Les stéréotypes parisiens

As I mentioned would be the case in my first blog post of the year, I've not been getting anything in the way of fun stuff so far in 2014, because sadly for me, and everyone else in my situation, January is exam month. 

I've done two of my five exams now, and the light is at the end of the tunnel. Still - I don't like to leave my blog abandoned for weeks on end if I can help it, and so in the odd hour I don't spend revising, I've been racking my brains trying to think of something that I could post with.

Then I was out and about last week, and doing a little bit of people watching, and the idea came to me. I've now been in Paris for 4 and a half months or so, which I think means that I should be able to cover it pretty well, as I don't feel like I'm a starry eyed tourist anymore. So - how does Paris (and it's citizens) match up to it's stereotype?

When I was home for Christmas, and people kept asking me how things were going out in Paris, it became fairly clear that most people - not all, but quite a few - clearly had the following image in the minds when they envisaged my life here. 'All Parisians walk around dressed oh-so-chic, with baguettes tucked under their arm and a wine bottle tucked under the other. They drink coffee for hours, and there's a man with an accordion on every street corner playing the romantic french music you hear in the movies. That's when they're not being brusque and rude.'

Source: Google Images / www.languagetrainers.com/blog/

That's the image. It's probably an image which those people would extend to many French towns and cities, not just Paris - and of course, whilst not a completely authentic view, it has to be said that most (and here I mean most, not all, because I'm sure we can all think of several unpleasant stereotypes which are the exception) stereotypes have a foundation, however small, in fact. Still - the fact is that they are still stereotypes and still don't universally apply.

For instance, take Paris Chic. A few months ago, when my flatmate Parisa and I went on an epically long walk around the city looking for an H&M which turned out to be just 15 minutes or so away (and that is the short version of that story), we came to this conclusion, although I'm sure a lot of people would disagree with this - Paris chic is a myth, everywhere except the super posh St Germain.  Most people dress just the same as you and me. This isn't completely true, sure,  because you'll always see that occasional man/woman walking around looking like they're something straight out of French Vogue - but we decided it came pretty close to it.

Baguettes. Okay, this isn't far from true. You never have to search very hard for a patisserie or a boulangerie in Paris, and it's not uncommon to see people going home from work on the metro with a baguette tucked away in their bags. Wine? Not so much. I don't see people swigging wine here any more than I do at home.

As for the man with the accordion - they're not everywhere, but I am happy to report that they do crop up every now and then, usually hopping onto the metro and playing a tune or two for a couple of stops before walking up and down the carriage with a cup for people to drop change into. Not really the romantic image you get in films, but there we go.

I took this photo back in November - and it's not the only time
 we've been treated to Metro music!

'Parisians are rude.' Okay this is both true and untrue. True in that they can be very brusque and impatient - I've had quite a few experiences of some very rude behaviour since I have been out here, as have a lot of people I know. On the flip side, I can't help but feel like the french language is a inherently geared up towards good manners, of a kind. Why else do they have the informal tu and the formal vous? I'm also taking into account the fact that everyone seems to greet everyone else in this city. I've noticed this most particularly in the lift of my apartment building, where you can be saying Bonjour and Au Revoir like a parrot if you're not careful. By contrast, I'm firmly of the opinion that if you tried chatting to strangers in a lift at home, you'd probably get nothing more than a weird look. 

What else, then? Well it seems like 99.999999% of the French Population smoke. I have no idea what the true statistic is, although I'd be interested to find out. The Assas building of my university is set back a little way from the road with a small courtyard in front of it, and I am literally on the point of buying an oxygen mask of some kind in order to make that 5 metre or so trip from the pavement to the front door, because it's always crowded and the air is absolutely thick with smoke. I don't know whether smoking is really a french stereotype - I would say probably not - but it's an observation nonetheless.

A stereotype that you do hear all the time, and not just about french people but about Europeans in general is that none of the women shave. I'm including this because it is a pretty big stereotype - but I also don't go around staring at people's legs or armpits - so I'm not in a position to comment. 

The next two are absolutely classic stereotypes. The first is poodles. On this, I will say that all Parisian dog owners have small dogs. I'm almost able to state that as a categorical fact. I have not, however, seen any poodles. The second is stripy shirts = I do see a lot of these but there's a back story of sorts to that, in that on my very first night here, my Mum and I were people watching while eating out, and it came up in conversation. Since then, I think I've been consciously looking for them, so I think I probably just notice them more than I usually would have!

My final observation - Paris is a beautiful city - but it also smells really bad. The Metro is the worst offender for awful smells, particularly in comparison to the Tube in London which smells like a summer breeze in comparison. And if anyone reading this has ever had to go to the Metro Stop on Line 5, Place d'Italie, they will know exactly what I'm talking about!

Last but not least, I couldn't write a post on French Stereotypes without including this skit from Blackadder


Tehe. Until next time -

Vicky xx