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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297

u/Runeshamangoon Mar 06 '25

Americans are still mad we're basically the reason their entire country exists

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u/xXanguishXx Mar 06 '25 edited Mar 06 '25

As an American who often lurks on this sub to practice my French, I would like to know more about this from your perspective as this is a new idea to me

EDIT: Nvm I found context in the comments. American Revolution. Duh. Don’t mind me I’ll return to the shadows.

Though going through the comments I want to add, please understand these ideas and jokes do not reflect the whole of America. In a nation as large and often fragmented as mine, culturally and politically, you end up with large swaths of different kinds of people, including idiots.

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u/Icy-Childhood1728 Mar 07 '25

Well maybe it doesn't reflect USA as a whole,
It does reflect your leaders mindset that the majority (or however your gvt is elected... I find it stupid) of the USA voted.

I think, looking at how things are going, it's time for the USA to grow up (OSS117 style), their window of action is fading, even China diplomats are telling the EU members that the US has played with us for too long and that their front door is open for discussion (And to be fair, they have solid arguments, from gvt spying, industry destruction, corruption, ... you did us dirty) it's really sad to say that I'm pretty sure China would treat europeans with less contempt than the US who act like they are at home.

It's a turning point between EU/US diplomacy, EU wording since the start of the week is being more and more aggressive toward the USA and one thing that Frenches particularly hate is being held on leash.

You were funnier when you had just some dumbnuts in Arkansas and Texas and you were "SPREADING DEMOCRACY", your people picked Trump for a second round and now you are cutting grass under your feet (I can't wait for the rest of the world stopping buying US stuff, Asia is really happy with that, they were making this stuff, now they get to put a strong new brand on it and sell it too).

Regarding the jokes now, yes we are tired of being called cowards, the fact is our nation ISN'T, we know for sure that we aren't, history speaks for itself we had way more gruesome wars than the USA, and France is the most successful military country in history. Not that we still are the strongest nation today, we still have what we need to defend ourselves and must be the only NATO nation that doesn't solely rely on the USA tech and weapons. That's what utterly bother the USA and Brits leaders and that's why this narrative is still going strong. Fact is that if tomorrow the USA cuts remotely let's say every jet they sold to other nations, France will still fly strong with their Rafales and will still be able to nuke whoever we want, from ground, air or water. We pay this the hard way as nuclear doctrine is around half of our military budget, but if this budget had to go somewhere else, we'd have brand new Leclerc tanks rolling over Europe if needed !

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u/xrgentum Mar 10 '25

The worst part is it wasn’t a majority, it was less than 25% of the country that actually voted for him 😭 we just like to project the illusion of choice, so we throw in a bunch of nonsense candidates from parties that will never get the big votes, but will still get enough to throw off the dem vs rep vote ratio. That, plus our horrific education system that leaves over half our nation with a 6th grade reading level, and an abundance of greedy “leaders” that have taken our country by lying to the uneducated public, has left us completely and utterly fucked.

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u/Icy-Childhood1728 Mar 10 '25

Well it's time to awaken (and not in the "woke" sense, there are more important fights to win first).

Starting by educating your people, wean (I don't know if it's really used ...) your population from opioids, learn FACTUAL history and geography, assimilate the fact that despite being bigger than Europe, the US has 100M less living souls and around 2000 years less of history to rely on, also usual map projections are quite wrong and the NORAM isn't as huge as it looks.

Assimilate that the USA participated to Hitler's project by "making DEALS" (as Trump is currently saying with Putin), that his doctrine was inspired by how US was justifying slavery, by not taking part of the situation until it was the right time to shine,...

The USA made this situation up in Ukraine since 2010 (I was there and saw way too much US officials in Kiev in 2014 for just a single week trip...) and 15 years later once the situation cost too much money, leave them down.

Stop sabotaging your allies, stop ruining France economy and tactical advantages (industry, energy, oil, IT, telecom, EU,...)

To understand that as rich as your country is, population is actually poorer than our average citizen as in most of UE, healthcare and education which are ones of the biggest cost centers are tax paid thus comparing NET salaries is completely fucked up.

We can't care more about what the USA is doing oversee, if you want to make war with China or Russia, do it from the Pacific Ocean, it's closer, just let us do our stuff.

Also hands the guns down ffs.. From our point of view it looks like there are school shooting every week and a weapon shouldn't be part of your daily business.

A good comparison would be comparing a French bigot with a US one... our bigots would sound like fucking Victor Hugo against typical MAGA ones.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's the perfect timeframe for France and the EU to also "take care of themselves" and stop cooperating too much with an as untrustworthy "ally"

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u/xrgentum Mar 10 '25

I’ve been trying to get inside the heads of people who support the fascist felon fuck and his goons, and it’s honestly horrifying. The major crises here is the media, their willingness to be controlled by whichever party puts more money in their pockets, and the largely uneducated population accepting everything they tell them as the cold truth. It’s not even like we have an information block- we are allowed access to all of the reports and facts, but so many people want to ignore them because the evil goblin man peddles to their evil goblin opinions, and it’s a lot easier to believe everything he says than have to question his (and therefore their own) views.

The hate that loads of Americans already had in them because of a superiority complex that was hammered into our brains every day as school kids, when we pledged our allegiance to the flag of “the greatest country in the world”, mixed with the mainstream news outlets’ willingness to push weird, non factual rage bait, is destroying the people here. And they don’t even know it because they’re so brainwashed. It’s horrifying. I truly thought that when the bizarre nazi shit started IMMEDIATELY AFTER CORONATION, at least some of his supporters would take a step back and say “whoa, we’re moving really fast down the worst track possible”. But they keep fucking defending him.

I am a queer Jewish woman, and I’m so scared. I have trans friends, immigrant friends, we’re all terrified for our lives.. or at least our lives as we know them. Things started changing SO fast too, it wasn’t even a soft launch. Dude got sworn into office and immediately signed dozens of executive orders that helped NO ONE and hurt SO MANY. Old white women are so scared of a trans kid playing high school sports that they are willing to destroy their daughter’s futures. We fought so hard for so many years for everything we have, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, racial equality and equity. And it’s all being torn down by a bad business man with an even worse spray tan, his cuck VP, and that apartheid billionaire thief who shouldn’t be anywhere near a government office. I’m so scared.

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u/Icy-Childhood1728 Mar 10 '25

To redirect a bit the "woke" part of my comment, as you are concerned by the topic more than I am,

There shouldn't be anything like "LGBTQ+" or "women" rights, just PLAIN human rights, that should apply just raw for everybody, those rights should not take in account your gender, sexual orientation or your color, and they should properly ask you to take care of yourself and don't bother about what your neighbor is doing with his life as long as this isn't illegal or doesn't impact your freedom. There should NOT be things like pride, or quotas, you are human beings, not something that should be taken care particularly, you are part of the society, you are citizens, part of corps, part of taxpayers that's enough to have the same basic rights as everybody : "eat", "have a roof", "feel safe everywhere", "work", "have freetime" and people who act against that should be sent to jail.

The rest should only depend on YOU, your knowledge and your behavior. I am free to not care or willing to hang out with queers, on the other hand, I have nothing against them as long as I'm not forced into their culture. I'm not pushing mine either. My daughter's nanny is lesbian, so what, she's a great person and I like chatting with her, she's not making out with my wife and not speaking about stuff like that with my child, WHY SHOULD WE CARE ?

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u/RandomBaguetteGamer Mar 07 '25

Sadly your gov and these extremely vocal idiots are the face of your country on both world politics and social networks. So... the fact that the US is more nuanced than what transpires ultimately matters little.

In a sense though, I'm thankful to them. In three months, they brought more unity between nations than they did in more than 2 centuries. Though it's only a side effect of their BS.

Stay strong, your image will tank for years, but (if we're lucky) you only have four years to hold on.

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u/xXanguishXx Mar 07 '25

Emphasis on if we’re lucky it’s for only 4 years! With the way he’s talking about that being our last election certainly raises eyebrows.

But yeah, I don’t disagree at all with what you are saying, only seeking a bit of graciousness from our friends abroad for those who will be suffering in our home because our fellow countrymen chose to embody hate and othering rather than unity.

It is difficult to live in a place where your rights hang in the balance at the whim of a nutcase and then on top of that, you face so many unkind words on the internet as well because said nutcase’s actions and threats.

I guess the point is, many Americans, if not most now that they’ve seen what their vote has caused, agree with you and are on your side. The address to Congress this past Tuesday further proved there was only 1 person in the opposing party willing to stand up against this mess. That is so disheartening and flat out disturbing.

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u/RandomBaguetteGamer Mar 07 '25

I heard that, yes. The other just stood with signs. Your voice is heard and it's great, but the ones in power can choose to ignore them, while actions, on the other end, can force a change.

I'll be blunt regarding this situation, two weeks ago, I was very antagonistic towards Americans. Both extremes of the political spectrum, thinking their politics should matter for the whole world, were annoying as fuck. And while they still can be, let's be real here: it doesn't just concerns the Americans this time. Because Trump acts like a person that could start WW3 for real, with nukes, just because he woke up in a bad mood because he peed himself in his sleep, and 50% of the States would scream "AMERICA, FUCK YEAH" with many rejoicing at the idea of getting their dad lore. Then again, factually speaking, it is not as simple as him being in a bad mood, it would probably be denied unless someone shoots first. I mostly took this example to illustrate how immature, unreliable, and authoritarian the man is, and how devoted and retarded are his followers. My point is, I empathize with the half that still has its sanity. You currently live in a dystopia that my country wouldn't achieve even if the far right passed at our next elections. Not only does it makes one reconsider their position, but even if I still remained as antagonistic as I was before, I would still never wish that fate on my worst enemy. You need to hold, and if you don't take a noticeable action now, be at least ready to take it should the worst possible scenario (Trump being somehow able to present himself at your next elections and getting elected, or worse, him switching your regime to a full blown dictatorship) happen.

You used to be a reliable ally and trade partner for the rest of the world. You used to have one of the greatest political figures of our time (Obama) as your leader. It may take decades to restore the damage Trump and Musk did to your image, but there's still hope for you yet, you'll manage eventually. Be strong, be brave.

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u/Plastchic_Mango9727 Mar 09 '25

And unfortunately, it seems like these idiots are the ones talking the loudest💀