Conventional wisdom says that the more you listen to a language the more you will pick up. After all, from the moment we’re born, we’re immersed in the speech of those around us, and we instinctively begin to copy the sounds to eventually express ourselves verbally. Following that logic, Bill and I get our daily dose of French TV, radio, music, news, weather, and neighborhood conversations. In addition, there are countless online videos, some for grammar, history, or culture but others just for entertainment. It’s especially fun when a French person talks about vacationing in or moving to America since we get to compare their reaction to ours of being the foreigner in a foreign land. Such was the case when I saw a video on the YouTube channel JeanUSA.

There’s an old joke about European stereotypes regarding the ideal situation vs. what might be a nightmare. The story goes that Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian, and it’s all organized by the Swiss. On the other hand, Hell is where the police are German, the cooks are British, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, and it’s all organized by the Italians. Given that we live in France, I’ll take the safe way out and say, “No comment”, but I did want to address something that we often see repeated about this country: rudeness.

All this time I’d been thinking that Bill and I didn’t like modern art. It took the opening of the Centre d’Art Contemporain (Contemporary Art Center) here in Carcassonne for us to realize that some of our favorite painters from 150 years ago fall into the “modern” category. We’re especially fond of impressionism with artists such as Monet, Renoir, and Pissaro all having exhibited their works in Paris at the Impressionist Exhibitions from 1874 to 1886. Modern art, encompassing a break with tradition, emphasizing individuality and innovation, lasted from the 1860s to the 1960s. With this latest addition to the growing list of city-sponsored art exhibit spaces in town, we were about to learn some more history and culture.

Years ago we were second in line at a car rental agency here in Carcassonne directly behind another customer with whom the transaction was conducted in French. As we approached the counter, the agent immediately said to us, in English, “Hello, may I help you?” We had not yet said a word out loud, not even an accented Bonjour, yet we were clearly identifiable as English speakers and maybe even as Americans. But how did he know? An article from the Huffpost might provide some clues. It’s entitled, “23 Telltale Signs Someone Is American, According To Europeans”.