----One thing that wasn't mentioned among the Americans of France was 'perfume'. I know perfume is a very big part of French fashion and cosmetics. Therefore it is surprising that nobody here mentioned it. Perhaps in America, we have so many perfume brands in the market that we don't realize or ask which ones are French.

----You make a good point, Americans tend to blindly think of liberty when they think of the US, and not of other countries. This opinion in Americans, I believe, is the result of government mandated brainwashing. This is harsh language, but is fact. We are told from an early age all the way thru high school that the US is the land of the free. Our history books tend to ignore the injustices in this country. It was not until I was nearly 17 that I started learning about our real history. We have about as much injustice as most other countries in the world. Our history books even blantantly lie and change facts so important events in our history look good for us. They say the Boston Massacre (starting the war with Britain in the 1770's) was about a mob throwing snowballs at British soldiers. In reality they were throwing bricks, and the British shot at the mob to protect themselves. Just one example, there are many. Basically, "land of the free" is something we hear and say a thousands times in our primary education. It's a part of our pledge of allegiance. Have you heard of that? In public schools, each morning we say a "Pledge of Allegiance" to the US. So over time, it is burned into our brains that this is the land of liberty.

----Les francais et les americains associent les memes mots a la 'France': Paris, culture, la Tour Eiffel, et bien sur le croissant, le vin, le fromage. Mais les americains ne parlent pas de liberte , ce qu'ils ont faits pour les Etats Unis. ----

----Je reviens sur le mot "chauvinisme" dont semblait s'etonner Rina S. Cela ne concerne pas particulierement les femmes, il ne s'agit pas de sexisme. Cela s'apparente au nationalisme, qui fait egalement partie des mots presents dans la liste. Comme vous devez le savoir, il existe en France un parti d'extreme droite assez important puisqu'il realise environ 15% des votes aux elections. Beaucoup de personnes, et en particulier les jeunes n'en sont pas particulierement fiers. On pense qu'on nous juge la-dessus et que les pays etrangers voient en nous des racistes, comme si cela faisait maintenant parite des caracteristiques malheureusement associees a la France maintenant. Je profite du fait que vous ayez pris cela pour du sexisme (si tel etait bien le cas), pour vous demandez votre sentiment sur les nombreuses affaires touchant au harcelement sexuel aux USA. Sont elles si courantes ? Quel est votre point de vue? ----

----I am very curious about the word 'chauvinism' in this list. Why is it there? Is there some sort of discrimination against women in France? Is it harder for a woman to succeed in education or at work? Or was it referring to culture? ----I think France is one of the most liberal countries in the world so this is very surprising.

--------France is a nice beautiful western country, and, ideologically, it is the mother of freedom. But the american freedom is rather different. It stresses more the ability to do as you please (often make money), and the ability to live as you please (often keep your money). Also living easy and abundantly is very important. What is life without huge cars, extra large popcorn, delivery pizza, microwave ovens and the like? It turns out this is very important in american freedom. The french however countered this with bon vivre and confort. ----One american mentioned snobish. One french mentioned jolie and petit. Americans missed a few french symbols like the hexagon, and the rooster, that the french themselves did not.

----American students associated France with Paris on an overwhelming basis. Some other associations included food and cultural aspects. French students also associated food with France, but they tend to make more references to culture. This is probably a good indication of how important culture is to the French people, while Americans generally associate with Franch tourist attractions.

----What do you mean by france being petit? Do you mean it relative to the US or relative to most countries? If the second, is it really petit? If so why do you think so?

----One of the french students put down "Le Pen" and another "Ariane". Could you explain what these mean and how they are related to France? --------