According to a recent Gallup poll, the French are the most pessimistic in the world when it comes to looking at their country's future. 61% think 2011 will be a difficult year for the French economy; only three percent see prosperity coming. The percentage is quite a bit higher in Nigeria and Vietnam!
Maîtres mots
Il y a longtemps que notre pays est beau mais rude.
--Newspaper editor Olivier Séguret, 25 January 2012
The USA are entirely the creation of the accursed race, the French.
--Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966), writing to Nancy Mitford, 22 May 1957
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French Freedom of Speech
- Latest person being sued in France for saying what he/she thinks
The mayor of Calais is suing Marine Le Pen of the Front National for saying "repeatedly" that citizens in Calais need a pass issued by the mayor to get to their own homes (because of the number of migrants in the town). In fact, the passes are issued by the police prefecture.
Today the cheminots are:
"À nous de vous faire préférer le train!"
"Voyager autrement"
"Avec le SNCF, tout est possible"
--Former ad slogans of the SNCF (French national trains), each in turn quickly dropped
Fun French words
- ouistiti
(literally: marmoset)
Etymology: onomatopoeia from the sound a marmoset makes. Actual meaning: this is what you say in France when you want people to smile for the camera.Selon une étude réalisée par le fabricant d’appareils photo Nikon, le « ouistiti » utilisé en France au moment de se faire prendre en photo est le petit mot le plus efficace pour s’assurer un joli sourire.
Who's en colère today?
Private sector
First strike in 43 years at an aeronautics company in Toulouse, Latécoère
Public sector
The SNCF (toujours eux), regional train employees in the Lyons area guaranteeing unpleasant travel from the 17th-21st December
Also yet another strike by Sud-Rail, a particularly truculent SNCF union in the south of France, this time five days in January: 6,7, 21, 22 and 23. "We have no choice." Right.Marseilles trams on strike until February
L'histoire de Rude
Paris Events & Useful Institutions
- InterNations Paris Expats group
- Expatica's list of Australian & New Zealanders' groups & events in Paris
- Australians in Paris
- Expatica's list of Irish groups & events in France
- American cheerleading for Paris teens
- Sports & fitness in Paris, from TimeOut
- Gaelic games in Paris: Irish football, hurling, and camogie
Their shirts are cool - Council for the English-Speaking Community
has a list of schools, associations and organizations - British and Commonwealth Women's Association
- Royal Scottish Country Dance Society
Rock? no, reel
Go back to school in Paris!
- Irish College in Paris
The Irish College is hundreds of years old and offers music, drama, lectures, and courses to Parisians in English. You can learn Irish here too. - Open University (U.K.), distance learning in English
- Paris Voice: list of Paris courses in English
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- That sinister word social
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Articles translated from French and German
- Christopher Tolkien gives his first interview in forty years
- French teacher down on Harvard
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- Even Libération criticizes Paris Mayor Delanoë's traffic policies
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Often NSFW - People of Walmart
Funny. But also sad. - The Sartorialist
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- Rue89 in English = Street89
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I blog, EU blog, oui all blogue
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The French: most pessimistic people in the world?
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Today's quotation
In Paris, the purest virtue is the object of the filthiest slander.
–Honoré Balzac (1799-1850), in Scènes de la vie privée
À Paris, la vertu la plus pure est l'objet des plus sales calomnies.
Le petit aperçu d'Ailleurs
Annual Geminids meteor shower (shooting stars!) coming this weekend, if it's not too cloudy out at night.
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Overblogs (blogs of blogs)
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"Because we all like reading blogs about life in France"Keith Eckstein also has a new book review site, Books About France
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Blogs from expats around the world. Just the France ones
Paris France in English
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One of my faves - Petite Anglaise
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A game American breaks the ice for women chefs at a three-star French restaurant. Update 2010: She's moved to San Francisco, but the archives are well worth reading. - Eye Prefer Paris
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Blog of a former model from an international background - Quelle horreur!
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American gourmet chef in Paris - Badaude
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An Australian and a Midwesterner compare notes on Paris - An American Mom in Paris
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- Laurel Zuckerman's Paris weblog
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She half-stole my name, no doubt without realizing it, but it's still a cute blog! - Easy Hiker (from Paris!)
- The Observing Participant
A very charming girl posts her Youtube videos and links - Paris on Demand
A French Parisian gives you inside tips on Paris - Girls' Guide to Paris
A website and blogs with lots of practical info, good advice, restaurant reviews, and shopping - Invisible Paris
An excellent blog about "the parts of Paris that would be refused entry into the ville musée if they tried to get in today" - Man and Woman in Paris
A non-francophile New Yorker in Paris - Anglo Slut in Paris
This blogger doesn't give herself enough credit but she'll figure out she's worth it (elle le vaut!)! - The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower
- Where is Bryan?
- Conjugating Irregular Verbs
- Entrée to Black Paris
Great new blog. I just wish she didn't have ™ in her title-- looks a bit paranoid - Tales from the chambre de bonne
- An Italian in Paris
- God I love Paris
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Advice and links - Greetings from the American girl
- We're {au} courant
Textile-loving young expat in Paris - Paris Update
Great site with fun stories and up-to-date info on restaurants, movies, shopping and more - EightLondon
Glamorous Scottish-Euro Imogen Roy lives the life we all wish we had! - Ehr-EEN ZaRA
Erin has a very good section on interning in France here: http://ecinparis.blogspot.com/2012/02/interning-in-france.html - Prêt à voyager
Very fun blog from a designer includes popular "Unglamorous Paris" posts - Survive France
An online social network for expats in France - Elaine Sciolino in Paris
Of the N.Y. Times (or as it prefers to be known, The N.Y. Times) and writer of La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life - Le Franco Phoney
A long-term Australian expat in a French ski resort. I can't believe it took me so long to discover this one. - The Compleat Anglo
I have to like a blog that is named The Compleat Anglo. An Englishman married to his Madame, in the Basque country - Flipflop France
23-year-old Sasha, an Oregonian from Forks (town made famous by the Twilight vampire saga), has settled down in France's second city, Lyons. [No that isn't a mistake. I spell it the old-fashioned English way.] - Expat Edna
A Chinese-American in the City of Lights. - Magic Lantern Show
Great Paris photo blog - Southern Fried French
A Charleston girl in a medieval castle - Comme une française
Written in English by a Frenchwoman - Conjugating Irregular Verbs
"letters from my dining table in the south of france" - Sara in Le Petit Village
- Femme au Foyer
A Latvian-American living in central France - Chez Loulou
"a taste of life in France" - Becoming Madame
- Carnet Atlantique
A "fresh, uncommon, original perspective on events in the United States... France and occasionally the other 198 countries in the world." - Paris Journal
An American family here in Paris for a sabbatical year.
Paris en photo
- Hello Paris
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- "Twenty awesome Paris photoblogs"
- Gerard Bloncourt
"Images to tell of a time that is past" - 20,000 old postcards and other Paris images
"The photo library of young Paris" - Paris in images
15,000 photos of old Paris - La Panse de l'Ours (the bear's belly)
In French - Le piéton de Charonne (The pedestrian of Charonne)
"Photos from the 11th arrondissement of Paris and elsewhere" --in French - Paris Cool
Beautiful photo-blog by two professional photographers. They each have their own blog as well (La Panse de l'Ours and Le Pieton de Charonne). In French
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