> True enough. But still, the French have me flummoxed. For example, in
> a recent poll they came out way ahead of everyone in their unhappiness
> with capitalism, and a french friend who recently returned from a
> month stay in France returned to report that the french were grumpy.
> Why, I asked. "I don't know," he said. "They get 80% of their salaries
> in unemployment, they get free health care, long vacations, and free
> education, but they are grumpy."
>
> Not that I disapprove or anything, but it's puzzling.
For the French, bitching is a cultural trait, just like smiling at strangers is a cultural trait for Americans. I find myself smiling at strangers even when I'm in a bad mood; it's just because I'm American. In France it's greeted with suspicion or bemusement.
Hanna Rosin opened her NYT review of Barbara Ehrenreich's latest book, on enforced cheerfulness in America, with this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/books/review/Rosin-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
> I must confess, I have waited my whole life for someone to write a
> book like “Bright-Sided.” When I was a young child, my family moved to
> the United States from Israel, where churlishness is a point of pride.
> As I walked around wearing what I considered a neutral expression,
> strangers would often shout, “What’s the matter, honey? Smile!” as if
> visible cheerfulness were some kind of requirement for citizenship.
SA