Why do we hate the french again?

[lookout123]

In Flanders fields the poppies grow

if you are going to insult and show your superior knowledge, at least get it right.
the line is IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow know what the next line is? the author is John McCrae. he was a Canadian.

But then again, when I was in grad school, my best friend was a woman from France.

no offense - but that has been a day or two ago. (honestly) don't assume that everyone who holds no fondness for the french is a chestbeating, flagwaving, xenophobe. some of us actually have experience with these people. i have a number of clients and aquaintances who are french. the two or three who don't fit the mold don't change the facts - i served with the french military. i spent A LOT of time in the french embassy. my opinions (and that is all they are) are based upon my observations of the french among their own. their guns, nor their dicks, have been big enough to justify their overflowing arrogance which is only rivaled by their condescension of all things non-franco in origin.

All Quiet on the Western Front ? No? I didn't think so. Run down to your public library and get a copy.

yeah, i've read it a fair few times. if you'll pull your arrogant head out of your tight ass long enough to decide - which chapter would you like to discuss. the bird's song near the end was especially poignant if you ask me.

hence the Maginot line which actually was pretty clever

"hey our male population has recently been decimated by a war of attrition fought in trenches - let's build a stagnant line of defense and call it a day. yep. brilliant.

Originally Posted by lookout123

if you are going to insult and show your superior knowledge, at least get it right.
the line is IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow know what the next line is? the author is John McCrae. he was a Canadian.

You got me on the author, but not the lines:

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Here's Rupert Brooke:

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England.

But come on, Lookout, other than you and me, how many folks know that much about the poets and poetry of WWI and the nature of the fighting that inspired it? My point still stands.

Originally Posted by lookout123

no offense - but that has been a day or two ago. (honestly) don't assume that everyone who holds no fondness for the french is a chestbeating, flagwaving, xenophobe. some of us actually have experience with these people. i have a number of clients and aquaintances who are french. the two or three who don't fit the mold don't change the facts - i served with the french military. i spent A LOT of time in the french embassy. my opinions (and that is all they are) are based upon my observations of the french among their own. their guns, nor their dicks, have been big enough to justify their overflowing arrogance which is only rivaled by their condescension of all things non-franco in origin.

1990 Not yesterday, but not the stone ages, either. I went back for a second Master's after I'd been in my profession for a while.

My comments were not aimed at you, but the poster whom I quoted. Yes, the French can be arrogant. So can the Americans. You did not not make the statement that de Gaull should not be called a general or call into question the bravery of the French people or the reasons why they would have the attitudes that they did between the two world wars. These are the things I was addressing.

Originally Posted by lookout123

yeah, i've read it a fair few times. if you'll pull your arrogant head out of your tight ass long enough to decide - which chapter would you like to discuss. the bird's song near the end was especially poignant if you ask me.

Chapter 7. Meeting the three women. Lets talk about that. Its easy to skip to the end and read the last page several times and get the bird's song part. And I won't call you arrogant or accuse you of having your head up your ass, either.

Originally Posted by Lookout123

"hey our male population has recently been decimated by a war of attrition fought in trenches - let's build a stagnant line of defense and call it a day. yep. brilliant.

Many excellent military scholars have conceded that the Maginot Line would not have been a bad idea if it had been extended all the way across the Adrienne. De Gaull disagreed. My point was not so much about the wisdom or lack there-of the Maginot line, but rather of the strong distaste for warfare that the people of France acquired as a result of WWI. Sure, hind sight is always 20/20.