Making fun of a country

I've been taking French classes this year. I think French culture is really cool, I'm also have French ancestry from my mother's side of the family. My friends tend to say that taking French as a forging language is completely stupid and that the French are pansies. I don't like it when other people make fun of the French. Americans for some reason just love making fun of them most likely because they surrendered to Germany in WW2. My main argument to that is this...
America has no room to make fun. France is right next to Germany and would've constantly been attacked by them. The German tanks also had radios which the French tanks (although more powerful) did not. After WW1 most of the French population was dead, thousands upon thousands were killed. America has no idea what it's like to share a neighborhood with its enemy we're nice and safe across the Atlantic Ocean therefore how can you blame the French government for surrendering? Their defenses were passed, their tanks were being wiped out and the enemy was battle hardened while they were enjoying peace.
Contrary to the belief is that the French people just surrendered, that's not entirely true. Through out the war there was a resistant group that fought the Germans and without their help English and American paratroopers would’ve lost more than they did because they didn't have a good feel of the terrain. In fact the French resistance helped out more so because by the end of the war the Germans stationed in French towns were having to deal with the resistance that the Americans were able to come get through without and German resistance. There were some accounts by American paratroopers that the resistance ended up taking out most German units in the cities, and once the Paratroopers arrived the town would be abandoned by the Germans.
Not only that but The French helped the Americans out during the Revolution. Without their help the Americans wouldn't have been able to continue fighting the British.
So I just don't see why so many Americans and other people tend to look down at the French. A lot of English language is derived from French, so we probably would've had a completely different vocabulary had the French not influenced it. I know there are some instances where you could say that the French made stupid mistakes but doesn’t every country do that?
Is there a reason why so many people think the French are so low? If you do think that then why exactly do you?

Is actual hatred toward a country/racial group etc okay? No.
Is joking terrible? Nah. As long as it's done with restraint.

"ethnic jokes may be uncouth, but you laugh because they're based on truth. don't take them as personal attacks. everyone enjoys them, so relax"
Avenue Q

See, by finding all these facts about your country to refute the claims people make against it, you're proving that you're affected by what they say. If someone insults you and you actually spend time looking for reasons why they're wrong, you're clearly not very secure in the fact that they're wrong.

There's making fun of a country, and then there's downright insulting a country.

My friends and I make fun of Canada all the time (and the Canadian Idiot song is awesome!), but we love Canada and the Canadians.

Stuff like this happens because of silly nationalist pride, and ignorance. I wouldn't be too bothered by it. America has as many things to make fun of as France, and so does Canada. No country is anywhere near perfect, and if you're from one country you'll probably find some way to criticise another; just as the people whose country you make fun of will be able to make fun of your own. That's just the nature of overzealous nationalism, ignorance and bias. That, and people who are just being silly and likely mean no harm.

Making fun of other countries is all fine. Making fun of people of a certain race is all fine. I'm very proud of being Swedish, but I never take offense when someone makes a joke about us being cowards using shoehorns instead of guns in a war :XD

People get offended too easily. It's silly, and they should all just chill out and have fun. There's nothing wrong with belonging to a certain nation or being of a certain race. Thus, it should be okay to make fun of it.

Originally Posted by jman

Well the french are jurks to pepole from the US no mater how much we bail them out like in both WW1 and WW2

I don't like it when americans reffer themselves as the sole saviour of Europe... just saying ;-)

In regards to the "Savior of Europe" thing, Europe was saved by the efforts of several nations, most of them European. Any nation that was one of the Allies can call themselves the Saviors of Europe. In my opinion, anyway.

Anywho, about making fun of nations. Personally, I don't see a problem with making jokes about different nations. As Blizzaga said, there's a difference between joking and insulting. I'm fairly confident that a lot of French stereotypes are on the insult side of the line.

Originally Posted by Freedom G

don't care still don't like the french, because they don't shower, they're snooty and stuck up, the language sounds retarded, their food sucks oh and they're panssies and not only america makes fun of the french, everyone does.

Well...that's not exactly telling why you don't like them. I've meet French exchange students and they were really nice. They weren't "snooty" or stuck up; in fact they didn't even smell. They were really nice I enjoyed having their company. But as I have said English was derived from the French Language so logically if you say that the French language is retarded your pretty much saying English is retarded.

Originally Posted by jman#1

Well the french are jurks to pepole from the US no mater how much we bail them out like in both WW1 and WW2

"I've meet French exchange students and they were really nice. They weren't "snooty" or stuck up; in fact they didn't even smell. They were really nice I enjoyed having their company." The French also bailed us out in the Revolution. Also they were smart enough in World War 1 to not charged head first in to German trenches like the Americans (who didn't even listen to reason).

It’s not that I’m completely bothered by it, it’s just the fact that it’s gotten really old. I’m proud to have French heritage and I like the Language because it’s easy (although when spoken can be a bit over the top), but fluent I would just like answers that’s all. A reason to why people look down on them when America has done the same, if not worse things, that we think as stupid today.

Originally Posted by Ubin Timore

But as I have said English was derived from the French Language so logically if you say that the French language is retarded your pretty much saying English is retarded.

Actually, French, English, and Spanish are all derived from Latin. (I know, off topic, but I just wanted to point that out.)

Originally Posted by jman#1

Well the french are jurks to pepole from the US no mater how much we bail them out like in both WW1 and WW2

You do realize that America didn't join the war until they were attacked themselves, don't you? And without French support in the revolution, you'd be living in a British colony now.

See, ignorance like this is exactly what the opening poster is upset about.

Originally Posted by The Great Panda

Actually, French, English, and Spanish are all derived from Latin. (I know, off topic, but I just wanted to point that out.)

English is a mixed deriative of German and Latin, while French is entirely Latin-derived, with the occasional Gaulish word thrown in.

No idea where Spanish fits in.


As for the subject at hand, I find that the people who don't just throw ethnic slurs around but actually believe them are low-brow nationalists who don't care to know about either the history or culture of the country they are insulting, let alone their own. Just ignore them, or insult them back if you know any ethnic slurs that will get them riled up.

English is not a latin based romance language, it is part of the germanic branch of the indo-european languages.
Romance languages are french, spanish, portuguese, italian and are not grammatically or structually the same as english, german, etc.
Although yes english especially the american brand does use some french, and romance language words it is not a romance language....

If you are just joking around and stuff I have no problem. its when the people truly mean it.

I dont look down or even make fun of France. I have no reason to. I also do not have any actual jokes... but oh well.

Originally Posted by The Great Panda

Actually, French, English, and Spanish are all derived from Latin. (I know, off topic, but I just wanted to point that out.)

Actually, although english is derived from Latin (rather heavily) it is considered a Germanic Language.

Anyways...
Reasons we make fun of the french:
1) Their language is honestly ridiculous. I haven't officially studied it (as I intend to) but they honestly don't pronounce about half their letters and the other half they mispronouce.
2) They ran away from the 3rd Reich in WWII. It's not that respectable. They set up government in England afterwards. Honestly, I think the French did the least in WWII of all the major countries involved. In my European History class, that's the impression I get anyways. I hear about Churchill, Paton, Isenhower, Truman, Chamberlain, Montegomery, Rommel, Himmler, Hitler, Mussolini, Victor Emmanuel, but no French names. (Ok, there's De'Paule or something like that who set up the Vichy gov). Anyways, they didn't fight the Germans, but instead let them take 2/3 of their country.
3) They make fun of us. Now I'm no expert on European culture, but I do know it isn't uncommon to make fun of Americans.
4) Google French Military Victories and press "I'm feeling lucky". The French have very little success in war. Napolean defeated in Russia, 100 years war was fought in France, American Revolution led to French Revolution... when it comes to war, France doesn't always have their act together.
5) It's fun. People always enjoy making fun of things. We make fun of everyone, not just French. (We have Chinese, Japanese, British, Canadian, French, Mexican, African, Jamacan, Swedish, Russian, and many other racial jokes)

Ww. I never knew that we were so mean to the French. lol Who knew that we cared so much about laughing at the French for surrendering? Personally, I never make rude remarks about different cultures.

On a side note, the people who get bashed the worst are the Jews, by far.