Both sides seem to be saying a lot of the same things, namely that a rude person is disrespectful, offensive, and inconsiderate. What I find interesting is how the two sides interpreted the question. All but one person on the American side named qualities or actions associated with a rude person. On the French side, about half of the answers don’t fit into that category. The French were more likely to provide an explanation for why someone might be rude (such as a poor education or bad parenting), or how other people will see that person. Do you think the French are more forgiving when it comes to rudeness?

It is interesting to note that the views on the left side simply describe attributes of rude people. However, many of the views on the right side also attempt to explain the causes of rudeness in people and also describe the consequences of such behavior. Statements “a été mal éduquée,” “découle d’un mauvais parent,” and “aura du mal à s’intégrer dans la société” corroborate the observation.

Does anyone have a hypothesis that might explain why the French students wrote more about the consequences of rudeness than did the American students?

As elemcy and math.ceil noted, there seems to be a lot of similarities between qualities listed on both sides, but on the French side, there is more discussion of causes and consequences of being rude. My question is, for the French, is reformation possible for a person who is rude, or is it an innate (or deeply learned) quality?

@solshine : La réforme se révèle difficile d’un age à un autre. Mais, le plus tôt qu’ on en aurait conscience, le plus possible qu’ elle serait.

Selon moi le fait qu’une personne soit impolie ou pas découle de son éducation et n’est donc pas inné. Ainsi, il me semble que moyennant les efforts nécessaires ont peut réussir à corriger ce défaut chez une personne. Du moins, je tenterais de faire changer une personne impolie en lui faisant part de ses manquements plutôt que de simplement constater qu’elle est impolie et ne rien lui dire.

Je pense qu’on ne naît pas plus impoli qu’un autre. On le devient donc avec le temps et en fonction de notre éducation. Ainsi, plutôt que de blamer la personne impolie, on préfère se rapporter aux origines de ce problème. Cela n’excuse pas pour autant la personne, qui doit observer le monde qui l’entoure et son fonctionnement. En effet, on peut très bien imaginer certain comportement considéré comme positif par certain et négatif par d’autres en fonction de leur culture (roter en fin de repas, regarder dans les yeux la personne qui vous parle etc…).

Alex mentioned that normal things in one culture might be seen as rude in another - when you think of rude Americans, what stereotypes come to mind?

It seems that both sides see selfish and egotistic behavior as rude but for different reasons. Americans see a rude person as someone who has complete disregard for other people’s feelings and emotions whereas the French see a rude person is someone who no longer fits in with the majority and diverts from the collective.

I just don’t quite fully understand how the French would define rude. Such as how is “a single person” rude?

I agree with @aokello in that both sides view rudeness a bit differently. Americans seem protective of people’s feelings and will label a person rude if he or she hurts others’ feelings. The French are more concerned with fitting into the society thus anyone who frequently deviates from the norm and does things in a way that does not adhere with the general consensus will be labeled as rude.

Nevertheless, the French believe that impoliteness is not inherent in a person. They seem to believe that we are born ‘tabula rasa’ and through our education and experiences we develop a personality. So it makes sense that they are quick to determine that a rude person must have had poor education and bad experiences in order to become that way. @dwar seems to think rude people can, over time and with good effort, change the rude parts of their personality to become more agreeable.

@math.ceil
Effectivement, je pense qu’en France on considère le fait d’être impoli comme un manque qui peut être comblé par l’éducation. Vous ne pensez pas qu’une personne qui -par exemple- ne dit pas s’il te plait ne pourra jamais corriger ce défaut ?