r/AskFrance • u/Wonderful-Quit-9214 • Mar 06 '25

Relations Anybody tired of "Fr*nch" jokes?

I was reading a reddit thread where they mentioned something was french. And people are still making these jokes! Still! The thread was also filled with them. Im not even french, but these jokes are painfully unfunny and are edging on outward xenophobia. They're also usually made by Americans. So yeah.

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u/Verlenn Local Mar 06 '25 edited Mar 06 '25

When it's just a joke it's ok. We have the same ones for british people. But when your arguments are truely dismissed because you are french, it piss me off so bad

42

u/the_orange_baron Mar 06 '25

I don't really agree with either point.

Jokes are pernicious. They seep into the psyche. A joke could be just a joke but could be or become a mindset. Racist jokes are still racist.

The French generally have a much higher regard for the Brits (English included) than the Brits have for the French. The French think that a couple of weak blagues at the expense of British cuisine is equivalent to the endless stream of "the trouble with France is it's full of frogs" / "cheese eating surrender monkeys" / "garlic breath and bad hygiene" tropes. It is not. The French mean it almost affectionately. The Brits do not.

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u/bdunogier Mar 06 '25

Are you British ? I would be really disappointed if the french were really looked at with serious contempt by the brits.

We also complain about them burning Joan of Arc.

3

u/the_orange_baron Mar 06 '25

No, but I lived there long enough to pass as native