I dislike the French for normal reasons, not weird nationalistic ones.
France has no US military bases on its soil and has refused to be entirely vassalized by the US unlike much of the rest of Europe. It’s one of few Western countries that has managed to maintain strategic autonomy in the face of US hegemony. Refusal to participate in the Iraq war is an example of this, as other Western countries like the UK followed the Americans in blindly like a dependent vassal would.
That is clearly not the reason.
The French have also won the vast majority of battles and wars they’ve fought throughout their history, with a handful of notable exceptions.
And Americans can’t be bothered to read history books. It’s easier to just repeat memes that sound good to them.
I mean… Look at the news any day of the week.
Americans on the whole are incapable of understanding history at even the most surface level.
From what I remember: France refused to join US war in Iraq in 2003, and around the same time I started hearing nonsense like “freedom fries” and “google french military victories and you get no results lolololol”, and it was all really fucking stupid. But some of that seemed to remain in popular culture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-French_sentiment_in_the_United_States
Yes I remember that. The phrase “cheese eating surrender monkeys” was going around. That was the point I lost all support for the war on terror. My opinion was very unpopular. To the point one meth head at work started trying to find a replacement for me. Took him about a year and I left. Right after that he got caught stealing funds and was off to rehab.
I am exceedingly proud to say I always opposed the war on terror and the war in Iraq, and I was right. In the fall of 2001 I had people threatening me for refusing to stand for the anthem at the Mizzou/Texas game, but even then, it was clear where the US was going and I was ashamed of the university’s failure to address discrimination against Muslim students in the wake of 9/11. (I forget the exact number, but I’m pretty sure it was 47 who ended up leaving campus for good.)
And partly why I hate Democrats so much is that, not only did they go along with the Iraq War, but they had all the power they needed to punish Republicans for creating an illegal war, and all they did was stand to the side and let Dubya and his cronies revise history.
It was well before that. French were saddled with the white flag, from results in wwii, whether deserved or not
This is the answer. The core of all American-based French slander is badly-remembered WW2 anecdotes.
Note how anti-french sentiments in US only get serious when republicans are in power. Otherwise it’s just “hon hon hon stinky frenchman more baguette please we love you ❤️”.
Yeah, I really don’t think most of it’s serious. Like ribbing between friends.
Except the stupid political stuff from Republicans, like you said.
Right… its usually casual xenophobia. Which never in any country becomes habitual serious xenophobia, particularly not in the US.
Gerard Depardieu! Hon hon hon, baguette!
Yeah no Gerard Depardieu is a pretty big insult. I mean, it fits with the whole rapist pedo government but still.
Oh shit. The only thing I knew about him was that he’s French and has a big nose.
Yeah no, he’s a big piece of shit who did and said a lot of crap,
I’ll quote just two small sentences from the big wikipedia page, and the wikipedia page is only a summary.
“The girls wanted to be raped. I mean, there’s no such thing as rape. It’s only a matter of a girl putting herself in a situation where she wants to be”
On 13 May 2025, Depardieu was convicted on both counts of sexual assault. He was handed an 18 month suspended sentence. The court commented that Depardieu did not appear to have “grasped the notion of consent”. He appealed against his conviction
Of course France, who looooves rapists and pedo (just take a look at random government heads, or if you want to make yourself throw up look up Matzneff) has been loving him and defending him for literally half a century.
What did you call me?!?
A silly English Kn…ight!
They folded like oragami in WWII, and the french have a reputation for cultural pomposity that dates back centuries so people give them shit for both. I don’t know of more than a handful of people who mean anything by it though, and the french/american cultural exchange is one of the most vibrant in the western world. Excepting politically right now (especially given the current trump BS), we’ve gotten along extremely well as nations for a long damn time and americans tend to tease their friends.
I’ve never heard the french complain about it - I have heard the french clap back with some equally devastating mockery of their own, though. Seems healthy enough.
I live in an area of the country that was explored by the French, so the names of many towns, rivers, etc are French. Locals seem to delight in butchering the French pronunciations as much as possible. Not a single one is pronounced anywhere close to correct. There is definitely an element of brotherly teasing to it.
It was the same way with Canada, too.
I don’t blame them at all for being pissed and questioning whether we actually meant some of our teasing considering what our fucking criminal pedo Nazi government has been up to for the past year and change.
WW2 ruined their reputation.
The Fall of France and the Vichy regime were pathetic, but the French Resistance was legendary.
Same thing with the germans. They sent some of their best generals to train our troops but after ww2 we didn’t really want to be associated with their kind.
Unless they knew something about rockets.
We love our fireworks more than our image.
I think it’s the reputation that the French got in the second world war along with Charles De Gaulle having been a MASSIVE asshole.
Thing is, the French are actually insanely good at war and often do not care about minor inconveniences like “the laws and customs of war” or “the Geneva Conventions”. It’s why half the words of the English military lexicon are French.
The French were part of the inspiration for the Geneva conventions. Due to the massive and horrific destruction the battle of Solferino caused amongst civilians.
Ignorance… that is usually the root cause
Muricans are poorly educated, half can’t read past 6th grade level and most do not read unless forced to.
In this particular case they make fun of the French for not beating the Nazis in WWII because they probably saw it in a meme somewhere but their history knowledge does not go far back enough to realize how stupid they look when they do this “seriously”
Short memories
Do most Americans give the French shit? I think most Americans don’t care one way or another TBH. Our country is famously self-centered and unaware of the rest of the world.
I do give my French friend a hard time sometimes, but it’s all in good fun. He does the same to me. I certainly do not look down upon him or his country.
The minority of Americans who do sincerely talk down about the French are ignorant and shitty, though.
Yeah this is news to me. Apparently I’m supposed to give French people shit? Sounds like a hassle.
Americans forget that France was basically our only European ally for a very long time, while we fought the British twice. Memories of what happened in WWII, though, remain strong and color American perception. It’s mostly harmless joking based on stereotypes. The French are far more likely to go their own way compared to the British, including in areas of culture, and that annoys some people. Hence, the “freedom fries” kerfuffle during the 2003 Iraq war.
Because “the revolution” to the French is not the one in 1776. Nor is it “the revolution” for most of the world. The French Revolution was the big one for most of the world.
That makes a cataract of meaning for the USA.
Americans and Europeans disdain the French over WW2 with little regard to the damage done to human life in France during WW1. There are still uninhabitable zones in France from the world military poisoning swathes of land in WW1 with shells, mines, munitions, and corpses.
They are both called WW for a reason. They are inextricably linked.
American exceptionalism at work. Decades of being lead to believe they are the solver of the world’s problems and the centre of the “free” world. I’d also many don’t even know that the French were involved because US education is very good at altering history to make them look superior.
Europeans when Americans do that thing Europe did for hundreds of years…
You can both get fucked lol.
US history curriculum really doesn’t spend much time talking about wars (most of it is spent talking about exceedingly boring stuff, the exploration/founding of the country, first nations cultures and sociopolitical movements like the civil rights / the vietnam protest movement / cold war), but we for sure learn about Yorktown & as a result at least some about Lafayette
Because WWII is the only history in America. And we’ve forgotten 3/4 of that.
And the other 1/4 is mythological silliness that makes it look like the US won everything by themselves.
In addition, they gave us the Statue of Liberty.
A French politician actually called for it to be returned—to be clear, it was just a single politician, not the whole government—and the Trump administration said (very heavily paraphrasing), “No, it’s ours, and also you suck for being invaded by Germany, so we deserve it more than you.” However, I personally find it ironic that the administration is so attached to it, given the famous poem inscribed on its base that is inseparable from the signifiance of the statue:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
It’s a fucking travesty that we still have the statue. We are no longer worthy of it.
It’s right where it should be. NYC’s continuing legacy as a hub of culture and diversity should be an example for the rest of the country. Better things are possible and we need symbols to rally around.
You never were.
Fuck you. Tankie trash thinks shitting on americans will get him loved by his party leaders or whatever bullshit they sell you. Maybe we will both get swept up by our respective oligarchs. Unlike you I’m not rooting for it to happen to anyone you rotten soul.
