Les Frogs

Most Americans have an unfavorable attitude toward the French. This antipathy is based on the abuse most US tourists have suffered from dismissive Paris waiters during their weeklong summer vacation. Few of my countrymen realize that these garcons are rude to their own countrymen as well as any estrangers. That is not to say that the French don't subscribe to a haughty self-esteem.

As the Belgium joked, "How does Frenchman kill himself? By lifting a pistol six inches over his head and shooting his superiority complex."

It's even funnier when told in French to the French.

Are the French 'surrender monkeys' or 'froggies'?

Their army did fold in WWII in the face of the German blitzkrieg, but then the British retreated in the face of the same mechanized assault. As for 'froggies' some Parisian restaurants offer frogs legs, however I will defend the French, because they are loyal to those people they love, as I learned after working at Paris nightclubs in the 80s. My friends from that period are still my friends. All the French I met around the world are my friends too. They are funny, warm, and generous. Nasty too, but not like the Germans. So today on Bastille I raised a glass of beer and toasted the French, "Vive la France." There is no wine in Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border.