Print

Mail

wiki links

British say French `most unfriendly'

Where Are You Now Web site poll * France was voted as the most unfriendly, most boring and most ungenerous nation. * Germany ranked second in all three counts. * Italy was voted as the most cultured nation with the best cuisine. * The US was named the most unstylish with the worst food. * Spain was chosen as the foreign country the British would most like to live in.

The French were voted the world's most unfriendly nation by a landslide in a British poll published yesterday. They were also voted the most boring and most ungenerous.

A decisive 46 percent of the 6,000 people surveyed by a travelers' Web site -- Where Are You Now (WAYN) -- said the French were the most unfriendly nation people on the planet, British newspapers reported.

The Germans have no to reason to celebrate the damning verdict. They came second on all three counts.

WAYN's French founder, Jerome Touze, told the papers he had been stunned by the thumping condemnation of his compatriots and sought to blame it on Gallic love-struck sulking.

"I had no idea that the French would emerge as such an unfriendly country," he said.

"I think our romantic `moodiness' is misunderstood and I will be sure to pass on the message to my family and friends back in France to be a bit more cheerful to tourists in the future," he said.

Italy was voted the world's most cultured nation with the best cuisine, while the US was named the most unstylish with the worst food.

The British did not feature in the top 10 of any of the categories.

"The British fit in nowhere -- good or bad. It appears that we are so completely average that the voters did not include us in any category," the Daily Express said.

"And to our shame, four percent of respondents -- all British of course -- said they would only talk to other Britons when they are abroad," the tabloid said.

This unwillingness to talk to the locals appears to go hand in hand with respondents' perceptions of foreigners.

While the majority said Spain was the foreign country where they would most like to live, they said the Spaniards were nearly as unfriendly and ungenerous as the French.

To add insult to injury, the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph put the boot in yesterday by saying in an editorial that the French stank.

"The French may like to think that Chanel No 5 is their scent, but we all know that garlic and stale Gitanes are much more representative," it said.
This story has been viewed 2640 times.