It seems that here both the french and the american side agree that annoying people are annoying everywhere. Same types of descriptions figure on both sides. There are a few specific things on the american side: showering (an MIT issue), ignoring, and complaining all the time; on the french side: someone who is tolerant, people getting on the train, and heavy people apparently; These particularities are probably just due to the culture differences.

Q: If a person boards the train and starts singing (being abnoxious) what would the reaction be in France? Here in the States, everybody would think it, but no one would do a single thing.

Des deux côtés, américain comme français, les réponses sont très variées, même si le manque de respect envers les autres semble être commun pour à peu près tout le monde. Je pense que c'est une question assez personnelle et les réponses dépendent certes pour une partie de notre culture mais principalement du vécu de chacun.

@Victor: En effet en France la réaction serait la même, probablement personne ne ferait quoi que ce soit, mais tout le monde désapprouverai.

J'ai aussi une question: apparemment, un certain nombre d'Américains désapprouvent les gens qui se plaignent trop. En France, il y a assez souvent des mouvements sociaux (grèves, manifestations) pour protester contre des réformes et de nouvelles lois, et par conséquent, certains Français critiquent leurs compatriotes en disant qu'ils se plaignent trop et ne font aucun effort. Est-ce que les Américains considèrent également les Français de la même manière?

The Americans and the French said that they didn't like it when peole were mean, disrespectful, or inconsideret. I noted that the french, more so than the americans, didn't like specific actions, such as eating with one's hands. I think that Americans are more prone to disliking what people say or think rather than what they do. In France, it seemed to be the opposite. Although, both sides were similar. 

In France, what is your reaction to someone doing what you don't like? Do you ignore them, confront them? 

@Margaret

Je pense que cela dépend largement de la situation, et non du pays. En petit groupe, les gens auront plus de facilité à exprimer leur mécontentement.

Par contre dans un lieu public (une personne dérangeante dans un bus ou autre), les gens réagiront moins facilement.

J'ai été très étonné par ce questionnaire parce que tout le monde a donné des exemples de la vie de tous les jours comme réponse. Et pour une fois j'

aurais plutôt mis quelque chose de général comme l'hypocrisie ou la malhonnêteté.

@Clement, Coming from Europe myself, hearing about people going on strike is not a surprise. Sometimes I feel they are well motivated, other times I feel that people think they are entitled to too many things. Strikes are relatively uncommon in the states, in comparison to Europe, perhaps people are more complacent. 

There are definitely people supporting both sides of the argument, some say the others are complaining too much, others say otherwise.

What are your views on people going on strike?

@Victor I don't know anything about working conditions in Europe, but rather than complacency, is it possible that the work environment has simply improved enough that strikes aren't necessary?

I'm glad there are universally acceptable and unacceptable actions. I won't open the can of worms of "absolutes of humanity", especially on something as trivial as annoyance, but it's fun to see what seems to be wired in human DNA regardless of culture :-)

It was really interesting to see that the French students really picked out specifics while the American ones were really much more general. Quick question, is it common for the French to be vocal about things that bother them? Not in the sense of being quarrelsome, but in the sense of being open about their thoughts and views. Typically in the US, one has to very careful the one is being politically correct' and that may cause some of us to clam up and not want to say anything about anything. What are your thoughts?

@Deron, I also found that interesting. Though, because of the differences such as when the americans said they cannot stand people who "cut others down" or "do not take others into account" while the French said "violence" and "vantalisent les luiex publics", I concluded that perhaps the Americans are more bothered by people who affect them at a personal level. The french seemed to dislike those who in general affect the community. 

I wanted to ask, is there a lot of violence in the area you reside?

I'm not sure if that was a general question or directed at me, but no there isn't really any. Why do you ask?