is an in topic - much of what was in this article seems to be from a series on the French 1 o'clock news.

My friends too say Bon Appetit, but apparently in high society, which we don't find much of in our village, it is frowned upon, as the appetite is closely related to the stomach - digestion- intestines - not acceptable in polite society.

The best part of the table manners ddiscussion was around who fills the wine glass - always your neighbour - assuming that is, that you're a woman. The man should be aware that his neighbour need a refill, and look after her. If he's a little slow, you can fiddle with the glass a bit, to get his attention - but if he still doesn't, you may just have to accept that he hasnt been well borught up - and not sink to his level by asking for more wine. One trainee in etiquette did point out that of course if the person next to you was an American, he might not know that this was his job!

My husband assures me that it's easier for the man who wants a refill, as he just offers some to the lady next to him, and while he has the bottle in his hand, gives him own glass a top up.