Tipping in France
 

Sorry if this sounds dumb but am wondering how much to tip a hotel person for bringing an ironing board & iron to my room in Paris.

Dependes on the hotel, but give the same amount you would give here, like is euros and dollars are worth the same

The French term for a tip is good: pourboire, meaning "for drinking". The implication is that a tip is the price of a drink, and that is often the appropriate amount to tip for an extra service, two or three euros.

I'm with Graziella, though, in saying it depends on the hotel. You have to interpret the particular circumstances.

OMG, Padraig, you know, I've known that word "pourboire" almost all my life and I never once associated it with its obvious meaning! Thank you for that!

Reminds me of when I was reading out loud in English class in about 7th grade and pronounced the word "misled" like "my-zled," and the whole class started roaring with laughter. Well, I'd known the word forever, but had never heard it pronounced. And "my-zled" just seemed like such an appropriate pronounciation!

StCirq, join the club. I did exactly the same thing - and I think it was first year HS (i.e. 7th grade) too. I was mortally embarrassed. This is creepy!

And I did it in 5th grade when there was an earthquake in Chile and I pronounced it like it's spelled in English, not Chili.

My husband, never having heard the word before, pronounced pseudo as swado. My downfall is proper names I've never heard pronounced--so the first time I saw Wagner I said it the way's it's spelled.

"way," of course. Sorry.

I also have to thank Padraig for that tip about pourboire. A real "Aha!" moment for me. Sort of like saying, as I've learned here on Fodors, "and one for yourself."

Underhill wrote: "the first time I saw Wagner I said it the way's it's spelled."

Which is the right way, of course! Provided that you remember that it is spelled in German.

I suppose my name causes trouble to many of the Anglophones here.

It does for me. I am going to guess:

It is pronounced "Pat-rick"

The other one that confused me for a long time was Siobhan..am I right in thinking that this is "Sha-vahn"?

ekscrunchy, pronouncing my name is a similar challenge to that Underhill had with Wagner. You need to get your head around the spelling and phonics of another language.

Rough representation: PAW-rick.

You came closer with Siobhan: SHIV-awn.

Is the name "Padraic" another variation?

Thank you. Padraig, I have one more question that I think you can answer for me. Pardon the use of not-nice language: In my reading of Irish authors, I often come across the word, "shite." Is this pronounced like the word without the final "e" that we use in American English? You cannot imagine how many years have wondered about this! Thanks again.

Oh, and one more. The word, "whinging." would this be pronounced as "wine-ing?"

Padraig - I, too, had never thought aboyut the word "pourboire" but I wonder how you got the jump to "The implication is that a tip is the price of a drink". I would think that the word simply means "for a drink or for drinking" implying you arte paying something for drinking.
It would sure solve a lot of France tipping arguments if you were right. I just haven't found any etymology support for that.

Goodness! Sorry suzy, but this seems to have become my personal thread.

Dukey, yes, the two forms are spelling variants. To get more exact, the first "a" in each should be accented thus: á. I don't use that online, because not everybody's software setup handles it. There may be people reading this who do not see an accented "a".

ekscrunchy, don't apologise to me for using such language. We Irish (most of us) are less offended by rude words than are most Americans. We pronounce it to rhyme with "white". Because we like variety in language, we also use the "shit" alternative.

"Whinging" is pronounced to rhyme with "singe" + "ing" The leading "wh" is as in "what".

robjame, it might be more accurate if I said that I made an inference rather than that somebody else -- the whole French nation, perhaps -- made an implication. I think the inference is reasonable, though, and it is consistent with my experience as a frequent traveller to France.

Padraig - well I like your inference and I'm sticking with it! LOL
StCirq - BTW - one of those words for me was hatred - pronounced it hat-red in English class and took me weeks to live it down

The cute things as a result of language, I'm from Quebec and had a group visitting boeing in seattle, instead of saying I'm sorry I'm late the francophone said I'm sorry for being a retard, as in french retard is LATE needless to say the boeing folks had to crawl back in their chairs after laughing.

Padraig thank you so much. I have been wondering about those two words for years! (The other one I read a lot is "eejit," but I am guessing that one is pronounced as it reads.)

I read an article on a French website that did say the origin of the word pourboire was meant to be about the price of a drink, as it was the idea of offering someone a drink in thanks for a good job, or at least the price of that drink. However, that was in the 19th century, so who knows what that would translate to today, and it also wasn't in relation to all situations, just one (servers in restaurants, cafes, etc., which is why the drink thing came in). So I don't think you can take the literal meaning of that word from the 19th century and say that's what it should be today in reference to bring something to your room in a hotel or under all circumstances, as that wasn't its origins.