The Bayeux Tapestry was made in Manchester and sold to the French. Not a lot of people know that. Because they couldn't understand English very well, (and they haven't improved much in that respect), they misunderstood the merchants who were calling out "Buy our tapestry". The French thought that was its name, and it's been called Bayeux Tapestry ever since, which was the closest they could get in their language.
Awfully sorry that I forgot to metion this!
(BTW: you can see a lot of motifs from that tapestry on the pavements of Manchester: they call them "Cotton Blossoms" today.)
:wink:
William = Guillaume, it's just the French version of the name.
Of course, he wasn't a Conqueror until he won the Battle of Hastings and wasn't William I of England until he was crowned there - not previously a king!
Bisous,
CuisinePierre
Right. Originally, he was Duke of Normandy and "made himself later master of the province of Maine and thus became the most powerful vassal of the French Crown, able on occasion to bid defiance to the king himself" (from 'Catholic Encyclopedia').
Walter Hinteler wrote:Tartarin gave the answer.
And yes, Guillaume became William - actually a lttle bit earlier to his Channel crossing.
(BTW: that's one of the reasons, why historians believe that the Bayeux tapestry was made in England.)
Ok, he changed(changer) his name(nom), but he also contributed(la contribution) alot to the English culture and language(la langue)
:wink: :wink: :wink:
Mon cher Pierre de Cuisine
I did actually know William = Guillaume = Liam (Irish)
McTag
Bayeaux "buy our" very good. If it was Glasgow they could have said "you lookin a' my tapestry? Well stitch that Billy Boy"
No one entered my competition!
Most disappointed.
The answer of course is France
surrounded by 3 seas
Mediterranean
Atlantic
La Manche (a sealette actually)
and 9 land boundaries, anti clockwise from the south west
Spain
Andorra
Monaco
Italy
Switzerland
Luxembourg
Germany
Belgium
Great Britain
Steve
Guernsey (Alderney, Shark) and Jersey?
Le Francais may prider themselves on their fine food, but they have les Italiennes to thank for teaching them how to cook...
Ah yes, the knitters of these famous (fameux) pullovers, Guernsey and Jersey, were historically never very well organised. They had people knitting in places all over the islands, and they always had more sleeves than bodies, more than they needed to make up the finished pullovers. The surplus had to be thrown away, into the sea, and the French have called it La Manche (the sleeve) ever since.
just now listening to local t.v. news which reports 55% americans are boycotting french products and 25% boycotting german prducts. we are a nation of idiots.
BTW, and I'm back in the real world now, the endings -ey on the names for the Channel islands are norse in origin, signifying an island, and indeed the Norman French themselves were descended from Scandinavians.
*The people are stubborn.
No more so than Americans. In fact, my experience, having had a great deal to do with the French and francophones (speakers of French--i was for several years a bi-lingual secretary for Frenchman and his French-speaking American wife), is that the French and the Americans are so much alike that they tend not to care, each for the company of the other. Like Americans, the French think their opinions on world affairs are the last word; they love their cars, and love to drive, no matter the price of gasoline; they consider their nation to be a true democratic republic to which others should look for a moral example (a very American trait); a great deal of the vigor and success of the French nation has arisen from their acceptance of refugees and a wide variety of immigrants--another striking similarity with the United States.
*Frenchman do not like to speak English.
Well . . . so? Americans rant on about people "who come over here and can't even speak the language"--so what, we expect that everyone in the world should speak English, the American variety, to suit our own convenience? When the francophone comes to the United States, they speak, or make their best effort to speak English. It is not too much for the French to expect reciprocation.
*They are lovers.
The French are very much addicted to romance, and romantic relationships. Being physically a good lover does not automatically imply promiscuity. In fact, a book that i read in about 1981, entitle The French (an excellent resource) reported that the divorce rate in France as being one in six, half that of the United States. (I went to the Library of Congress to get a citation to this work for you, but the search engine locked up when i typed in "The French"--too many references. You might see is you can find the book, though, which i believe was published in 1979.) This is one principle distinction to be made between the United States, with it's predominantly Anglo-Saxon Protestant heritage, and France, with a more Latin heritage--however, don't make the mistake of assuming that the Catholic part of the French heritage is a significant there as it is in Italy or Spain, for example. The French monarchy always successfully challenged the authority of the church, and the Revolution attempted to make the clergy employees of the state. Although this effort was not entirely successful, subsequent republics in France always vigorously resisted the control of the church, and educators in France in the late 19th century made it a point to challenge the authority the church had always previously exercised in education. A good read on this would be La gloire de mon père, by Maurice Pagnol. (That title is correct, the French only capitalize the first word in a book title--and i don't know under what title this work may have been published in English, it translates as "My father's glory"--and refers to Pagnol's father's dedication to secular, republican values in education.) Something totally alien to American values in the French is the belief that a man can only be considered a successful lover if he gives the woman great pleasure--an attitude i'm sure American women would love to see adopted here. The French also have an expression, toujours gai, which means, not "homosexuals forever," rather it refers to their belief that being elderly does not mean the end of romance or sexual activity.
*Cream sauces and food are important.
Yes, the French consider food important. For that reason, you won't find cheap food in France--but you also won't often run into bad food. This is another major distinction between France and the United States. The notion of "fast food" horrifies most of the French, and MacDonald's has had to adapt to the values the French place on food and it's preparation.
*They had active rebel groups during the world wars.
Like all the nations of Europe, the French had a resistance movement, and they had collaborators. The collaborators were a real problem for them, as both anti-semitism and facism were popular in France before the war began. The largest and most well-organized of the resistance movements was that organized by French communists--and the result for newly liberated areas in 1944 and 1945 was tragic. A beautiful and very sorrowful novel, Uranus, by Marcel Aimée (i may have misspelled his last name), recounts the brutality of communist resistance movements which moved into the power vacuum after the Germans had been driven out and the Allies moved on. The novel does not end on a hopeful note.
*They prefer to lead whether than be a part of a group of countries.
Once again, very much like the United States.
*Their President lead the opposition against the Iraqi invasion.
Not necessarily, but he certainly was very forceful and vocal in his opposition. Given that the majority of the French were opposed to war, it seems rather like he was fulfilling his democratic duty to represent the wishes of his consituency. How very rude of the French not to have been lap dogs to the Shrub.
Mapleleat, the French and the Americans are more alike than they are different, and it is my take that this is why they always grate on one another's nerves.
Setanta - wonderful post. Very informative and very true to my experience. As a Brit, the shared revolutionary/republican history of France and the USA is clear.
The French have a very different relationship with "the State" from the US-UK model. They look at the state as a wonderful entity which has its own justification. We tend to look at it as a way of allowing the individual maximum opportunity for self-realisation (which tends to reduce its scope in regulation). This goes beyond the relative Socialism (French)/Anglo-Saxon Capitalism difference.
dyslexia wrote:just now listening to local t.v. news which reports 55% americans are boycotting french products and 25% boycotting german prducts. we are a nation of idiots.
I'm guessing the vast majority of this 55% never bought French products to begin with. "Made in France" isn't exactly the most common sight in the aisles of American markets and on the racks of its department stores.
"Damn it, Jim, I've had to give up my Galoise, Burgundy, and camembert and go back to Marlboro, Boones, and Velveeta. Just when I was startin' to fell acculturated."
Now, if we had some beef with Taiwan, or China, or Indonesia -- well, then we'd have to really look at our buying...
By pure chance I just found this article from TIME, online published on
Monday, Apr. 10, 2000 (!)
It's No Real Wonder the French Dislike Us
good point patiodog and if we really wanted to punished the French we would force feed them Velveeta, come to think of it perhaps thats what we are doing to the Irani's with our aid. no wonder they want us out.
Hey Patio, Bic is a froggy company -- whaddya think the odds are that people will give up cheap ballpoints and stop flicking their bics? Slim to none, is how i'd rate the chance.
KP--thanks, boss. I've always been amused when Americans rant about the French. All you have to do is make the translation, and you've got about the same beef which the French usually air about the Americans. A very good, very perceptive take on the relationship to the state as viewed in the Angle-ish speaking world and the world of the French.
Uh oh. Those "Le Bag" people are going to be in trouble...
Hey, I won't stop buying froggy pens, just an interesting factoid: "Bic" or "Bique" to be more precise, is an extremely derogatory term for Arabs in France. I guess racism is another thing the French have in common with the USA.
