President Chirac has been really getting on my nerves recently. His behaviour is becoming increasingly hostile and rude toward the British. He is attacking the food of the whole country, and now even that of Finland, which has nothing to do with politics.
Have a look :
BBC : What Chirac's mood means for G8
BBC News : Finns find food quip hard to swallow
The old geezer is giving a bad image to France. Ironic after his hard criticism of Bush (who seriously deteriorated the image of the US around the world).
How mature is that ? Rather than denying a well-mediatised fact, they should have apologised for the president's advancing state of senility.
Oh, mama, he said something bad about me. :bawl: "Those Europeans" ? Do the Finns not consider themselves European ? There are jokes between neighbours in almost all European countries. The French like especially making jokes about the Belgians, the Brits, the Germans, the Swiss and the Italians (basically all the neighbours but the too austere and serious Spain). It's quite childish and full of stereotypes if you ask me. Maybe French people shouldn't base their opinion of their neighbours just by reading Asterix.
The issue here is not that such jokes exist, but that the French president should use and abuse them to ridicule other heads of state or a whole nation (esp. within the EU where there should be harmony :blush: ).
Have a look :
BBC : What Chirac's mood means for G8
BBC said:In public, Mr Chirac's criticism of the UK and its allies was outspoken and blunt. In private it appears to have been far worse.
...
Mr Blair and Mr Chirac became engaged in a vicious verbal dogfight at a summit in Brussels in October 2002, with the French president at one point accusing the British prime minister of being "rude".
There have been further clashes since then - and Mr Blair is known to have felt patronised by Mr Chirac on occasions - but the relationship has always been patched up, and the pair claim to be friends.
In the run-up to the G8 summit, Mr Chirac reportedly joked that one could not trust a nation with a national cuisine as bad as England's.
He also made derogatory comments about a Scottish dish that former Nato Secretary-General George Robertson once offered him.
BBC News : Finns find food quip hard to swallow
BBC said:Finnish people basking in hot, glorious sunshine felt a bit of a cold snap from France as President Jacques Chirac pronounced Finnish food practically inedible.
Most Finns seem to have mixed feelings about his comments: the French are generally considered sophisticated and chic but Mr Chirac's opinions make them seem a bit rude.
The old geezer is giving a bad image to France. Ironic after his hard criticism of Bush (who seriously deteriorated the image of the US around the world).
BBC said:A French embassy official in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, has denied that Mr Chirac said anything derogatory about Finnish food.
How mature is that ? Rather than denying a well-mediatised fact, they should have apologised for the president's advancing state of senility.
BBC said:"Why do those Europeans want to mock us all the time?" asked an elderly gentleman on the lakeside near Helsinki.
Oh, mama, he said something bad about me. :bawl: "Those Europeans" ? Do the Finns not consider themselves European ? There are jokes between neighbours in almost all European countries. The French like especially making jokes about the Belgians, the Brits, the Germans, the Swiss and the Italians (basically all the neighbours but the too austere and serious Spain). It's quite childish and full of stereotypes if you ask me. Maybe French people shouldn't base their opinion of their neighbours just by reading Asterix.
The issue here is not that such jokes exist, but that the French president should use and abuse them to ridicule other heads of state or a whole nation (esp. within the EU where there should be harmony :blush: ).