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I'm a little flabergasted that she'd be allowed to instill racism in her classroom that way. Seems very close-minded.
She's definitely closed-minded, but luckily she only said this to me and not in front of any kids. Still, I find her bigotry disturbing.
Mind you, that type of person will probably jump on you if you even bring up Québec, Canada since we were definitely against the attack on Irak.
That's okay, I was against it, too.
As far as vacationers from Québec are concerned, I'd MUCH rather have them here than certain privileged people from Washington DC. [evil grin]
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old hand
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old hand
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instead of being frightened of it like phobia implies? we could coin a word along the lines of "misanthropic" (miso : I hate): Misogallic
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Carpal Tunnel
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I gotta say, this incident reminds me of the French Academy of Letters, which, like Prohibition, cannot keep a generally-desired thing from existing.
As for -phobia, I believe it has indeed taken on the meaning of "hate," as gift horse pointed out. The inelegant "homophobia" comes to mind.
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As for -phobia, I believe it has indeed taken on the meaning of "hate," as gift horse pointed out. The inelegant "homophobia" comes to mind.
i think phobia (fear and loathing) has come to often just mean loathing--and that it is used because it 'neatly parallels' phile.. as in anglophile..--it sort of sounds right, even if it's not 100% accurate.
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I love the teasing that goes on between French and Americans, and also between English and Americans. I like to hear "frog" jokes even though I don't have any idea what the connection is. (I hear all the stuff about mean Frenchies, but every single one I've met personally has been extraordinarily gracious.) I don't like the mean-spiritedness that sometimes accompanies these things, but basic teasing I appreciate. I thought changing the name of French Fries to Freedom Fries was stupid, but when a French restaurant started serving hamburgers with Idiot Cheese, I thought that was pretty funny.
It reminds me of one of the central ironies of War and Peace. The book talks about two franco-russian wars and the intervening period of peace. The main character is a Russian, Pierre. Not Peter. Not Piotr. Pierre. He starts out a boob, kinda happy-go-lucky ne'er do well and evolves into a genuine, caring person with profound intelligence and insight. Here are the Russians and war with the French, and the main character, the guy who eventually comes to manifest the highest "Russian" virtues has a French name.
Another irony occurs when there are aristocrats lounging around, pissing and moaning and they get this brilliant idea that anyone who speaks French has to put a ruble into a jar. The problem is that some of them speak only French so they have to get tutors to learn their own mother tongue. Also, the bilingual complain loudly because their are so many ideas that can be expressed beautifully in French and not at all, or very poorly in Russian.
Not exactly pertinent to the discussion. Just a random thought that occurs to me while considering this thread.
k
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>I love the teasing that goes on between French and Americans,
All over cyberspace, I see evidence that it isn't "teasing" anymore. Staggering numbers of the mythical "average USn" now harbour the sort of irrational loathing toward anything French that was demonstrated by that teacher. In another forum, I was dfiscussing the curious vehemence of the US reaction. NZ has only ever suffered one act of terrorism, and it was committed by France, but, within a decade of it, the relationship started to thaw, and now, the two countries are remarkably amicable (friendly). Of course,given the word chosen to replace French in "fries", etc., what does that make those who are anti-French?
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In reply to:
Free dummies?
Peut-être, but I was just thinking that if French fires became Freedom Fries, and French dressing became Freedom dressing, then someone who was anti-French should, by the same logic, describe themselves as anti-freedom.
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addict
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the English hate the French, the Germans and the Americans
the Welsh, Cornish, Scots and Irish hate the English
the northerners hate the southerners ( applies everywhere I think)
the Londoners despise everybody, including themselves
the Mancs hate the Scousers
the Irish Protestants hate the Irish Catholics
the Israelis hate the Palestinians
the Americans hate the French, the Arabs, the South Americans , the Chinese, the Russians, and each other
The Hutus hate the Tutsis
the Sunni's hate the Shi'ites
the Serbs hate the Croats
the Czechs hate the Romany's
everybody hates the person next door
and vice versa probably
damn, i'm so depressed, i'm going back to bed
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All over cyberspace, I see evidence that it isn't "teasing" anymore.
So do I. Right after the US invaded Iraq I heard a lot of anti-French BS here in Florida, but luckily the blatant comments seem to be subsiding, here in "Stepford" at least.
Of course,given the word chosen to replace French in "fries", etc., what does that make those who are anti-French?
lol! That's a very good point! I read somewhere (here?) that after the "Freedom Fries" fiasco that the French would have been within their rights to ask for Idiot Cheese on their hamburgers. ;-)
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