France is a Latin country, and as such, any casual conversation between men and women is assumed to be an attempt at a pick-up. Men talk to women mainly for the purpose of initiating sexual relationships, and women assume that any man talking to them has this purpose in mind.

If you're a woman, and a French man talks to you spontaneously, it's safe to take for granted that he is trying to pick you up. If you speak to a French man, he will assume that you are inviting a pick-up. If you're a man, and you speak to a French woman, she'll assume that you're trying to pick her up; and she is unlikely to talk to you unless she is inviting a pick-up, since she knows how it works with French men.

This aspect of the culture can be good or bad, depending on what you're looking for during your visit to France. The absence of platonic interactions between the sexes may be good if you don't want people of the opposite sex to "just be friends," but it may also be bad if platonic friendships are exactly what you're trying to initiate. In any case, it's quite a contrast with countries such as the US or UK where platonic friendships between the sexes are far easier to establish (for better or for worse).

Antony, that is so true! I've found myself in hot water more than once after innocently (I thought) chatting with French guys. They could get quite indignant when they realised that I was just being polite/friendly and had no intention of going home with them. ("mais pourquoi tu m'as parlé alors?&quot.

One of the classic lines that guys would come out with was "Quand est-ce qu'on se revoit?" - when will we see each other again? which seemed to be taken as a given if you spent more than 2 minutes talking to them.

Mind you, I can't be totally impervious to the Gallic charm - my husband is French!

good morning!
111op, I think Robespierre is right for "se coucher" but it is different from "coucher avec", in that case Mickael is right.
you can also say "je vais coucher les enfants" ou "je vais mettre les enfants au lit" (same meaning, I'm going to put the children to bed)

so "se coucher" "coucher avec" and "coucher quelqu'un" are all different!
hanl I'm not surprised your husband is French when I read your perfect french!

Anthony, very interesting analysis and quite true (not all the French men are like that fortunately!)
have a nice day!

I researched this about 40 years ago, but I must perforce acknowledge that my sources weren't authoritative - an 18 year old boy and a Parisian whore.

But isn't anyone going to mention ending a sentence with a proposition?

I went to see Robert Bresson's "Pickpocket" last night, and I was thinking that the last line almost works as a "pickup line."

"Oh, Jeanne, what a strange way I had to take to meet you!"

People who've seen this movie may appreciate the humor in this.

Unfortunately the French was sort of over my head. It'd been nice to find the original quote in French, but I can't locate a source in French.

If someone has this on DVD or knows what the quote is in French, I'd appreciate it.

Anthony, or anyone....I have a question regarding the suggestion that that men don't associate casually with women unless it is a proposition of some kind. Does this also hold true in social atmospheres such as jazz clubs? My Mom and I went alone to a jazz club last year in Paris. We were quickly asked to dance by two gentlemen who were obvious good dancers and both were single. My Mom also danced with a French man that was there with his wife. Are two married women alone asking for trouble going some place like this? WE had no problems leaving the fellows behind! But, you got me to thinking.