French fries sales are down because of annoyance with France. French kissing remains popular.
There's a lot of good blogging about France going on today... My Daddy's Blog (permalinks not working) links to this funny Washington Post piece by a Frenchman living in the U.S.
Another thing I had failed to appreciate was how isolated we French are. It's painful to admit, but only 73 percent of the French people oppose a war without a second U.N. resolution. We definitely cannot pretend we speak for the rest of the world, as war is opposed by 82 percent of the European Union (84 percent of Brits), and in other parts of the world, let's say South America, it's more in the range of 90 percent. So we should shut up. And we should also admit that our isolation makes us insignificant, though I still can't understand why publications such as the Weekly Standard keep talking about us so much. Maybe it has something to do with our food.
The Mighty Reason Man has written a good post reminding forgetful Americans of the actual history of World War Two - a history greatly more complex than phrases like "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" admit. (Both those links via Atrios).
American military casualties (dead, not wounded) throughout the war are estimated at roughly 500,000. The French lost 340,000 men in uniform. Right there, it is obvious that the French did not simply turn tail and run. But the more startling statistic is the number of civilian casualties. US civilian casualties were, roughly, 0, because the civilian population was on the other side of the Atlantic. French civilians did not have it so easy; they shared a border with Germany. 470,000 French civilians died in the war. Is there anyone out there low enough to accuse them all of cowardice?
Finally, LanguageHat has an interesting note on translating the phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" into French ("If such language is proving a headache for the diplomats, then spare a thought for the French translators"), and makes the important point that the much-quoted zinger originated with Groundskeeper Willie, and not Bart Simpson as is so often claimed.
[Via Alas, a Blog]
