Today I went to Disneyland Paris. It was school holidays this week, not only in France but also Germany, Britain, and what looked like every north European country.
In the line in front of me was a large English family. By large, I mean huge: tall, big, decent well-off working-class. I found out later they were from Manchester. Behind us in line was a nice international mix of chatter. Suddenly I saw the British father turn around and yell, "YOU! GET BACK!" I looked around and there was a group of North African teenage boys, sneaking their way ahead in the line in the usual French way-- aggressively pushing forward on the side, but all in good humor. The Brits weren't having any of it. "GET BACK!" "How dare they!" "We're ahead of you! You have no right!" "GO BACK--NOW!" "The nerve!" "Oh NO you don't!" The North African kids pretended not to understand (a standard queue-bargers' trick) and shrugged and rolled their eyes and continued to move forward (another). But the Brits were furious and twice as big. Physical violence was not far off. The North African kids decided not to push it. They didn't go back where they had come from, but they stayed a few groups behind us and gave up trying to get past the Brits.
Violent reactions are common when northern Europeans and Americans experience for the first time the pushing and shoving in line that passes for normal in the south. I have now been in France long enough to have a sneaking admiration for those who have the nerve to resquiller (another untranslatable word that means,get around the rules, or more specifically, what the Brits call queue-barging). The French don't approve of people who do it, but it is not unthinkable, outrageous as it is to us. In fact, it is pretty much normal for teenage boys; people just think, "Boys will be boys." The Brits' reaction was so different that it made me realize that some of what keeps people literally in line in Anglo-Saxon countries isn't just politeness but fear of violence. The Brits were actually ready to fight, they were so outraged by what they considered unbelievably rude behavior. However, from the kids' point of view, what they were doing, while certainly frowned upon by manner books, is as normal as speeding on the autoroute, and the Brits were overreacting almost crazily.
I had assumed from looking at them that the kids were French North Africans, but apparently they were speaking German. The Brits assured me that they had traveled all around Europe as tourists, and "The Germans are the worst" for queue-barging. This was a surprise to me, but in fact, the only other people who had pushed past us in a line all day were German.
Most Germans are still mind-bendingly obedient to rules, standing on deserted street-corners at midnight waiting for the light to change, but I have met many unpleasant exceptions in the exact opposite direction. My theory is that these Germans were raised by martinets and rebel against their upbringing by deciding that all rules of social behavior are bad.
Of course all generalizations are wrong.
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Another word to add to the untranslatable word list: "ride." In French, you have to say, "What attraction did you like the best?" You can't say, "Which ride did you like most?" But an attraction, of course, can be a show or a picture exhibit. There is no word with the active-movement-meaning of "ride."
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On the French typewriter keyboard, you have to use the shift key to write a period. Maybe French sentences are longer than ours.
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Yasser Arafat is ill and is supposed to be arriving in Paris for treatment. His wife and daughter live in Paris and his wife is a Christian. Many famous people from around the world come to Paris for medical treatment. Arafat's daughter was born in the American Hospital of Paris.
Americans often tell me that our medical system is the best in the world; "Famous people from all over the world come to America to be treated." The U.S. can certainly offer state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line treatment for people who can pay for it. All the same, I don't think a country with 45 million uninsured people can say it has a good medical system. In 2001, the World Health Organization said that France's medical system was the best in the world, and by this they meant that the entire nation, not just rich people, has the best medical care in the world. There are certainly many, many problems in France, and the health care system is a big one, but this is still something they can be proud of.
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