From a book on the Foreign Legion, written by a Canadian, I thought these paragraphs

[Joe Chi Minh]

were hilarious.

You may have heard it said that the French can be somewhat rude and arrogant. You will likely find this has more than a grain of truth. I'm not going to bother you with a list of petty grievances on their hereditary characteristics, but will instead leave it to you to form your own opinion. For the most part they aren't that bad, but there are occasions when their imprudence can give you a sore neck from shaking your head so much. Many of the officers, especially, seem to think they're direct descendants from God and therefore enjoy some sort of divine right.

One event that really exemplified this haughty attitude took place during a leave period in Paris while completely independent of the Legion's influence. I had walked into a bookstore beside the Sorbonne to have a look around. No sooner had I entered the estalishment than the female clerk began to chatter like an angry squirrel. I had offended her decencies by not saying, 'Hello, how are you, isn't it a nice day?' and whatever else she was expecting me to say and I was therefore deserving of a right royal scolding. She then proceeded to set me straight with a quick course on social graces. Being of a 'live and let live' mentality, I was quite taken aback by her attitude and left promptly without buying anything. (He'd obviously forgotten in short order the social niceties the Legion had taught him.)

Another telling display of this temperament was during the Gulf War when FRance exhibited a stubborn reluctance to cooperate with the coalition forces. France is replete with a hearty anti-America sentiment and was not about to delegate its troops to American command, regardless of how much easier this would have made coordinating offensive actions. France did participate in the war and was an important ally, but did so on its own terms and consequently was involved n its own skirmishing on the sidelines than in bearing the brunt of any amjor engagement. This detail the consummate glory France was able to achieve in its own eyes for some minor successes on the battlefield."

The book is by Evan McGorman, and called Life in the French Foreign Legion. A great read, as he has a phlegmatic, wry perspective and writes so well.

[Joe Chi Minh]

1. Copyright-wise, I still have another paragraph available, so I'll

correct the last sentence above, and add the paragraph immediately after it.

(snip)...."This detail did not diminish the consummate glory France was able to achieve in its own eyes for some minor successes on the battlefield.

One attribute I feel compelled to tell you about is the French habit of shaking hands. They feel absolutely required to shake hands with everyone they come into contact with daily, even though they may live among and see those people every day. Some unwritten rule binds them to this behaviour such that it becomes an obligation, and while it is a friendly enough gesture, to apply it in everyday cicumstances reduces its impact. This probably accounts for the dead fish handshakes that are offered up. Instead of simply grunting 'hello' in the morning, it's not unusual to see a large group of men spending several minutes shaking hands with each other before morning 'rassemblement'. To give you an idea of how strongly this urge is rooted in their psyche, I once saw two Frenchmen approach each other from opposite sides of a chain-link fence, whereupon one of them extemded his pinkie finger through the links, which the other clasped with his own pinkie to complete the transaction."