The France thread

[solely]

I thought being paid to sit home was normal for the French, so why the fuss?

[robinson]

[Giz]

The French are revolting!

[Witness]

↑ "25 cities"? How impressive!

Most of the cited ones are small parts (villages, once) of the extended Paris banlieue and Hem is just near Roubaix in the North. Administratively they are communes, of course, but then one could also count each Paris arrondissement as a "city" each having its own mayor.

And Limoges, roughly in the center of the country, is so godforsaken that there is the verb limoger, literally "send to Limoges" but meaning to sack/fire/demote, as that's where they got rid of military brass who had blundered.

[Giz]

And Limoges, roughly in the center of the country, is so godforsaken that there is the verb limoger, literally "send to Limoges" but meaning to sack/fire/demote, as that's where they got rid of military brass who had blundered.

“Sent to Coventry “ is the U.K. version

[Witness]

Let's have something peaceful:


https://i.imgur.com/K9iNPCs.jpg

[Witness]

https://i.imgur.com/5ShNhho.jpg

Social distancing, the French way.

[Giz]

https://i.imgur.com/5ShNhho.jpg

Social distancing, the French way.

I see one of the figures had a white flag ready

... plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

[Witness]

You'll have to click as it's over Pyrrho's ban of big pictures: https://i.imgur.com/FGubGGn.png

And it's below reality: all maps in the Métro or train stations have important places and names scratched out by the local assholes. :(

[Witness]

France accuses Venezuela of harassing embassy, summons envoy

PARIS (Reuters) - France has summoned Venezuela’s envoy over accusations President Nicolas Maduro’s government has been harassing its embassy in Caracas, including by cutting water and electricity to the ambassador’s residence, diplomats said on Thursday.

France is among dozens of nations which do not recognise Maduro’s disputed 2018 re-election and consider opposition leader Juan Guaido to be Venezuela’s rightful president.

Maduro has previously accused French ambassador Romain Nadal of meddling in internal affairs, and diplomats say the services to his home in Caracas have been cut since the start of May.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vene ... SKBN22Q15T

[Witness]

Drone surveillance banned by the French State Council

Since the 11th of May, end of the COVID-19 full-lockdown in France, the French government is using drones in Paris to ensure citizens are applying the post-lockdown rules properly.

Today, after a complain from different NGOs, the French State Council, highest administrative court in France, considered drone surveillance was a dangerous threat to privacy, and ordered the Government to stop their usage immediately.

https://pendect.com/categories/politics ... te-council

[Witness]

Le lycée Colbert de Thionville renommé Rosa-Parks : réactions indignées à l’extrême-droite

https://actu.fr/grand-est/thionville_57 ... 84011.html

"Colbert high school renamed Rosa Parks: outrage from the far right."

Interesting choice, as if there were no Blacks in France's history. (I presume that's what you get from scraping Face-de-bouc and Twatter instead of reading books.)

[Giz]

Le lycée Colbert de Thionville renommé Rosa-Parks : réactions indignées à l’extrême-droite

https://actu.fr/grand-est/thionville_57 ... 84011.html

"Colbert high school renamed Rosa Parks: outrage from the far right."

Interesting choice, as if there were no Blacks in France's history. (I presume that's what you get from scraping Face-de-bouc and Twatter instead of reading books.)

Are you really going to tell the renaming committee that Rosa parks has to go to the back of the line?

[Doctor X]

It should have been renamed "Robert Freeman."

– J.D.

[robinson]

[Rob Lister]

https://i.imgur.com/Q6zwdzV.jpg

The look on the horse's face is priceless.

[gnome]

The French are revolting!

There's lots of civil unrest, too!

[Doctor X]

They stink on ice!

– J.D.

[Giz]

https://i.imgur.com/Q6zwdzV.jpg

That’s why you put descartes before de horse

[Rob Lister]

That’s why you put descartes before de horse

:cowbell:

Thread Winner

[Witness]

https://i.imgur.com/MTKgrUG.jpg

Colbert statue in front of the National Assembly.

Colbert is credited (but that's disputed) with writing, or at least inspiring, the:

Code Noir

The Code Noir (French pronunciation: ​[kɔd nwaʁ], Black Code) was a decree originally passed by France's King Louis XIV in 1685. The Code Noir defined the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire, restricted the activities of free Negroes, made Roman Catholicism religion compulsory, and ordered all Jews out of France's colonies.

The Code Noir governed many blacks in an often harsh slavery, but did not relieve the brutality of that slavery in many areas under French control. In some areas it resulted in a higher percentage of blacks being free people of colour than in the British system (13.2% in Louisiana compared to 0.8% in Mississippi). Those freed were placed under restrictions by the Code Noir but on average they were exceptionally literate, with a significant number of them owning businesses, properties and even slaves.

The code has been described by Tyler Stovall as "one of the most extensive official documents on race, slavery, and freedom ever drawn up in Europe".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_Noir

[Witness]

Everybody imitates African Americans, because they are the coolest most successful black people in the world.

Not quite true. The style, slang, pronunciation & mannerisms of the French banlieues (i. e. with Arabic influences) appeal to some young'ones even outside of France. (But French speaking, evidently.)

And the gopniki wear Adidas. :mrgreen:

[Witness]

But you know what the trend is. :)

If you mean hoodies, baseball caps, gym shoes and shapeless sportswear, yes. (Jeans are from preceding youth cultures.)

But I've never seen the heavy kitschy jewelry (necklaces & rings) or the "decorated" caps on a non-black person. Does that count? And why is it left aside?

[Witness]

Paris mayor reelected, green wave in France local elections

PARIS (AP) — Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo declared victory in her reelection bid as municipal elections postponed by the coronavirus crisis have seen a strong breakthrough from the greens across the country.

Sunday’s voting also appears as a setback for French President Emmanuel Macron’s young centrist party, which was fielding municipal candidates for the first time and still lacks local roots across France.

Hidalgo, a Socialist, largely beat conservative candidate Rachida Dati, according to estimates based on partial results. She was first elected as Paris mayor in 2014. Her reelection will allow her to oversee the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Hidalgo is backed by the Europe Ecology-The Greens party, which gained strong influence nationwide.

Green candidates won in France's major cities including Marseille, Lyon, Strasbourg and Bordeaux, often taking the lead in their alliance with the weakened Socialist Party.

https://news.yahoo.com/france-holds-mun ... 26752.html

Astonished me, as she has been heavily criticized. Muh car! Muh commute! Well, apparently not everrybody wants to wear a steel suit in a concrete landscape. :)

[Witness]

She got rid of the cars on the Seine riverbanks (which was a De Gaulle/Pompidou initiative):

https://i.imgur.com/Vk1jjcO.jpg

Evidently the locals favor this; those coming in from the banlieue less so, but fuck'em.

[Witness]

Hands off our cars (industry)!

France bans Dutch bike TV ad for creating 'climate of fear' about cars

Ad for VanMoof bike unfairly discredits automobile industry, says watchdog



A TV commercial for a Dutch-made bicycle has been banned by France’s advertising watchdog for creating a “climate of fear” about cars.

Despite being aired on Dutch and German television, the Autorité de régulation professionnelle de la publicité (ARPP) said the ad for the VanMoof bike unfairly discredited the automobile industry.

...

“Some images in the reflection of the car are, in our opinion, unbalanced and discredit the entire car sector,” the ARPP said in a letter sent to VanMoof. “The images of factories/chimneys and an accident create a climate of fear. So they will have to be adapted.”

The French advertising code prohibits the exploitation of fear and suffering in commercials.

In response, the watchdog has been accused by the bike manufacturer of seeking to protect the French car industry after sales plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic.

French manufacturers’ sales halved in May, forcing President Emmanuel Macron to launch an €8bn rescue plan for the industry, whose brands include Peugeot, Citroën and Renault.

VanMoof’s founder, Taco Carlier, said he would not edit the ad to get it aired. “It is amazing that car companies are allowed to cover up their environmental problems while censoring those who question this issue,” he said.

“The television commercial was broadcast two weeks earlier in the Netherlands and Germany. There the spot was well received by the public. In the commercial, cars reflect the rat race of the past, inviting viewers to rethink their modes of transportation in the city for a cleaner, greener future.

“Questioning the status quo will always lead to a confrontation, but we wanted to achieve that from the beginning.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/ ... te-of-fear

[Rob Lister]

VanMoof could not have paid for better advertising.

Plus, it's a nice commercial.

[Witness]

France's Macron picks little-known civil servant as new prime minister

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron named Jean Castex, a senior civil servant, as his new prime minister on Friday as he acted to recast his presidency and take back control of policy ahead of elections in 2022.

Macron wants to start afresh after the coronavirus crisis reversed some of the hard-fought gains earned from moves to liberalise the economy, and is aware he needs to win back disillusioned voters.

Outgoing premier Edouard Philippe gave Castex a “namaste” welcome greeting outside the prime minister’s Matignon office, having earlier tendered his government’s resignation ahead of an anticipated reshuffle.

“The economic crisis is already here,” Castex said. “Priorities will therefore have to evolve, ways of working will have to be adapted. We will have to unite the nation to fight this crisis that is setting in.”

Macron is reshaping his government as France grapples with the deepest economic slide since World War Two, a sharp downturn that will shrink the economy by about 11% in 2020 and bring about big job losses.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-franc ... KKBN2440T5

Classical énarque and a leftover from the Sarkozy era.

[Witness]

French humor, the "garlic phone":

https://i.imgur.com/T1FoCxk.jpg

In my correspondence I sometimes write it "aïe ! Faune", ouch! faun.

[Rob Lister]

French humor, the "garlic phone":

image

In my correspondence I sometimes write it "aïe ! Faune", ouch! faun.

I don't think I get it.

[Giz]

French humor, the "garlic phone":

image

In my correspondence I sometimes write it "aïe ! Faune", ouch! faun.

I don't think I get it.

Is it a pun on iPhone? If not, I give up*



* meta French joke

[solely]

The French- humor- Jerry Lewis.

[Witness]

AIL and AILL
French pronunciation

The pronunciation of the letter combinations ail (at the end of a word) and aill (anywhere) is somewhat tricky to explain in writing. The phonetic spelling is [aj]; in the Lawless phonetic system, it’s [ahy]. Imagine saying "ah" then adding a y sound to the end. The closest English approximations are "I" and "eye."
Par exemple…

• ail (m) garlic
• le bail lease
• faillir to almost (do something)
• la taille size
• la paille straw
• bâiller to yawn

Many nouns that end in –ail have an irregular plural.

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/pronunciation/ail/

Ail (garlic) is an interesting word: the plural is aulx (pronunciation "o") save for botany, where it is ails as in "la famille des ails" (the family of garlics). :lmao:

[Witness]

Newly appointed French minister faces rape allegation

(CNN) – France's newly appointed interior minister Gerald Darmanin could face a fresh investigation into an alleged rape following a court ruling, sources close to the case told CNN on Tuesday.
The Paris court of appeals ruled that a judge may reopen the investigation into a 2018 allegation that Darmanin ​raped a woman in 2009, sources told CNN.
A lawyer for Darmanin, who was appointed interior minister on Monday, said the accusation is baseless.
...
Darmanin was accused of rape and sexual harassment by Sophie Patterson ​in January 2018. She said he used his position as a member of the judicial committee in 2009 to force her into having sex with him. ​
While the case was initially dismissed in February 2018, in June of this year the Paris court of appeals ruled that the reasons for not investigating the claims were not sufficient, according to lawyers for both parties.​
The ruling means that the case will once again be in the hands of an investigating judge, who will decide whether a formal investigation should be opened.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/07/euro ... index.html

[Witness]

Notre Dame: Cathedral's spire will be restored to 19th Century design

https://i.imgur.com/YC7KfRP.jpg

French President Emmanuel Macron announced the decision, putting an end to speculation that the spire would be rebuilt in a modern style.

Mr Macron had previously hinted he was in favour of a "contemporary gesture".

However he has said he wants the restoration to be completed by 2024, when Paris is hosting the Olympics.

The Elysée said Mr Macron's main concern was "not delaying the reconstruction and making it complicated - things had to be cleared up quickly".

It added that the process of designing a modern spire, with an international competition for architects, could have caused unnecessary delays.

"The president trusts the experts and approved the main outlines of the project presented by the chief architect which plans to reconstruct the spire identically," the Elysée said.

The announcement followed a meeting of France's national heritage and architecture commission (CNPA).

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53357792

I like that picture. :mrgreen:

[ed]

I have joined a French language firearms board.

That is all, or as we say ... fini

[Witness]

I have joined a French language firearms board.

That is all, or as we say ... fini

Keep us posted about the idiosyncrasies of the Gallic gun nuts.

And "That is all" = "C'est tout", not "Fini". :twisted:

[Hotarubi]

France based? Canadian?

Or just plain American good old boys who are trying to be la-di-dah? :p

Leave ed alone.

[ed]

France. I was hoping that the euros over there might have some different insights to certain questions I have.

[asthmatic camel]

Happy Bastille Day!

https://i.imgur.com/PxUyKiy.jpg