What do you know about France?

[Treeglow Flicker 13,015]

I went to France on a week long school trip back during secondary school years a go. I enjoyed it and know that it gave me some good memories. One of my friends at the time accidentally asked for cheese flavoured ice cream when our French teacher insisted he tried ordering it in French. Then there was a boy I didn't really get on with who got slapped in the face by a French girl. As for the country itself, I've learned quite a bit about its history. I know quite a bit about its general geography. But I'm not actually familiar with its modern culture. I definitely wouldn't mind visiting again someday though.

Oh yeah. Additionally, I know my dad got arrested in France years ago. I think it might have been before I was born or when I was really young. But he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a friend of his started a fight and he happened to be there trying to intervene. He ended up spending a night or two in a French police cell. One of his many stories he used to tell me.

[Cash In 21,509]

I took French for three years in school, so I know about tbe country and its culture. The cuisine is amazing. Definitely a place that I'd like to visit at some point.

[Envy 5,998]

1 hour ago, You said:

Antique synonym in English...hautboy?

Which is funny, because Haut means skin in German.

The instrument is called hautbois in French, and it means "high wood".

[Denim&Venöm 16,503]

-Food: Outside of the usual baguette joke, Nutella, lots of cheese and of course the superior vanilla.

-City/Region: Verdun, Grenoble, Bayonne

-Actor: Andre Rusimov 

-Singer/musician: Gojira

-Brands: Garnier, Lucroix, 

-Shows: Totally Spies, Code Lyoko 

-Anything else you wanna add, opinions or anything really: France doesn't get nearly enough credit for being a dominant military and world power after the 17th century. People only see the quick surrender to Germany, but ignore the fact that it kept your country mostly in tact and not like, y'know, Poland. 

Oh and thanks for the little assist during that whole revolution debacle. 

[SparklingSwirls 21,261]

I went to France in 2017 and had fun! I was going to study abroad in Rouen this semester or next semester, but of course that’s been cancelled. Planning to go there for grad school. I’m not a big fan of Paris (too big) but would love to visit Grenoble, Lille, or Strasbourg perhaps.

I used to study French, have gotten a bit lazy with it though. I like French but I wish the government would be more supportive of regional languages, such as Breton. 

French food is my favorite type of food and I love foie gras even though you’re not supposed to eat it . Well supposedly there is a humane way to make it but it’s too expensive.

I like the movie “Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis”!

Edited October 16, 2020 by SparklingSwirls

[Cursed-Fate 234]

6 hours ago, Olly said:

M83 and Jean-luc Godard are from france and I love them-  Ben Bocquelet too, gumball is like my favorite cartoon. Tons of people I adore living or dead-  Rimbaud, and Charles Baudelaire. France is also home to some of the greatest architectural achievements of mankind, Versailles of course, the louvre etc. Yeah nothing but love for france. BUT your language is a pain to learn (at least pronunciation) too many silent letters.

Yeah, pretty much France In a nutshell

[Cursed-Fate 234]

4 hours ago, You said:

Women

They got very, very weird bathrooms.

Huuuh, how so?

4 hours ago, Midnight Danny said:

"Bonjour" that's everything i know 

Bonjour to you too

4 hours ago, Scar said:

France was once one of the largest empires and most powerful nations that existed in Earth's history with very talented and gluttonous leaders. Their revolutions were quite violent and they never had any sort of backbone after their monarchy fell. Republics can't really stand up to Monarchies and their society declined after their King fell. The revolutionaries were a bunch of violent thugs with somewhat reasonable goals, but violent means.

And France, I find this alternate map interesting.



And as for France's flag, it's a bit bland. I would like it to be like this. 

Ohhh, France was indeed quite the power house in the past

4 hours ago, IronM17 said:

What I know about our neighbours from france besides the fact that you currently has in my opinion the best football team in the moment and the long hystory of war and later teamwork between france and germany.

Food: Ratatoulle is I guess the most common (at least for me). I have not that big knowledge about french food to be honest. I know some cheee sorts like Camembert or some drinks like champagner. And Baguette of course.

Cities besides Paris: Marseille, Nice, Strasbourg (only City in france I visited for now), Ajaccio, Perpignan, Bayonne, Carcassonne, Lyon, Metz, Rennes, Nantes, Nimes, Brest, Bordeaux, Toulon, Toulouse and Montpellier (I hope I wright them all correct)

Actor: Gerard Depardieu and Jean Reno

Football players: Mbappe, Pogba, Zidane, Barthez, Emmanuel Petit, Deschamps, Ribery, Valbuena, Benzema, Gruiezmann, Giroud, Lloris and as a Köln Fan of course Anthony Modeste. 

Car Brands: Citroen, Renault and Peugeot

I also know that France has several for me interesting mountain ranges: Jura Mountains, Alps, Massif Central, Ardennes, Vosges and the Pyrenees

That is all what I know at the moment. 

Oh dear, you're very informed on what France has

[Splashee 28,537]

3 hours ago, Will Guide said:

If it wasn't for covid-19, me and my family would have gone to Paris France this past May and while I would get to see Disneyland Paris, they get to see all the wondrous landmarks.

I have been there! Sometimes I forget I have been to France twice in my life time, one tile to see all the things, and the second time to have fun in Disneyland!

[Cursed-Fate 234]

9 hours ago, Envy said:

France is one of my top favorite locales for early music, classical music, and music history.

Firstly I have to start with the fact that my main instrument, the oboe, was invented there in the 17th century. So, yeah, that's a BIG one!

France is my favorite location for medieval music. Guillaume de Machaut is easily the composer from the middle ages that I listen to the most. Even people not into early music may know "Douce Dame Jolie". That's Machaut. Such excellent music. Here are a couple of my favorites:

The formes fixes (Virelai, Rondeau, Ballade) that Machaut composed a lot of works in, had influence throughout medieval Europe, so even some non-French music I listen to use these French forms or regional variations of them.

Before Germans like Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, there were some important French Baroque composers, as well, such as Jean-Baptiste Lully. In addition, one of J.S. Bach's signature composition features is borrowing features from music from other countries. The French Overture (distinguished by a slow section followed by a faster imitative section) was one such feature that Bach borrowed in some of his music from what I remember. Here's one of Lully's. It is a jam.

Alright. So I wanted to spoiler these, but the spoiler tag has never worked properly for me on these forums, so I'm really cutting down on the number of music examples I wanted to give. =( The last thing I wanted to talk about is French Impressionism, impeccably beautiful music. In fact, it is hard to find other comparisons of music that could rival its beauty.

French Impressionism is characterized by extended harmonies and modality, tossing aside the bombast of Romanticism and getting down to making music purely beautiful. Composers like Debussy drew from lots of sources when making their music, including Early Music and Far Eastern (sorry for using that term) music.

 

Oh wow, you know quite a lot about french classical and medieval music, it's impressive I'm glad it's part of my culture as, indeed, it is a great source of vibes

9 hours ago, Treeglow Flicker said:

I went to France on a week long school trip back during secondary school years a go. I enjoyed it and know that it gave me some good memories. One of my friends at the time accidentally asked for cheese flavoured ice cream when our French teacher insisted he tried ordering it in French. Then there was a boy I didn't really get on with who got slapped in the face by a French girl. As for the country itself, I've learned quite a bit about its history. I know quite a bit about its general geography. But I'm not actually familiar with its modern culture. I definitely wouldn't mind visiting again someday though.

Oh yeah. Additionally, I know my dad got arrested in France years ago. I think it might have been before I was born or when I was really young. But he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a friend of his started a fight and he happened to be there trying to intervene. He ended up spending a night or two in a French police cell. One of his many stories he used to tell me.

School trip in France, sounds lovely, and I'm happy you got to have some nice memories of it. But even I never tried cheese ice. Your dad sounds like a nice guy 

[Cursed-Fate 234]

7 hours ago, Creative Username said:

I took French for three years in school, so I know about tbe country and its culture. The cuisine is amazing. Definitely a place that I'd like to visit at some point.

Ohh, nice, but if you do visit it, even if I do admit that Paris is the go to place if you go to France for tourism, the other regions are worthy of attention

6 hours ago, Denim&Venöm said:

-Food: Outside of the usual baguette joke, Nutella, lots of cheese and of course the superior vanilla.

-City/Region: Verdun, Grenoble, Bayonne

-Actor: Andre Rusimov 

-Singer/musician: Gojira

-Brands: Garnier, Lucroix, 

-Shows: Totally Spies, Code Lyoko 

-Anything else you wanna add, opinions or anything really: France doesn't get nearly enough credit for being a dominant military and world power after the 17th century. People only see the quick surrender to Germany, but ignore the fact that it kept your country mostly in tact and not like, y'know, Poland. 

Oh and thanks for the little assist during that whole revolution debacle. 

Nutella is actually an Italian product, I didn't know that either. I get gojira a lot from non french peps, I didn't think they were that famous they do good stuff tho. And yeah, we had the most military wins throughout history, much sad that we are only cheese eating surrendering monkeys

[Cursed-Fate 234]

6 hours ago, SparklingSwirls said:

I went to France in 2017 and had fun! I was going to study abroad in Rouen this semester or next semester, but of course that’s been cancelled. Planning to go there for grad school. I’m not a big fan of Paris (too big) but would love to visit Grenoble, Lille, or Strasbourg perhaps.

I used to study French, have gotten a bit lazy with it though. I like French but I wish the government would be more supportive of regional languages, such as Breton. 

French food is my favorite type of food and I love fois gras even though you’re not supposed to eat it . Well supposedly there is a humane way to make it but it’s too expensive.

I like the movie “Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis”!

Bienvenue chez les ch'tis' a great movie  also yeah, Sras is annoying everyone, as Renaud would say, Corona virus, conard de virus

[Quinch 1,119]

Hmmm.. off the top of my head;

Up until the Second Big One, France was winning wars left and right.

Heavy user of nuclear energy {yay!}

Influenced a lot of modern comicbook styles {with "franco-belgian" being a specific thing}.

 

[Lucky Bolt 34,914]

Paris, Eiffel Tower, the colors of the flag, hmmm....pasta. Or is that Italy...? 

[Cursed-Fate 234]

2 hours ago, Quinch said:

Hmmm.. off the top of my head;

Up until the Second Big One, France was winning wars left and right.

Heavy user of nuclear energy {yay!}

Influenced a lot of modern comicbook styles {with "franco-belgian" being a specific thing}.

 

That sums it up pretty well

1 hour ago, Lucky Bolt said:

Paris, Eiffel Tower, the colors of the flag, hmmm....pasta. Or is that Italy...? 

Well pasta is discutably Italian, but we did create variants of them with the various cuisine dishes. But Yuh

[Cursed-Fate 234]

11 minutes ago, You said:

From what I have been told the toilets are basically hanging on the wall like urinals.

Well I think that it depends on who's house you're in but most of those I've been in had a normal ground toilet.... Tho I admit mine is a wall hanging one so yeah errrr

[DubWolf 16,606]

13 hours ago, Envy said:

The instrument is called hautbois in French, and it means "high wood".

I knew the translation, but never thought to look up or made the connection that it meant “high wood”  .

France has a tricolor flag  

[Le Trotteur Sauvage 13,049]

On 10/15/2020 at 5:04 PM, Cursed-Fate said:

So.

Basically, I've been wondering for quite some time what peoples from other countries knew about France. To make it easier if anyone responds, I'll set a small list of types of thing you may know about my country.

-Food

-City/Region (not counting Paris because it would make it too easy)

-Actor

-Singer/musician

-Brands

-Shows

-Anything else you wanna add, opinions or anything really

And i think that's enough, so yeah. It was just curiosity have a nice day

So uh... tu viens de France du coup ? 

On 10/16/2020 at 1:58 PM, Lucky Bolt said:

Paris, Eiffel Tower, the colors of the flag, hmmm....pasta. Or is that Italy...? 

Are you looking for a fight Lucky ? 

[IronM17 5,145]

On 10/16/2020 at 1:22 AM, You said:

Was that the dude who played in the purple Rivers 1+2?

If you mean crimson rivers, then yes. 

On 10/16/2020 at 4:41 AM, Cursed-Fate said:

Oh dear, you're very informed on what France has

Well, I am interested into geographics and geology (I study geology) and I find it for me personal important to know at least a little bit about the other countries in europe besides all these clichees some countries have. I mean, I am not a fan of clichees because there are often wrong and sometimes also offensive in my opinion (like the clichees that we germans are all nazis and have no humor or that you french people are selfish and arrogant).

Edited October 18, 2020 by IronM17

[Cursed-Fate 234]

6 hours ago, Le Trotteur Sauvage said:

So uh... tu viens de France du coup ? 

Are you looking for a fight Lucky ? 

Je suis Français oui, j'ai pas réussi de répondre sur la bonne citation par contre, je suis pas doué

[SharpWit 2,472]

An American perspective here.

For food I mostly think about pastries and coffee, because while French cooking is sort of the standard for high quality, bistro cuisine is everywhere here so I'm unsure as to how different it really is between our countries on a more general basis. Of course there's escargot which I'd be willing to try again, but the dish I've seen it used in included bacon which I think has an overwhelming flavored meat so would take away from whatever the things have to offer. I've also made it for a school project and the only thing I added was garlic butter, and it was not an enjoyable experience.

As for regions, Alsace and Brittany come to mind over their historical disputes, anywhere else I know by name doesn't go any deeper than the world wars.

A greatly rich and interesting history beyond that too though!

[Le Trotteur Sauvage 13,049]

On 10/19/2020 at 4:27 AM, Cursed-Fate said:

Je suis Français oui, j'ai pas réussi de répondre sur la bonne citation par contre, je suis pas doué

Ca va venir with a little more training you'll verra ! 

[Cursed-Fate 234]

5 minutes ago, Le Trotteur Sauvage said:

Ca va venir with a little more training you'll verra ! 

[Dreambiscuit 8,024]

French Fries. What more do I gotta know?

[Cursed-Fate 234]

27 minutes ago, Dreambiscuit said:

French Fries. What more do I gotta know?

Well that French fries aren't actually French  It's from the french Belgium. Some are still debating on its origin but if I remember well it was around the XVIIe century that the Belgian thought 'Hey, I'm tired of those boring potatoes, let's try frying them or something' Belgium in a nutshell. 

[Le Trotteur Sauvage 13,049]

10 hours ago, Cursed-Fate said:

Well that French fries aren't actually French  It's from the french Belgium. Some are still debating on its origin but if I remember well it was around the XVIIe century that the Belgian thought 'Hey, I'm tired of those boring potatoes, let's try frying them or something' Belgium in a nutshell. 

Ever tried REAL Belgium fries ? They're full of oil it's disgusting