10 ms·

When I was a little kid my school took me on a trip to paris. I got lost and tried to ask for directions. The locals literally ignored me as I was begging for h

When I was a little kid my school took me on a trip to paris. I got lost and tried to ask for directions. The locals literally ignored me as I was begging for help. Until I finally remembered my parents talking about how the french hate anyone who doesn't speak their language and I started my plea with "I'm sorry I don't speak your beautiful language" So yeah, they'd rather ignore a lost child than tolerate foreigners not knowing their "beautiful" language.

esperent 3y ago
To be fair, this is Paris and should not be generalized to all of France. Paris is not a friendly city.
- eloisant 3y ago
  Yes Parisians are dicks to other French people too - including Parisians. It's not about Parisians ignoring foreigners because they don't speak the language, it's about Parisians ignoring people.
  - achenet 3y ago
    ex-Parisian here (or perhaps Parisian in exile, I'll always be Parisian in my heart, but I refuse to live in the city while it's under the tyrannical mismanagement of Anne Hidalgo) We're nice to each other. The local social codes are perhaps not as obvious to visitors, but if you put some effort into befriending the city, Paris can be very kind. Agree with the whole "Parisians ignoring people" thing though. If you're running late for an appointment and you see hundreds of thousands of people per day, you don't really differentiate between a lost tourist and yet another bum asking for spare change to buy beer and drugs with.
    - frenchie123 3y ago
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    - frenchie123 3y ago
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    - esperent 3y ago
      I don't have a lot of experience with huge cities, thankfully. Paris is around ten million people, right? Are other big cities this rude to strangers? I can think of a few examples: Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh, and Bangkok, where I found people quite friendly, and London, where people are close to but not quite as unfriendly as Paris. But that's the extent of my experience.

esperent 3y ago

To be fair, this is Paris and should not be generalized to all of France. Paris is not a friendly city.

eloisant 3y ago
Yes Parisians are dicks to other French people too - including Parisians. It's not about Parisians ignoring foreigners because they don't speak the language, it's about Parisians ignoring people.
- achenet 3y ago
  ex-Parisian here (or perhaps Parisian in exile, I'll always be Parisian in my heart, but I refuse to live in the city while it's under the tyrannical mismanagement of Anne Hidalgo) We're nice to each other. The local social codes are perhaps not as obvious to visitors, but if you put some effort into befriending the city, Paris can be very kind. Agree with the whole "Parisians ignoring people" thing though. If you're running late for an appointment and you see hundreds of thousands of people per day, you don't really differentiate between a lost tourist and yet another bum asking for spare change to buy beer and drugs with.
  - frenchie123 3y ago
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  - frenchie123 3y ago
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  - esperent 3y ago
    I don't have a lot of experience with huge cities, thankfully. Paris is around ten million people, right? Are other big cities this rude to strangers? I can think of a few examples: Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh, and Bangkok, where I found people quite friendly, and London, where people are close to but not quite as unfriendly as Paris. But that's the extent of my experience.