The guy thought I must be French--but: he was no Republican, so it wasn't meant as an insult

[DFW]

Actually he meant it as a compliment. He was a Paris taxi driver.

I was running late (what else is new?) in Paris, and the métro was a little too crowded for comfort this morning, so I took a taxi to get me back to the train station this afternoon. Due to Corona schedule cuts, my usual 5:55 PM train home was canceled, so my last chance was at 3:55 PM. Since the early train was canceled, too, I didn't even get in to my office there until 12:30, and I had 5 people to see. Needless to say, I had to haul ass, and grabbed a taxi back to the station.

I was a little out of breath, and the cabbie asked why the rush? I said if I don't get this train, I would have to spend the night in Paris, as it was the last train home for the day. He asked where "home" was, and I said I lived in Germany. Typical France, he began extolling the virtues of German efficiency (mostly a myth) and the German work ethic (closer to the mark there), and asked how long I had been living there. I said many years now. He said so I must have a good perspective on the differences between living in Germany and living in France.

I said not really, as I hadn't ever lived in France for any length of time. He said, but how could that be if I was French and had never lived in France? I said I wasn't French. That threw him for a loop. I said I was from Texas, USA. He couldn't believe it. Vous êtes américain?? Yup, I most definitely was. He said he was positive I was as French as he was (and he was).

I guess that can be taken as an affirmation that my French is still above the level of "parlez-vous français," even if I don't live there.

[MaryMagdaline]

1. Way to represent!

[DFW]

5. About 15 years ago

I was buying some fruit on the Rue Cadet where there are many fruit stands. It was June, apricot season, so I bought a kilo and asked the man to pack them well, as I was taking them to Germany. he said, "oh you are German?" I said, no, I'm from Texas, but I spend a lot of time in Germany. He frowned. He said, "Bush is from Texas. I am from Iraq."

Now this guy spoke fluent French, so he was no refugee from the war. He had been there for some time, so he had fled Saddam, not us. I told him that many of us in America, and indeed even in Texas, were horrified at what Bush had done to his country, and we were deeply sorry for it, even if we didn't have the power to stop it.

The guy was stunned--absolutely amazed. He said, "really? I had no idea! I thought all of America was behind Bush and the invasion." He had obviously been listening to some rather slanted news. I assured him that at least half of America if not more was opposed to the invasion, and asked him to accept my apologies as an American for what my country had done to his.

The man came out from behind his fruit stand to shake my hand and thank me for this incredible news. Now THAT was some representing. At least ONE Iraqi Arab was going to be telling his family and friends some incredible news that evening. OK, just ONE guy, but if we had a few thousand more doing this, we might actually start making some friends again in this world.

[MaryMagdaline]

11. That is great! As much as I hate Trump I'll never get over how horrible Bush was

[DFW]

15. The most horrible thing Bush did

Was let Cheney manipulate him like a puppet on strings for years. Even the German media had a field day with this:

[CurtEastPoint]

2. My very first trip to France, 1990; asking a lady in Metro about train to airport (in French)

and she answered me. I thanked her and she looked me up and down (she was small and I am not) and she said... I swear I'll never forget this: "Vous parlez français très bien... pour un étranger." You speak very well... for a foreigner!

And in recent trips I am often asked if I am British because apparently my French comes out with a British accent (to them, at least!)

God, I miss going to France.

[DFW]

7. I'm down there almost once a week

I'll tell them you said bonjour!

[CurtEastPoint]

14. My last trip was September 19.... sad.

[MaryMagdaline]

12. My best friend lives there half the year except for Covid

She still has a strong southern accent. One man in her village tells her every year “Your French is still the same.” It kills her!

[CurtEastPoint]

16. That's funny! If people I speak to in English know American accents they spot me as southern.

I guess among American accents, it's distinctive. Because in movies if they want to show a dumb American, they always make them southern!

[mopinko]

3. have you checked your dna?

maybe he's on to something.

[DFW]

6. Well, no, but one of my nephews did

Half Eastern European mongrel (I am 100%) and half Shinto Japanese (my brother's wife). No French at all.

[Laelth]

4. My French has never been good enough to allow me to pass as French in Paris.

Outside Paris, my French has always been good enough to allow me to pass as European, at the very least. In Italy, I could pass as French, although I never tried to deceive anyone. Je suis American. Es Americano.

You have done well and have represented the United States well. Thank you.

-Laelth

[DFW]

8. After speaking Italian once, I once was told I must be from Napoli

But the guy was from another part of Italy, so what did he know?

A DNC guy asked me if I would be interested in being Ambassador to Germany under a Hillary Clinton administration. I think he was being serious, but it never got to that stage

[Laelth]

9. My Italian is barely good enough to keep me alive ...

... food, bathroom, currency, lodging, time, transportation, and basic courtesy. That’s why I spoke to most of them in French.

-Laelth

[DFW]

10. That probably impressed them plenty anyway

They never expect us to be able to speak ANYTHING.

[Laelth]

13. Quite true.

That said, I don’t blame you for turning down Ambassador to Germany. I studied German at the graduate level, and it’s a bitch. I would be perpetually embarrassed trying to speak German to Germans. My pronunciation is fine, but my grammar is no better than a five-year-old’s.

-Laelth

[DFW]

17. I never got to turn it down

She never got to form a government.

My German is fine. My wife is German, and we have been together for 46 years, have always spoken German to each other, raised two completely bilingual children. I can even do a credible Schwyzerdüütsch in Switzerland as long as I'm not confronted with some dialect from out in the mountains somewhere.

[Laelth]

18. Cool. You are well-suited for the job.

Would you take it if offered by the Biden administration? Not that I can make that happen. Just curious.

-Laelth

[DFW]

19. 60-40 against, but then I'd have to listen to the pitch before an outright decision

My wife would probably not want to move to Berlin. Düsseldorf is at the other end of Germany (Dutch border as opposed to Polish border).

I might not want the serious cut in pay, although some of the perks would make up for it. I don't even know what an ambassador makes, but it's probably less than what I make now.

A friend of mine was Canadian ambassador to both the USA and (next and final posting) France, and he said the pay sucked, but the perks were amazing. Also, what if they wanted me to serve all four years of Biden's first term? I'd be almost 73 by the time I stepped down, and sliding back into my old day job at that age might not be as easy as I'd like it to be. Plus, I'd be fighting off a high profile instead of the low profile I enjoy now.

But you know, if the offer comes from the man, himself, the phrase "offer I can't refuse" does come to mind. Then it becomes purely my wife's call, for which she will hate me for the rest of my life!

[elleng]

20. C'est si bon!!!

[DFW]

21. Or, as Allan Sherman once put it:

[elleng]

22. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[marked50]

23. The taxi guy was probably from Tahiti