What Americans Say About French are True? (French stereotypes from Americans)

Selecting only Parisians is like selecting only New Yorkers or Londoners. They don't represent the entire country. How hard was it to find someone from Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Nice, Nantes, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, or Lille? Or at least one person from the hundreds of small towns that exist in France?

Them saying Americans are dumb b/c of people in street interviews...lol do they not realize they only show the dumbest people, and cut all the ones who answered correctly? Also there are more Americans alive than french so statistically there will be more idiot Americans than French, but also more genius Americans. Perhaps they would have considered that if they were smarter.

When I was in Strasbourg they were super rude and unfriendly and expect cafe in center. In Paris they weren’t that friendly in cafes but they weren’t rude either but other people on streets and neighbors were really friendly and nice people. So I don’t know.

When thinking of France and French people I just think about baguettes croissants and that guy that wears that French cap with a striped shirt and a marvelous moustache 🇫🇷

Usually people Who are Easy Say they are open minded 😅.

In Italy we Have 500 different types of cheese and 300 of them are DOP. In addition ,52 of them are recognized and protected by the EU. Italy Is famous for cheese ,May be not for all the cheese we Have ,but that Is a matter of marketing. Nothing else.

the biggest cliche is not that french are rude, but that "parisians are rude". No, they aren't neither.

Too many years ago, I went to Paris. I don’t recall any rudeness, in fact, probably extra patient with us group of US students. One waiter ran at us all excited “Americans!” Wanted to speak English with us and just very nice. I’m sure like anywhere, be respectful to others and they’ll be respectful to you (depending on the individual of course😁). I can’t wait to return 🇫🇷💕

"People can't generalize an entire country," yet Europeans do it all the time with Americans. We are a very large and diverse country with several regions. Most of the Americans they pick for these types of videos are from places like California or New York, which is definitely not representative of all of the United States.

French are rude. ANd i'm not even murican.

I am an American who has never believed in French stereotypes. I have been around France, including Paris, and never once had anyone be rude to me.

Les Américains plus intelligents que les Français?!! Je suis prof depuis quarante ans aux USA et en France, et non, mon dieu, l'étudiant américain typique ne sais absolument rien.

40% des Americains sont créationnistes et pensent que l'évolution est un mythe et que la terre est plate, more smarter, non j'crois pas 😆😆

The girl trying to convince us French cheese is better because they have some with worms inside. Oh sure, I'm sold.

"Danish bread is better than French bread" can only have been written by a Dane. I am French living in Denmark, and it is not even close!

Americans are so self-centered. They see French like cheeze and garlic snails eaters. The truth is that France is a médium power with à long history and the Best ally of USA.

On cleanliness, French people use bidet.
Enough said.

If you have to work till 1 a.m./4 a.m., you are being inefficient.

French people had history of not showering in the past that they created fragrance and perfumes to cover up their smells 😂

Actually France created 1,200 types of cheese while Italy has 2,500 sooo…

I agree that Americans aren't knowledgeable in geography or geopolitics at all. I had a friend who thought the capital of Italy was Paris and we went to the same school. Shocked me. 100% of the blame can be placed on the US's own narcissism resulting in a very US centric worldview. A lack curiosity of anything of outside of ourselves is indoctrinated and instilled from youth. I wouldn't say it makes us unintelligent as much as it makes us ignorant. Ignorance can be cured. The true sign of unintelligence is us (or anyone for that matter) having access to loads of information about the outside world and not utilizing it in good faith.

Did you really bleep the word “sex”?!? Come on people, are you really THAT prude? Tell me you’re American without telling me lol

Everybody knows the baguette but we have a lot of breads in France : different types of flour, salty or sweety breads, regional breads (about 20) and even different types of baguette. For example, the Danish rye bread with cereals, we have our own.

That one French guy: Italy came from France
Same French guy: Americans are dumb

We as Americans are far less well-informed than the French. But I do think that the average American may be more innovative, have higher ingenuity in problem solving (not by a significant margin though, so we're equally competent in that area). But yes, our homeschooled kids, our misinformed populace......shamefully ignorant.

"americans smarter than french" : so funny ! What do we talk about first ? americans and geography ?
No ! I would die from laughing ! Any 10 y.o. kid, in any country, knows world geography much better than an US adult !
And there are so many other matters where they are so ignorant : funny ? or....very sad....
In what they are good ? Repeating stupid stereotypes, being arrogant/rude/loud/obese/backwards/xenophobic/bigot,
etc, etc....
In no way interesting : a loss of time.
Ciao, dummies !

Side note: the French girl with the bow (Anais) is wrong about most Americans thinking the earth is flat.
Basically, my school ranks in the top 25 worst in the us and we did this thing where we did trivia on whether the earth was flat or not and literally everyone went to say it was round, which that might just be us being young, but the stereotype Americans are smarter than French, it’s stretched way too far, I believe when Lucie said “They think Europe is a country” most likely Americans say it for the views since yk Americans just want that fame more than anything. Deep down, most and maybe all Americans know it’s a round and not flat earth. It is really stupid how people think Americans are stupid for not knowing all their states, which how are we supposed to know? That’s the equivalent of asking a European to name all European countries, guarantee they cannot so that.
Beside my side notes, jazz did well!
Mystic - Swedish American

Those who think being knowledgeable is synonymous of being smart prove their ignorance. When are people, going to stop asking if you are smart and then ask questions of knowledge.
How many videos about "You need to be a genius to answer all those 50 questions" and then you get questions about history, geography, literature, ...
Americans and French are as smart/idiot as the other, but I'd guess French/Europeans are probably more educated and know more than Americans (on average).
Could people please stop judge intelligence on knowledge.

Typical french, always denying.

Those kids are so weird, pure narcissictic.

French people over exaggerate romance: I don’t get the context. Are Americans accusatory or are they jealous. I mean, so what if the French do exaggerate it? I for one live for romance. There should be more romance so this s a dumb complaint.

Lucien, tu as les yeux beau. ❤

…Even Americans can be a little romantic.

The French are bad in soccer: Les Bleus - - World Cup - - nuff said.

For most Americans, world football is like watching grass grow. But it is becoming more popular in the U.S.

Americans are smarter than the French: This is ridiculous, of course. I can’t believe that any Americans even think about this. I did see a recent analysis of world educational systems and the U.S. was in the top position by far. I didn’t pay attention to who did the study but I didn’t believe it for a moment. Americans are as dumb as rocks. There are many types of intelligence but it seems to me that Americans are deficient in most of them.

I’m just going to say that this is a myth because it is a gross generalization and gross generalizations are never verifiable one way or the other. French people are just as smart as everyone else. [ Big Myth ]

French people are not as clean as other people: I find this notion to be really hard to respond to because it is such a gross generalization. I remember my older female neighbor in Germany saying, “France is so wonderful …but the people are so dirty!”

I remember the English WWII veteran who cut my hair when I was a teenager saying about the debarkation, “The people stank - - you couldn’t get near them.”

I myself have been at an event on a hot summer day in the French countryside in a country church and, here and there, there would be a malodorous cloud.

I keep French soap around because I just think it is so special.

I can’t really comment on my German neighbor because I’m just not sure where her notion comes from. In the case of the war veteran, there is both the bias that goes back to the Hundred Years War and the fact that the Germans took all the raw materials for making soap. The French could have smelled better but they also wanted to make the German occupation as miserable as possible for the Germans. As for my own experiences, a few old men in the country might not mind that they smell like a skunk. I wouldn’t say that their condition or their numbers are prevalent. They may also be men who have no women in their lives for one reason or another. After my French mother-in-law died, I think my father-in-law became careless about his scent because she had been the one to enforce standards [grin!].

But I think the strongest defense is to ask if I would have allowed myself to be bare skinned against so many French girls if I thought they were not ‘clean’??? Also, the French are paramount when it comes to soaps and personal fragrances. So you can say that the French are dedicated to personal hygiene. There is a lot of variation in every population when it comes to standards of cleanliness but the French are no worse than any one else.

I would happily be bare skinned against anyone on the panel - - except Flavian. Sorry Flavian, I hope you understand that I live only for the girls even though you look very clean.

French people are extremely lazy: I suppose this myth comes from the notion of the French government trying to reduce working hours to create more jobs. But, again, it is just coming up with some unrelated news and skewering the French people with it.

There are lazy people everywhere. No country is devoid of lazy people. As for the French, sure, I’ve seen lazy people. But I’ve also seen French people run circles around their American counterparts. There are some really busy and creative people in France. The only thing I would point out is that the French government makes it hard for French people to be technically creative, sometimes. There is a “brain-drain” in France where people leave France just to accomplish their dreams which are otherwise unreachable in France.

The Danish have better bread: I can’t even imagine where this myth comes from. I love Denmark, I have Danish friends in the U.S., and I think Denmark is an easy country for Americans to be in. But most Americans have no idea that Denmark is a country nor where to find it - - that is the sad fact. The hypermarché food in Denmark is probably the most like in the U.S. except for France (…and Britain - - if we are still considering Britain to be in Europe).

The only thing that I can figure is that what Americans call a “danish pastry” is very delicious for Americans. I can’t remember if you can actually get anything like a “danish pastry” in Denmark, however. I kind of doubt it. But I can see somehow that a “danish pastry” (filled with confiture and covered with a sugary glaze) would seem superior to the average American when you compare it to a baguette (water, flour, yeast). Of course, this theory completely ignores brioche, croissants with almond paste, and pain au chocolate.

I mean, I still don’t know where this myth even comes from. French breads by a long-shot. [ Bug Myth ]

French people are easy: …Like, sexually easy??? …Marie couche-toi-la??? Well, first, there is a huge generational gap between myself and the panelists. So, I really don’t have a lot of insight into what Americans that are the same age as the panelists are doing in the sexual arena - - let alone what young French people are doing. I have French Gen-X nieces (..who lived in the Isle de France but lived in a small town) and I’m not even sure how much experience they had when they were your age. I remember once that the mother of one of the nieces said, matter of factly, that the daughter (…I think she was still sixteen) was on the pill. The niece, who was nearby, looked up at me with an, “I’m a big girl, now!” - - smile. Ostensibly, the reason she was on the pill was for pelvic pain due to monthly cycles but her father used to joke that, “She was made for love” - - meaning that she didn’t really apply herself to her studies but maybe it had a double meaning - - that she was ‘bonking’ her boyfriends. She was a really nice girl so I don’t know how much pill use was innocent and how much she put it to - - let’s say, romantic use. My nieces were certainly NOT going into bars and picking up boys. If they were romantic, at least they had the pill. By the time I was sixteen, I had access to a car so I often wonder to this day how I managed to not get any girls pregnant.

I think it is important to point out that Americans are obsessed with sex and have been for many decades. French society has been adventurous for even longer than Americans have been obsessed with sex. So, you have to understand that anglophones have come to think of everything French as being at least slightly illicit. When we started to get French movies in the 1950’s, there was a sense that Americans wanted to compete with what they thought was French loose behavior. But a lot of the French sexual culture can be right in front of an American’s nose and yet they don’t even realize it is there. The traditions are too different and nuanced. American culture tends to be very rigid and universal so it is hard for Americans to realize that something different even exists when they encounter it.

In my culture and in my time, it was a lot easier to figure out who was bonking who. In France and the U.S., in recent years, I’ve spent more time trying to figure out who is bonking who but I really can’t figure out most of the time. In fact, I’ve begun to think that nobody is doing any bonking - - I hope I’m wrong but you can’t argue with dropping birth rates.

As an American, when I was your age, I was doing my best to get European girls in bed. Boys aren’t much good for anything other than egg fertilizing. But when I was your age, the overwhelming majority of girls throughout Europe were not “easy” in any way, shape, or form. I was exotic and I don’t think I was too bad looking. But the girls were not easy to seduce. I would have had a lot better luck in the U.S.

Of course, in the U.S., I was fluent in the language and culture. In Europe, I was probably the most fluent in French culture and language of all the countries. So, I maybe had a little bit of an advantage there, and, in terms of success, I had the most success with French girls. In fact, I had enough success that I’m still sleeping with one of those French girls to this very day! “Once you go French - - you will never go back to the wench.” All the countries in Europe have fine women. But I’m just a sucker for the accent of a French girl. I just don’t want anything else [shrug]. But the notion that you can go to France and naked girls will fall into your arms is a big myth. [ Big Myth ]

Love: I think there is a huge misunderstanding when it comes to “love”. In French, to like someone or to love someone is expressed by the same verb. In English to like someone and to love someone are completely different ideas. English speaking people go out of their way to avoid using the word “love”. The best explanation is that English speaking people want to avoid commitment. In the extreme, married people might say they “like” each other - - just to be _sure_! The other side of that coin is that English speaking people are never sure what to think when French people say that they (the French person) ‘loves’ the English speaking person. It is misunderstandings like this that make the French seem ‘easy’ - - because when you (…in your mind, casually) say, “Je t’aime”, the English speaker thinks sex is going to come _next_. …So, beware!

Italy’s cheese is better than France’s cheeses: I like both countries, a lot. There are a lot of Americans of Italian descent so there is a lot of devotion to things Italian. But I have to say that France clearly has the edge in cheeses - - it’s not even close. On a frequent basis I eat French, Italian, Norwegian, and even American cheeses. If I had to do without all but one country’s cheese, I could not do without French cheese - - there are just so many varieties.

France is not friendly to foreigners: France is practically THE tourist destination in the world. If people there were unfriendly, why would so many people go there??? The notion makes no sense. [ Huge MYTH ]

I just have to say, Lucien, I wish I could make sense in your life but I’m, alas, too old, too tired, and too broken. So, …have a good life! ❤

Americans wouldn’t know a French person from a hole in the wall. Even if an American has gone to France, they typically travel in small ‘bubbles’ with other Americans and so they typically do not manage to shed any of the typical Anglophone myths. Americans are part of a larger Anglophone culture that get all their myths from the English (…not even the ‘British’!). It all goes back to the Hundred Years War when the English king thought that he had a legal claim to the throne of France. 12th century France was the very flower of civilization and Regardless of whatever merit the case had, the standing French king was having none of it. And thus began the war….

The resolution of the war was pretty much a stalemate. The English Crown ultimately lost more territories in France than they gained. The English Crown never got over it and inflicted a program of myth making against all Francophones. This jealousy of France comes down to this day and nobody even remembers the cause of it!

So, please don’t blame these myths on the Americans themselves - - this is an English thing that is rooted in pure jealousy . But at the end of the day, there are a lot of young English, Canadian, Polish, and other country’s boys buried in the soil of France. There are a lot of young American boys buried in the soil of France as well as a lot of French boys from the Gatinais Regiment buried in the soil of Virginia. Let’s not forget that we have more in common than the ridiculous myths we have about each other. Without each other, neither of our countries might not now exist. Let’s not let other countries drive us apart. Americans are going to express a lot of these myths as an opening for a conversation. So be calm and try to take the opportunity to educate them.

You bleep out live but not sex wtf?

Italian cheese?? Is this girl nuts???

I just wanna say that according to Tasteatlas italy has better cheese...you can find the ranking on Google

I love the French girls long socked feet🥰🥰

Je suis américain et j'adore la culture et la langue de la France. Je crois que beaucoup de stéréotypes sur les Français viennent de l’histoire entre la France et le Royaume-Uni/Angleterre. Mais je trouve que les Etats-Unis et la France partagent une histoire et des valeurs communes (la Statue de la Liberté était un cadeau de la France et nous les avons aidés pendant leur historique révolution.)

J'aime le cinéma français depuis longtemps et l'année dernière j'ai décidé d'apprendre cette langue ludique et belle. Je suis encore débutant mais mon objectif cette année est d'atteindre un niveau B2 (avec mon espagnol et filipine aussi).

I am french. French aren't friendly to foreiners. There is a loth of racism and xenophobia.
We have the best cheese... stNectaire, Camembert, compté, cantal, chaoursse, cancoillotte...
French aren't polite.
French aren't easy. And not open -minded. For exemple 1/3 person is anti-LGQBTA+.
French aren't lazy. Work is hard in France.
French not as clean? Idk but switzerland is cleaner than us.
Not shower morning but in the afternoon.
American smater? Look at geography level.
We don't have Thanksgiving in France.
Soccer ? I don't watch soccer so...
We never overexagerate romance. We underexagerate it lol. Most have a dirty vision on that.

My opinion :
- Cheese’s way better in France
- Parisians very rude, the french people in general are very sympathic except when we talk about sport or something they’re attached to, they become egocentric and think they’re the best into it, no other opinion has value for them.
-French people are easy but I don’t think they’re more than another European countries.
- About the Danish bread, it’s funny cause a lot of people think that French bread is better but have never taste Danish bread. If you haven’t taste both it’s unnecessary to debate with you. On my opinion French bread is better.
-Don’t have much to say about the question « lazy »
- When we talk about clean it’s also the streets.. There is a lot of place in France where the streets are dirty but I can’t compare with USA cause the country is too big.
- I don’t think that Geography = to be smart. Americans are just more interested by their 50 states.
When we see the bigs and prestigious University in the USA, when we look to the bigs scientists,.. I can mention more American’s one than French ones, probably due to the fact that USA is bigger.
- About soccer : French has a great soccer team but it’s funny to see the hate of that lady when she’s talking about the previous WC. It really shows that French don’t accept the defeat and think they’re the best in everything.
- I think the Romance in France unfortunately is slowly disappearing.
Love France more than French people 😂
My opinion from an outside position.

Keep in mind that the best baguette in France is made by a Tunisian.