French Have No Backbone/No Sense Of Humour.?

[Atheist]

I've heard such comments. I'm reading Verdun 1916, and I live part-time in a French village. It seems to me that they have both. They certainly have a sense of humour, although people who don't understand French wouldn't know that. They certainly have backbone; we weren't occupied by an invading army and they were. How would the English have got on if Churchill and Dad's Army had failed? The spivs and right-wing profiteers would have had a field day.

[Atheist]

Jim; I'm taking all this in - I hope you're right. Mind you, my comunication here is all word of mouth and such nuances don't really matter. I love Pagnol's fictional rendering of letters from people who can say things but don't know the correct spelling (orthographie); one can understand but still chuckle at the spelling.

[jourdain2]

JimF - that's what I thought, but I hesitated to post because I am rusty. A.P.G. is Quebecoise so I just thought I was mistaken, but I've been looking at 'French for Dummies' and there are differences between the variants of French worldwide. In other words - everyone is right! Whee! Happy ending all. :)

[JimF]

There are indeed, but none I'm aware of where the women describe themselves as né.

[Mozz71]

//I see nothing wrong in posting in a foreign language as long as a translation is provided//

Can we also include whatever language PP uses and Tora's rhyming slang in that please?

[Jackdaw33]

I pride myself on being fairly fluent in French but the one word I never use is 'baiser'. This is because it has two distinct meanings depending on whether it is used as a noun or a verb. The former is harmless, the latter obscene, and I am terrified that I might confuse the two.

[Jackdaw33]

Née is used in English to denote a woman's maiden name.

[JimF]

That's what the verb "faire la bise" is for and the noun "bizou". Baiser does literally mean to kiss but, as you hint, is also used as a euphemism for "shag".

[Atheist]

Helas; plus de bisous ici!

[gulliver1]

Is that the Country with awkward mens toiets

[Jackdaw33]

The French title of the Bond film, "From Russia With Love", is, "Bons baisers de Russe".

[JimF]

It is indeed but, just like in every other language, it's all in context.

E.g. you would know exactly what I meant if I said that I'd slept with a girl. But you wouldn't necessarily think of the same meaning if we were talking about the film "The Big Sleep".

[Atheist]

Gulliver; what do you mean by "awkward"?

[david small]

Cheese eating surrender merchants. Someone once called the French. They call us roast beefs. Both based upon culinary preference.

[JimF]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese-eating_surrender_monkeys

[Atheist]

David, I think that CESM was a Simpsons line; rosbifs has been going for ages.

[Atheist]

David; and I think it was monkeys, not merchants. Monkeys would be Simpson humour, merchants would be Trump humour.

[AuntPollyGrey]

Jim is your mother tongue French ? As I referred to in a previous post which you seem to have completely ignored:

je suis né
vous (tu) ês né
elle est née
il est né
nous sommes nés
vous etes nes
ils sont nés
elles sont nees

je suis ne is correct for either male or female. Show me different and I will apologise.

[JimF]

I already did, but here it is again:
https://la-conjugaison.nouvelobs.com/du/verbe/naitre-feminin.php

[AuntPollyGrey]

In my form of French bisou is a kiss.

[JimF]

More details here:
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/french/french-i/french-i-the-passe-compose/the-passe-compose-with-etre