A rude person is someone
Une personne impolie est quelqu'un
does not greet others or excuse himself, farts on an elevator
farts in public, speaks loudly in a restaurant, jumps in other people's conversations constantly
is annoying and inconsiderate
is inconiderate of others, talks loudly
who deviates from commonly accepted practices in daily life in a manner considered offensive
who disregards other people's feelings, who laughs at other's misfortunes.
who does not hold the door for you, who does not say thank you, who puts himself before someone else.
who does whatever they want
who doesn't listen to others
who doesn't respect other people, always thinks about themself
who insults others, who steps on others toes
who interrupts other people when they speak.
who interrupts people, who does not listen
who interrupts people, who has no manners
who interrupts you while you talk
who is disconsiderate of others around him/her
who is inconsiderate of others belongings, opinions, or space
who is inconsiderate of others' time and space.
who neglects other people and cares only about himself or herself.
who talks back, who swears
d' indiscret
d'irrespectueux
de lourd, d'indiscret
de sans-gène
de vulgaire, de violent, de méchant
qui coupe la parole, qui se croit chez mémé où qu'il aille, qui est grossier
qui ignore les autres
qui insulte les autres de temps en temps, qui n'a aucun respect aux autres.
qui n'est pas bien élevé
qui n'écoute pas les autres, qui est égoïste
qui ne dit pas bonjour, qui ne regarde pas son interlocuteur dans les yeux
qui ne dit pas bonjour, qui ne respecte pas les autres
qui ne fait pas attention à vous
qui ne montre pas de respect pour les autres
qui ne prend pas en considération les autres
qui ne respecte pas les autres et les agresse verbalement.
qui ne respecte pas les règles de savoir vivre et les formules de politesse
qui ne vous répond pas quand vous lui parlez
qui parle mal aux gens
qui pense toujours à soi, et n'a aucun égard pour les autres
qui renie son éducation et sa culture
qui se prend pour plus important qu'il n'est
Discussion
The
american responses seem tinged with the notion of interruption or
disturbance while the french are characterized by respect and
recognition. At some point these notions can collide: is there a point
where greeting someone becomes more of an interruption than a show of
respect? To some extent a greeting requires mutual respect. For
example, would a french student greet a professor of a lecture class of
say 30 students where the student has never personally spoken to the
professor (except for questions in class)? More generally, at what
point does a greeting become polite?
One
phrase posted by a student from L'Ecole Polytechnique that interested
me was that a rude person does not look the other person in the eye. I
generally think of this action as one that displays fear or guiltiness,
but do not related it to impoliteness. Does not looking someone in the
eye convey that you aren't paying attention to him or you don't care
about what he is saying?
Just
as a general comment, I found it interesting that the French students
say that a rude person is someone who doesn't say "hello". It did not
occur to me at the time, but I guess that we just jumped to the worst
things people can do. It is good to realize that it can also be rude to
not do a simple action such as saying hello.
Yes,
Viviana is exactly correct. It's interesting that it is considered rude
not to have eye contact or to say hello. At MIT, it is not uncommon to
forget to do either of those two things. It's also interesting that the
students from MIT seem to emphasize that a rude person interrupts
everyone in their conversations. How frequent do people interrupt each
other in France? In terms of rudeness, how does it compare to eye
contact, etc.?
Students
at MIT and students at Ecole Polytechnique agree that a rude person is
someone who does not consider or respect others. As for specific
attitudes or behaviors, MIT students mention interuption, while the
students of Ecole Polytechnique mention being inquisitive.
In general, the norm of politeness changes with time. Has
France experienced any significant change in the norm of politeness
recently?
The
comment about "saying hello" is quite interesting. A friend of mine was
telling me when he was in France, he went into stores without greeting
the staff. Consequently, the staff acted very rude towards him. He
interpreted the staff's attitude as the general French attitude towards
Americans. Which is, the French don't like the Americans, especially
American tourists, very much. I wonder perhaps it was because he didn't
say hello. In America, it's not a big deal to go into a store without
acknowledging the staff. Is it the opposite in France?
One
of the first things that my future French colleagues told me about
being a foreigner in France, is that people are going to be rude to
you, unless you always say both "bonjour"and "s'il vous plait". When I
buy a ticket at the T (Boston's metro) I usually just say "One" and
give the money. In France, it is expected to say "Bonjour, un billet,
s'il vous plait". Now, I'm not sure if this is a sign of rudeness
versus politeness or just different social conventions. Is the ticket
ventor really happier after he's heard "bonjour" a hundred times?
I
started thinking about the whole "bonjour" issue and I noticed
something peculiar about greetings in different parts of the US. I'm
from the south, (Texas) and I have to say that people are much nicer in
the south than in the northeast. I'm not saying that every time I go to
the supermarket in Texas I greet everybody with a "good afternoon," but
I usually smile and try to be friendly with the cashier. In fact, many
times I'll be walking my dog down my street and the people that pass by
me will either smile or say something like "Howdy". I was quite
surprised at how different people's attitudes were in Boston. My own
neighbors (living on the same floor of my dorm) didn't even say "hi" to
me! I'm sure that some of them didn't intentionally try to be rude, but
it sometimes came off that way. In that respect, I can understand why
many French people have such a negative view of American tourists. It
definitely took me a while to get used to the dry and emotionless
interactions I had with the other students in my dorm. They all seemed
highly self-involved and antisocial.
Are some parts of France considered more or less friendly than
others like here in the US? And if so, why do you think this difference
exists?
En
réponse à Stéphanie, il est en effet impoli de parler à quelqu'un sans
le regarder dans les yeux : on pourrait alors qualifier l'orateur de
timide voire honteux ... il n'assume pas ce qu'il dit ?
En réponse à Matthew, s'il est important de regarder la
personne dans les yeux, il est capital de ne pas lui couper la parole :
elle pourrait l'interpreter comme une agression, une atteinte à sa
liberté! Si vous voulez critiquer quelqu'un, attendez qu'il ait fin et
profitez de ce temps pour être plus cinglant encore !!!
Pour finir, concernant le "bonjour", "s'il vous plait",
"merci", "au revoir"... c'est une question d'éducation et de tradition.
Je crois que les Americains s'excusent souvent :"sorry"... Nous
fonctionnons différemment. De plus, il est aussi très mal vu de rentrer
dans un magazin en lançant un "bonjour!", "bonjour madame/monsieur/etc"
est beaucoup plus approprié!
En réponse à Gerardo, le Sud est plus chaleureux, le Nord est
plus froid ... mais les amitiés du Sud sont plus éphémères quand les
liens que vous créez dans le Nord sont plus forts. Peut être est-ce dû
à des conditions de vie qui traditionnellement étaient plus difficiles
dans le Nord de la France, zone historiquement industrialisée et
minière.
si vous avez un quelconque commentaire, n'hesitez pas!
En
réponse à Iordanis Kerenidis, j'ai une amie qui a travaillé dans une
boulangerie dans un supermarché et qui trouvait agaçant que certaines
personnes lui disent seuleument "une baguette" mais qui appréciait que
les clients fassent une phrase avec bonjour et s'il vous plait. Le
bonjour montre en effet qu'on ne s'adresse pas à un distributeur
automatique mais bien à une personne que l'on reconnait en tant que
personne, ce qui est important pour le vendeur. En réponse à Gerardo,
je crois les petits villages sont plus chaleureux, tout le monde se
connait plus ou moins et quand je croise quelqu'un dans la rue chez
moi, je dis automatiquement bonjour alors que dans les villes, même
s'il n'y a pas beaucoup de monde, les gens ne se disent pas bonjour ( à
moins de se connaitre) dans la rue,c'est plus impersonnel mais dès
qu'on s'adresse à quelqu'un, on dit bonjour.