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Posts tagged ‘filer à l’anglaise’

Mar 19

17 Comments

No. 172-176: French Frights: hugs, first names, smiles, hurried friendships, and filer à l’anglais

I can take no credit for this post, but I just had to share it.

For all you expats out there wondering what you can do to fit in a little more easily with your French hosts, co-workers, neighbors and new found “friends” (who might actually only be acquaintances), please watch the comic, but always insightful, Géraldine from Comme une Française TV…my new favorite virtual Frenchie, as she tells us: How to Scare the HELL out of a French Person.

In case you need a reminder, here are the top five ways to  to frighten the French, remember to:

  • hug them tightly and often. (The French don’t even have a word for hugging.)
  • start an email with a first name. (It’s threatening.)
  • be over enthusiastic. (You can’t be trusted and may be selling a scam.)
  • rush along a friendship. (There are at least seven levels of friendship in France. Go slowly.)
  • filer à l’anglaise or don’t say goodbye. (Neglected bises and au revoirs will land you in the dog house.)

Merci bien, Géraldine…thanks for helping me “live in France, (and) feel at home”…please visit her site here. She is a language learning and cultural decoding gem.

Vocabulaire:

bises: cheek kisses

filer à l’anglaise: leave like an English(man)