 Poster: A snowHead
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...might want to read this recent article from the legendary US ski magazine Powder
The author, consumed by Chamonix, seems to have made his mind up!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ummm Sir david you missed a bit, try Powder
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Tue 2-03-04 12:43; edited 1 time in total
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Interesting quote...
"You don't think the Eurofolk want your American pesos?... Europeans have far greater disdain for the British than Americans."
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Not in Switzerland, there the Swiss seem to prefer th emore traditional patient Brits to the somewhat less patient Yanks 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Yes, interestingly the author maintains anonymity!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I agree with everything he says bar the '...Europeans have far greater disdain for the British than the Americans'. That's not my experience as a Brit living in France, or on my travels around Europe. The travelling Americans tend to have more money and leave bigger tips, but that doesn't mean there is less disdain towards them. It depends more on individual attitudes rather than nationality.
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That's it in a nuyshell, really. There are always a few people with the odd irrational dislike based on nationality (and they tend to be louder than the rest - note that does not imply the converse) in every country in the world. However in my experience it's mainly down to the personalities of the people involved - visitor and local - and how they mix.
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Well, the author has been in Chamonix and talks about "Europeans"
mmmm. I disdain neither Brits nor Yanks.
I disdain rude people, whatever their passport is.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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However, I'm not sure how welcome someone would be if they tried to pay with pesos... 
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Absolutely Matteo, its rude people we dont want to see, not someone who happens to have been born in any particular country. Perhaps the author had a bad experience, who knows.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The US France 'dislike' is a bit of a myth blown up out of all proportion by politicians with their own agendas on both sides of the Pond. As has been written above, it's personalities that count. A bit of respect and a genuine attempt to understand and explore the culture of the country you visit goes a long way...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| PG wrote: |
| A bit of respect and a genuine attempt to understand and explore the culture of the country you visit goes a long way... |
but what do the French get? Merihell laqer louts, half naked British chalet girls vomitting in the streets at 2am and squeeling like cats on heat, dodgy UK businesses from unqualified plumbers to tour operators avoiding paying tax and marvelling at the wonderful infrastructure they don't pay for, people speeding across France to the Alps like it is their own private race track, hoorays buying up every available appartment and boasting in the local bars how loaded they are.
No wonder the French prefer the American $$$... at least they go home after their holidays without breaking anything.
I agree with PG, a bit of respect when you visit a country even if you are bringing much needed tourist euros.
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sherman-maeir, I'd like to disagree with you.... but..... well...... dammit, I've seen all of the above more often than I care to remember 
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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ssh, I don't think the fact of speaking English alone sets you apart in France. But they are a proud lot, French is taught as the main foreign language in the majority of Anglophone countries around the world, widely spoken on five continents and in many countries as a native tongue, a lingua franca of business, diplomacy and of major international organisations..... etc .... etc. So what does rattle them is when Anglophones don't make the slightest attempt to try out a few words of French, seemingly assuming that everyone in whichever country we Anglophones visit should of course be able to converse with us in English.
You mention Texans  I had this conversation with one just last week - he was complaining about the allegedly 'rude' French he'd met on holiday. But he admitted he'd not once so much as said 'Bonjour' to one, and when I asked him how he would react if a Frenchman walked up to him in Austin expecting him to converse with him in French, it gave him pause for thought....
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Poster: A snowHead
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In my experience, North Americans are an incredibly - sometimes spookily - polite people - when they're at home, at least.
And somehow I always find it easier to use my basic Italian in Italy than my intermediate French in France - it just seems to go further and be more readily understood.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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PG, I understand that, certainly. When in France, I did my best to learn and use words. In fact, upon return to the States, I found myself thanking waitstaff in French! However, I admit to never having studied French so I have only learned it on my trips there (and it goes away relatively quickly).
On the other hand, Spanish is widely spoken here in the US, so I have a much broader grasp of it. In fact, it has taken the place of French as the primary second language taught here.
Ah... Texans... I followed one on the road from Frisco to Breckenridge this past weekend--in a mild snow storm at night. 25 mph!!!! ARGH!!! There was a line of 50 cars behind me by the time we got to the passing lane. Typical of our "favorite" tourists here in Colorado. 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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David Steven, I may be one of those "spookily polite people" you mention...  I tend to be pretty quiet, and do my best to serve others. When are ya'll coming to visit us in Colorado?!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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When I speak French in France they generally assume I'm Belgian. 
French seems to be less tolerant of errors than English or German...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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There are a lot of folks that can't understand how the USA ran out of oil. Well, here's the answer: It's simple.........nobody bothered to check the oil. They didn't know it was getting low. And of course the reason for that is geographical. All the oil is in Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska, but all the dipsticks are in Washington, D.C.
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Tue 2-03-04 19:58; edited 2 times in total
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Interesting. In Courchevel this past weekend, several of the locals (after being disappointed to learn I'm American and not English) were gushing about how wonderful the Brits are - big tippers and in for a good time, unlike the stingy, crabby French!
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Ian Hopkinson, I think you'll find that's an insult in France 
I always try to speak French, but I'm still haunted by a memory of when I was a kid in a French hypermarket, asking for eggs. She couldn't understand my pronunciation, despite my best efforts and ended up walking away laughing. I suspect she did understand, but just enjoyed taking the Michael.
Bitch.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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masopa, You weren't asking for little eggs, were you? Cos if it came across anything like "titeuf', that's a French cartoon kid, always getting into trouble!
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The American National Transportation Safety Board recently reported that it had covertly funded a project with US auto makers for the past five years to install black boxes in four-wheel drive pickup trucks to determine, in fatal accidents, the events during the last 15 seconds before the crash.
The agency found that in 45 of the 50 states the last words of drivers in 61.2% of fatal crashes were, "Oh, poo-poo!"
In Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Texas and Georgia over 89.3% of the final words were, "Hold my beer and watch this."
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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PG, no - it was just plain, "les oeufs".
DB: 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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French as less a forgiving language: I blame the Acadamie Francais
An Italian waitor in Cervinia said he preferred English customers to Italian. Less erm, poncy I think is the best way to paraphrase him. He may just have been playing us for a tip, but I don't think so.
German's a great language to blunder about it, so many words the same as English. Swiss German can be fun, too
I know a smattering of words in several languages (travel with holiday & work) but find myself using the wrong ones in different countries and it's quite common for me use words from more than one language in a sentence, which causes consternation...mainly for me.
"Je voudrais einmal von diese, per fa vore"
(spelling might be wrong but you get the idea)
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I used to be able to hold a poor conversation in Swiss German, unfortunately my knowledge of Swiss German seems to have decreased over the last 25 years wheras the Swiss knowledge of English seems to have grown rapidly, certainly in the Bernese Oberland, I still try to speak Swiss German wherever possible though, these days I find myself ordering a lunch in Swiss German only to be asked the next question in English 
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You know it makes sense.
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I had no idea what I was doing in Saas Fee (Valais Canton / Swiss German part), I started off in German; failed badly, tried French then English. Had fun in a tri-lingual ski school class though...
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I learnt some Czech before a summer trip last August to Nova Mesto na Morave (nordic in winter, grass-skiing in the summer). It's in the middle of nowhere, well south of Prague, and when I tried out a few phrases they were so delighted in one restaurant that they chattered away endlessly each time they brought the menu, oblivious to my complete incomprehension. I haven't a clue what they said, what I ordered, and tasting each dish as it arrived didn't help much either.
One thing I did like about the place.... the hotel we stayed in was incredibly cheap, even though they were on the point of joining the EU. I honestly though they'd made a mistake when I got the bar bill for a heavy session the first evening, a fraction of the prices in France/UK.....
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Spending a weekend in Zermatt was bewildering, a cross between Italian, German, French and English.
Fortunately, after a couple of hours in The Cow the international language of "dangly bits" kicked in and I was fine after that.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The German speakers caused a big fuss when they decided to make English the second language instead of French.
It puts us to shame, for example, the Italian Swiss speak Italian(2 and sometimes 3 dialects thereof), French, (Swiss) German and fairly often, English. The others will be similar.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks for the correction to "my spelling" 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Que?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| sherman-maeir wrote: |
but what do the French get? Merihell laqer louts, half naked British chalet girls vomitting in the streets at 2am and squeeling like cats on heat, ..... |
Yea and then we go on to complain about how the central europeans can't order themselves in the lift line properly
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