Friday, April 27, 2007

About the French

In response to my 4/19/07 posting on The French presidential election, I have received comments from two sources:

One was from a family member:

My recent trip to England for an International Sales Meeting was quite eye opening. While most of my counterparts around the globe had questions about President Bush and his policies (which you will be happy to know I addressed to their satisfaction), the ONLY UNQUESTIONED COMMON THEME worldwide was that EVERYBODY had a mutual hatred for the French. I found that amusing. Who cares who their president is? On the world stage, I've learned that France is irrelevant (at least by popular opinion)

Another was from a long-time friend and a fellow Sherlockian:

I see that you have comments about the deplorable fact that France is in imminent danger of suffering their first woman president ... but then ... who deserves that indignity more than the French?

Why all this animosity toward the French?

I have heard a number of people (Americans) complain about rudeness of French people whom they encountered while traveling in France, especially when they (the Americans) tried to use English to converse with them. With one minor exception, I have never had that problem when traveling in metropolitan France or in the following DOMTOM (départements d'outre-mer, territoires d'outre-mer: overseas departments, overseas territories): Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and St. Pierre & Miquelon. In fact, I have found most people that I have encountered in those travels to be very nice (just as I have found people everywhere I have traveled).

Part of the reason is probably because I speak French, and, thus, don't get into any language problems. However, when I first went to Dakar, Senegal (then part of French West Africa) in 1953 to work for the international oil company, Texaco, I knew only a little French, so for awhile, as I was improving my ability, I had to use English with the few French people with whom I came in contact who could speak it. I never experienced any unpleasantness from those people. (Hearing French spoken around me and seeing it in print every day--and also being in a sink-or-swim situation--I learned it quickly.)

I suppose some of the Americans who experience rudeness in France do so because they unconsciously carry a chip on their shoulders and, thus, get what they expect. The French have the habit of showing courtesies when approaching someone, such as saying the equivalent of "good morning," "excuse me," "if you please" before engaging them in any further conversation, whereas Americans are apt to just ask a simple question--"How do I get to Main St.?" or "Where can I find...?"--outright, without any preliminary pleasantry.

One thing Americans (and any others) who dislike the French might consider is that the French have been ahead of us in providing some amenities of everyday life.

--Direct deposit to bank accounts. When in Dakar in 1953-54, we paid our European (white) staff by direct deposit to their bank accounts; likewise, we paid most bills from vendors by such direct deposits, rather than by mailing checks. These transactions were handled by the local branch of our French bank years before there were computers--they used manual procedures and mechanical office machines to do it. Direct deposit only came to the United States many years later. Also, our French bank paid interest on checking accounts--again before there were computers--something which some US banks have only recently begun to do.

--Unlimited subway trip tickets over a certain number of days. The Paris metro has had such tickets for many years (and also the London underground), but it was many years later before they were available on the New York subway.

--Paying highway tolls with credit cards. In 1993, when my wife and I were about to return a rented car in France, I used all my French francs to fill it with gas (we were leaving France and I didn't want to keep any francs). Just as I started to drive away, I remembered that I had a toll to pay ahead, so I went back to the office at the gas station to ask if I could get my francs back and pay for the gas with a credit card. The people there told me I had no problem--that I could use my credit card to pay the toll. Voilà! The toll collector swipes your card, prints and hands you a receipt, says merci, and you're on your way. The whole procedure takes about 10 seconds. Even today, I'm not aware of any toll roads in the US where this can happen ("EZ passes" are the closest that I know of).

--Development of the "hyperstore". A "hyperstore" is a store under one roof that offers such diverse merchandise as food, hardware, building materials, electronics, and various items typically carried in a department store. The huge French department store chain Carrefour, which began operations in France in 1957, and which opened its first "hyperstore" in 1962, according to Wikipedia, now operates numerous of these stores around the world: 535 in Europe, 169 in Latin America, 181 in Asia, and 5 in Africa.

How much of an amenity "hyperstores" are can be debated; the same arguments against them are those made against Wal-Mart (they drive traditional, established stores out of business, exploit workers, exert unfair pressure on vendors of their merchandise, etc.). I have been to Carrefour stores in France but never to one of their "hyperstores" there, but I did go to one in a suburb of Madrid, Spain in 1988 (where Carrefour operates under the name "Pryca"--Precio y Calidad: "Price and Quality"). I was amazed at its vast capacity--it was like a Safeway, Target, Home Depot, and Best Buy all rolled into one.

Chew on those thoughts a bit, you French haters.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

The French presidential election

Va, Ségolène, je te soutiens! (Go, Ségolène, I support you!)

The first round (le premier tour) of the French presidential election will be held on Sunday, April 22nd. Unless one of the several candidates wins a majority in the first round (which isn't likely to happen this time), there will be a second run-off between the two top candidates on May 6th.

Why do I support Ségolène Royal, the Socialist (female) candidate? I am not a socialist. I support her for an irrational reason (just as my wife, and many other women, like or dislike people in the news).

First, because she was born at a French army base in Ouakam, outside of Dakar, Sénégal, in what was then French West Africa, on September 22, 1953. I was living and working in Dakar at the time--I worked there for Texaco, the international oil company, from January 1953 to October 1954 (part of which time I lived at Kilomètre 5, route de Ouakam).

Second, she has a really cool website http://www.desirsdavenir.org/index.php , in which she uses the informal "thou" and "thee" (tutoiement) with the voters she is trying to win. I have mixed feelings about such use in languages other than English (see my 4/25/06 posting No "thou" and "thee" in English), but I like it from her.

Imagine, Madame la Présidente, the first woman president of France.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

The Virginia Tech tragedy

The tragic killing on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16th made me think back to my college days. The event brought an irony to mind: Even with a campus police force at Virginia Tech (which all colleges have these days), the horrible killing rampage took place; however, during my years at the University of North Carolina in the 1940's, there was no campus police force there. Any need for police services on the campus was provided by local police; I think the same was true on most college campuses of that era (in 1949-50 I lived near the Columbia University campus in New York City, and don't remember seeing any police force there).

One can perceive that life in general is more dangerous today than in times past--but one who has been around for awhile can also reflect on the vast changes that have taken place during his life span. The evolution from no campus police to professionally-administered campus police forces is just one of those changes. Another reflection: during the time I lived in New York close to Columbia, I would walk back and forth through Morningside Park alone at night to the 125th Street subway station in Harlem. Not only did I do that, but a girlfriend at the time did the same thing. I wouldn't do that today even in daylight.

As I have commented in earlier postings, the widespread availability and use of drugs in recent times, versus a virtual absence of them in most communities in past years, seems to be a principal reason for greater danger today. I can't come up with any reason for this dreadful change in our society, especially when that society was far worse off in the 1930's (when it went through the terrible depression) and the 1940's (when World War II affected everyone's life), and when black people had far fewer opportunities in their lives.

However, there also have been changes for the better during my lifetime. For example, during my entire school years, kindergarten through college, there was racial segregation in North Carolina--I never attended school with a black person until I took some courses at Towson Univerity, in Towson, Maryland, during the 1990's. When I occasionally visit my hometown in North Carolina I have black people eating in restaurants around me, something that never happened when I was growing up there.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Easing young teenagers into romance

It was ever thus, but with a difference.

Today I saw an ad in the Baltimore Sun by Macy's, the long-time department store of the common folk, that promoted a wonderful product to ease young teenagers into romance. Here is the scene (on an almost full-page ad in color):

Hope Springs Eternal.
Spring 2007 inspires the scents that matter most.
Experience a fragrance defined
by the spirit of a new generation.

Below that introductory heading is a photo of two young teenagers, a boy with almost no facial hair (but cute little locks of his hair falling over his right temple) and a girl with long hair and lips half-open (seeming to say, "Give it to me, boy."). They are both in an embrace, wearing blue jeans (naturally); his belt is unbuckled (making it much more easy to pull down his jeans) and her jeans have no belt; not only that, but her jeans are pulled down about two inches below her navel and about a half-inch of her underpants is showing. There can be little doubt as to what is about to come (sorry, no pun intended).

But, what is this all about? It's about CKIN2U. What on earth is CKIN2U? Clearly, a pun (or, more correctly, a double entendre) is intended by the advertiser. Anyway, here is what the ad says it is:

CKIN2U, new from Calvin Klein
For the first time from ck, new fragrance, one for him, one for her.
Fresh but warm; a tension that creates sexiness.

Rewind back 65 years: Life for teenagers was tough. I had to do without fragrances in my early amorous exploits. But, that's life, modernity moves on.

P.S. The "Eau de Toilette spray" has a fancy price: for "him" and for "her," the 3.4 oz. bottle is $50.00 each. When I was 15, that price would have been like a cold shower on my amorous adventures: I made $20.40 working a 40-hour week to cut undergrowth with a bush axe in preparation to build an army camp six months after Pearl Harbor. But I managed OK without a fragrance.
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Mycroft Watson is the nom de plume of a man who has seen many winters. He is moderate to an extreme. When he comes to a fork in the road, he always takes it. His favorite philosopher is Yogi Berra. He has come out of the closet and identified himself. Anyone interested can get his real name, biography, and e-mail address by going to "Google Search" and keying in "User:Marshall H. Pinnix" (case sensitive).

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