France says, “Hey, WHAT?”
One of the readers of my “Hey, FRANCE!” post a couple of weeks ago left a really nice comment. Not only was it very kind, it was also left by someone who’s actually from France, making it especially important. Here’s what they had to say:
“Hello,
It is very nice you try to learn french in order to change france’s opinion of your contry. And you know, even if I am french, I will be happy when frenchies will learn english to change american’s opinion of us.
I’m with you,
gsempe from France,Toulouse (Take a look on google map)”
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the first victory in my goodwill mission. At least one person–someone who is actually from France–is on board. That’s one more friend that America didn’t have two weeks ago!
And that’s only counting the people who actually commented. Internet statistics show that something like 99% of blog readers don’t even bother to comment, so it’s somewhat likely that there are 99 other French people nodding their heads in tentative agreement with this cause right this very moment. That’s a total of as many as 100 new friends!
A New Weapon in the War on Contempt
“gsempe” has inspired me. His/her closing remark to “Take a look on google map” got me thinking: what if I did that and shared what I found? Then I got to thinking it would be cool to share what I learned about France on a regular basis. Then I thought of a really zippy title for a series of blog posts devoted to lifting the veil of secrecy that covers this mysterious nation and its people. And thus “Let’s Learn About France!” was born.
Every Monday (or thereabouts, depending on…stuff) in 2009 I will share something new that I’ve learned about France. In honor of our new friend “gsempe” we’re going to kick it off with a little bit of something about his/her homeland.
Toulouse, aka “La Ville Rose”
Here’s Toulouse on Google Maps:
Here’s the Wikipedia entry on Toulouse.
A few interesting facts about Toulouse:
- It is the fourth largest city in France
- It is the capital of the Midi-Pyrénées region
- In AD 407, the people of Toulouse repelled a siege by Vandals until the pesky Germanic hooligans gave up and went off to have a go at Spain
- Toulouse was hit by the plague twice: once in 1629 and again in 1652
- It is a major center of aeronautics
- Due to the lack of Internet communication tools like Facebook status updates and Twitter, the Battle of Toulouse took place four days after Napoleon’s surrender, leading to the needless deaths of thousands of soldiers who could have just gone home instead
Thanks to “gsempe” for the kind words and the inspiration.
Doh!I’m stick.Join us on twitter and we’ll discuss about how to spread out the us/fr friendship!I’m gsempe on twitter :http://www.twitter.com/gsempe
Dude, the French can suck it. USA fries all the way!! Woooohoooo!!!
Don’t mind my friend, thebruthabee. He can’t help it. He’s a drummer.
Jon – good stuff here. As someone living abroad at the moment, language is a great way to break down barriers. I’m amazed by the helpful nature of people here in Germany when I simply attempt to speak their language. Best of luck with the language lessons. Give Pimsleur a try if the Rosetta stone doesn’t work out.
I was just going for a laugh. But now that you brought up the drummer thing…. LOL!
I got here via a Chris Brogan share on Google Reader, and not only discovered that the post was about France, but about Toulouse. Coincidentally enough, a former exchange student who stayed with us a few years ago just spent a semester studying in Toulouse. However, I did not avail myself of the opportunity to learn about the city, other than to discover that it has a first-division soccer – whoops, I mean football – team.In particular, I didn’t know about the Battle of Toulouse (although I believe that Andrew Jackson’s Battle of New Orleans was fought because of a similar lack of communication). My question for you – even if armies in the Napoleonic period didn’t have Facebook and Twitter, couldn’t they just use AOL to send mail to each other? All you need is one “You’ve got mail!” (or the French equivalent) and your communication problems are solved!
Thanks for the comments, folks. They’re much appreciated.Kevin – I’ve never heard of Pimsleur before your note. I will definitely keep it in mind. Thanks for the recommendation. And it’s true what you say about the effort to speak a language being a major icebreaker. I know that when I bust out one of the handful of Italian phrases I’ve learned over the years the in-laws get very excited. Between you and me, that’s an excellent way to score free food.Ontario Emperor – No AOL either, I’m afraid. Back in those days, the only messengers they had rode horseback and were anything but instant. Though there is a fringe group of historians who posit that these messengers traveled with a bag of wooden masks with various expressions painted on them. When delivering a message they would wear the appropriate mask to reflect the mood of the sender.thebruthabee – I’ll deal with you later!