A "polite" person is someone...
Une personne "polie" est une
personne...
who shows courtesy and chivalry
who says please and thank you
who says "please" and "thank you"
who knows how to correspond with others.
that avoids touchy subjects.
who has good manners
who is careful to not say anything offensive.
who is careful with words and gestures to not offend
who is considerate
who does not only think of themselves.
who is considerate of others
who has manners
who says and does the proper things
who respects others
who speaks and acts kindly to you.
who treats you with respect
who is courteous
who does not make a fuss about his/her rights.
who does not interrupt someone in a conversation.
who has tact but is still open
who treats everyone with respect
who phrases his criticism and comments tactfully.
who respects other people's feelings
who gives the seat to old person in the train.
who is aware of others and kind to everyone.
who shows deference, consideration for others
who says 'please' and 'thankyou'
opens doors, doesn't talk too much
agréable
qui dit bonjour
bien élevé...
qui sait tenir la porte aux dames
qui sait vivre en sociéte
respecte les règles de courtousie.
qui n'embarrasse personne.
galante
agréable
bien élevée
qui vous respecte
qui ouvre les portes pour les autres.
respectueuse
bien élevée
qui dit bonjour et merci
qui dit bonjour, merci, et s'il vous plait
à priori intéressante
bien élevée
souriante et attentionnée
qui se maîtrise
respectueuse
qui sait se taire
qui remercie, dit bonjour
qui sait dire merci
Discussion
----At first I thought that the respones were very similar. After a second, closer look, I noticed that the French responses only delt with the outer apperance; the responses were mainly about a person who said "please" and "thank you" and seemed nice to others. On the other hand, several of the American responses were about emotions; they thought that a polite person was someone who was careful not to hurt others' feelings by saying the wrong thing. So do you think that the French associate politeness just with appearance and the Americans associate politeness with actual feelings?
----Pour repondre a Deepa Patel, je pense que l'origine de la difference de reponses n'est qu'un probleme de vocabulaire. Quand en France on parle d'une personne "polie", on se refere uniquement a sa maniere de se comporter (galant, "merci,madame", "enchante fait votre connaissance", etc ...). Pour dire qu'une personne respecte l'autre et cherche a lui etre agreable, on emploierais plutot le terme "attentionne" par exemple.