Debunking stereotypes: the French are impossibly rude

The French aren't rude; they just hate you. That's not true, obviously, but anyone who's been the victim of a vicious and apparently unprovoked verbal assault by a Parisian waiter or shop assistant or taxi driver may be forgiven for thinking that French and civility are mutually exclusive notions. Often, this can simply be down to the fact that the French – unlike, say, the British – have no difficulty whatsoever saying exactly what they think. It is a source of endless confusion to them, for example, that when the British say something is "really very interesting", we mean it is precisely the opposite; or that they will have to wait a very long time before we follow through on such an apparently unambiguous statement as: "We must have you over very soon." Generally, though, it's because we haven't got the right codes. If we don't begin with Bonjour , if we don't continue with Monsieur or Madame , if we show signs of not understanding that it is our privilege to be talking to them rather than the reverse, if we fail to observe the least nicety ... we haven't got a chance. Equally, of course, it's true that the French are capable of a kind of deliberate, in-your-face rudeness that would be shocking in any language. That's because they think it's fun.