Why don’t French people use the definite article when they mention the Internet?

(asked by Arthur Goldhammer from Cambridge, Massachusetts)

In other words, why do French speakers say “Internet” (as if it was a proper noun) and not “L’Internet” as a direct translation of “The Internet”?

As mentioned in a previous answer, I’ll try to answer as few questions about language as possible but I find this one quite interesting (and by the way, it was not directly asked to me, but I “stole” it from a blog -after approval of the author).

So, why is it this way?

Truth is, I don’t know for sure, but I have a few guesses.

First, in English, “internet” sounds like a common noun. It’s a net or rather an interconnection of nets. As a consequence it seems very logical in English to say “the Internet” and not just “Internet”.

Thing is that in France, “internet” sounds like a proper noun, or even a brand name, as “net” doesn’t mean anything in French and very few French speakers know it’s the English term for “filet” or “réseau”.
Because of this, it wouldn’t be very logical to add an article to the word, as very few proper nouns (mostly geographical ones) take an article in French.

Now, if I think this is the reason why the Internet never became “L’Internet” when it became widely spread in France, this doesn’t explain why the very first people to use the Internet in the country didn’t say it.
Because when the Internet was still in its infancy in France, pretty much all of its users were computer-scientists and it’s safe to assume that most of them had a good understanding of English (at least a theoretical one), so why didn’t they say “L’Internet”.

Well, I think it’s because back in the days they used the Internet through TELNET and well, TELNET doesn’t take an article, so they logically started using the term Internet without an article.

I’m not sure if it’s the right reason, but I don’t know what it can be if it’s not that.

On a side note, you’ll notice that you hear more and more “le net” in France. Why? I guess because it comes from people that know English and it’s slowly spreading, because French people just love to shorten words and “Net” would just sound strange.

On another side not, back in the days, French people said “le Minitel” and not just “Minitel.” Why?
I’m not sure as I was quite young when it appeared, but I assume that because it was a national thing, it was officially introduced as “le Minitel”.
Also, in French people’s mind, the Minitel was more an object (the actual screen with fold-up keyboard) than a network or a more abstract thing, whereas the Internet was seen (and still is for certain people) as a quite abstract thing, partly because most people don’t know/understand how it works, partly because French people have sometimes hard time to understand that something so big can be totally decentralized.


And I’ll conclude with a third side note (which could deserve its own entry) which is about the use of “le” in English when people want to sound French and/or when they use French words.
Please, English speakers, unless you speak a really good French and master very well the use of articles, avoid using “le” in English.
This for many reasons:
The main one being that French nouns have a gender, and “le” is the masculine form, but there’s also a “la” and even a “les” for the plural form.
So, no “le” is not the equivalent of “the”, it is only when the thing you’re talking about is masculine and singular. And I won’t even get into the details of the fact that no, “the” and “le, la, les” are not exactly the same things.
The other one being that when the noun is an object, not a subject, there are many cases where one won’t use “le” but something else (I’m thinking of “du” for example).
There are others (if you give me specific examples, I’ll detail them).

And just remember that using “le” in an English text to sound French might appear “cool” or whatnot to a English speaking reader, but this will appear very lame and stupid to a French speaking reader.
Your pick.

What are some MAJOR differences between the French and the American cultures?

(asked by Leesa, from Southern California, currently in France)

Wow, this is a hard one... Well, it’s not hard to answer this question; it’s hard to answer it in just a few lines...

Let’s start with the fact that France and the US belong to the same civilization -let’s call it the Western civilization- and for that reason the biggest mistake both French and American people do when dealing with the other culture is to assume that things are -or at least should be- the same.
And if it’s true that they roughly look the same, they’re definitely not. Remember what Vincent Vega, the famous philosopher once said about Europe: “It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same shit over there that they got here, but it's just, it's just theirs a little different.” He couldn't be more right.

And we can safely say that the biggest difference between the two countries is that people just don’t think the same way. This is true for most countries, but when you’re dealing with, let's say, an Indian or a Chinese person, you expect them to not think the same way than you do (even though I’m not too sure about that when I see that Westerners are totally missing the point when they try to pressure China over Tibet the way they do it, but I’m getting sidetracked here)… Where was I? Oh yeah... So, when a Westerner deals with an Indian, there is some intuitive understanding that the two don’t think the same, don’t see things and the world the same way… Well, it’s exactly the same between a French person and an American one.

This is, to my eyes, the main reason why there are so many misunderstandings between the two countries, why when most Americans go to France, they just can’t go past the clichés, and same thing for most French people in America.

But I’m still not answering the question: What are these differences?

Let’s put it this way: America was founded (not as a country but as a culture) by a bunch of religious lunatics who fled England because they were too fundamentalist and fucked up to just convert to Anglicanism when asked to and keeping on having a quiet and simple life in England.
Modern France, on the other hand, was founded by some writers and philosophers that spent their days discussing everything they could think of discussing, writing an Encyclopedia and triggering a bunch of Revolutions (including the French and the American ones) in the process.

So, on the one hand, we have a country where the influence of Puritanism greatly influenced most major aspects of the society: importance of religion, sexual issues, unclear separation between the private and the public, little to no rationalism when dealing with personal things, guiltiness always looming around, etc.
On the other side we have a country that is the spawn of Enlightenment: clear cut between public and private, little to no importance of religion which anyways stays a private thing that should not spread to the public sphere, a certain hedonism integrated to everyday life, high rationalization of things, propensity to discussing and debating anything and everything, etc.

But these are just the skeletons of both countries, there are also differences in their flesh and major organs, but I’ll detail them with time when people ask me specific questions about certain things.

Other major differences I can think of (which may or may not be a byproduct of the Original Difference):

-History (or rather: Sense of History):
In the US, history doesn’t seem to matter. Some people will say it’s because the US don’t have one. Of course, it’s not the case, but I think the fact that it’s quite short (the world started in 1776 for most Americans (even for those that believe it was made in 7 days about 6,000 years ago)). In France, History is very important to understand the culture, life and the world from a French perspective.

Good sides of the way Americans relate to history: Americans seem less trapped under the weight of tradition; they look forward and not backwards; they think of what can be done first, and not of what has been done.
The Bad Sides: a certain cluelessness about a lot of things, about the rest of the world and how to interact with it (Isolationism is as much the cause as lack of historical sense here, but I suspect the former to also be a consequence of the latter); a propensity to never learn from their mistakes especially on the National level (but on the personal level too to a certain extent) which makes them repeat them; a certain gullibility of the people too (I’ve never seen people more easy to manipulate than the American (I mean as a population, not individuals), but this latter part is also a result of lack of education and general culture as well as chronic apathy.

Good sides of the way the French relate to history: they understand the world much better because they have millennia of interactions with the rest of it as background (note: I don’t mean that the French understand the rest of the world better than the rest of the world, I mean that they understand it as well as the rest of the world, and that is much more than America (and a few handful of other countries do).
They know that wars are bad and are not just like a sports game with to sides and a winner and a loser in the end. They learn from experience much more. They –as a country - try to not repeat mistakes of the past.
The bad sides: looking too much towards the past and not enough towards the future; thinking experience is everything, giving more importance to what has been done than what can be done.

-Money:
People from both countries are obsessed with money; both are sometimes losing sight of the fact that money is a tool, a mean, not a goal in itself.
But there’s one major difference: Americans are more open about it than the French are. In France there’s some sort of taboo about money. Talking about it is somewhat vulgar. There’s an emotional stigma associated to it: money is “bad”. Still, almost everybody wants to have more like anywhere else.

-Sex:
After talking about money, of course I had to talk about sex.
Here we’re going back to point number one and the fact that Puritanism totally screwed America up when dealing with sex. In France too, Christianity has left its imprint on the population, but to a much lesser extent (remember the Revolution was not only about getting rid of kings, but also of the Church).
People from both countries are obsessed with sex even more than with money. But this time it’s the French that have a much healthier relationship to sex.
Let’s put it this way: in France, sex is not bad, it’s good. And if you’re ever had sex, you know which population is right on this topic.

-Nudity:
Yeah, I separate nudity from sex, and that’s the point.
In France, nudity and sex are not completely linked. Nudity can be non-sexual in France! Sometimes Americans are surprised/shocked to see how much nudity there’s in France (not people in the street, I’m talking about the media, etc) and they think the French are perverts or something. They’re getting it all wrong. It’s just that nudity is not always about sex.
Example: it’s not uncommon to see a naked or half naked woman in a commercial for fat free yogurt, and I know from experience that it puzzles Americans a lot, because they wonder what the link between sex and yogurt. Well, if you really want to know, I can tell you how to link both, but this is not what the commercial does. There nudity represents health: see how slim and healthy the woman is, this is because she’s eating the yogurt.

Which brings us to:

-Food:
Let’s put it this way: in France food is the most important thing. Period. More important than money, more important than sex. Eating is an experience in itself, just like any other activity. Eating is not about feeding yourself so that you don’t die. Eating is a sensual (meaning involving the senses), social, cultural activity.
Flavor is the most important thing in food, not what’s in it, not what it’s made of, etc. But experience has told the French that the more natural the food is the better and the more elaborate the taste is.
One thing that makes me sad in the US, is how taste-challenged most Americans are. The expression that says it all to me is “it tastes like chicken.” How can something that is not chicken taste like chicken? And what is “chicken flavor”? I know a good dozen of different “chicken flavors” depending what part of the chicken, how it’s cooked, whether the chicken is free-range or not, etc.
Also, one word about organic food.
In the US, if I understand right, organic food is food that is not full of preservatives, GMOs, hormones and such.
Well, under that definition, almost all of French food is organic.

OK, that’s it for this entry.
I barely scratched the surface and I could have gone longer, but I need to finish it as some point as the topic is pretty much endless….
Of course, I’ll answer any follow-up question if necessary.

A bunch of practical questions

(asked by FrancophileEtoile from Glasgow, Scotland)

If I buy a French TV set (looking at Darty prices, not as likely as I first thought :-( Please tell me Darty have soldes... ) is there such a thing as a French TV licence like we have in the UK? I'm assuming no as (I think) all French tv is commercial? I don't want to have to pay an extra 100-odd euros for the year's licence if I'm only going to be there for 7-8 months.

Well, if I know everything about France and French things, I must admit if there's a country I'm pretty clueless about, it's the UK... In the list of countries I'm clueless about, the UK is on the top 5, alongside Bhutan, Equatorial Guinea, Costa Rica and Latvia.. (maybe that sentence should not be taken literally).

But because of that I have no idea of what a UK TV license might be...

But in France, we have a "redevance" that you're supposed to pay yearly in order to be able to legally watch TV, because no, not all French channels are commercial, actually among the 6 channels one gets with a basic TV, three of them are public channels.
The keyword here being "legally". I don't remember ever paying it, but I think that you normally pay it with the local yearly taxes (not to be mixed up with the normal yearly taxes).

Seriously, if you're there for only a few months, don't even bother with, I don't know of anybody that ever was controlled (at least not students and such) and even if you are, what are they going to do? Send you to jail? Nah...

Concerning the prices of TV, I haven't bought one in years, but I assume that Darty is indeed one of the cheapest places to buy one, and I doubt that they have sales for them (the bi-annual sales are technically for clothes only... technically...) but who knows?

Opening bank accounts in France: how would I do it? (...) How many forms of ID will I need? Any recommendations/warnings of banks to avoid would be helpful too.

To open a bank account in France, you need to go to a bank and say "Hi! I'd like to open a bank account, please." (the keyword here being "please") :-)
After that, the clerk will give you all the documentation and/or tell you what to do.

Any ID that has legal value will work. You might need a proof of domicile (electricity bill, phone bill, rent receipt, etc...) or not.

As for advising you any bank... Mmmmm.... The purpose of any bank is the same: to screw you over... I can't really compare with UK banks (see question 1), but compared to US banks, I'd say that French banks usually screw you over less than US banks do... but they'll also lend you less money if needed (being a foreign student, don't even think of having a French bank lending you money though). The best thing to do is to shop around and see what they have to offer for students or even for foreign students. Just check the websites of the main ones: Caisse d'Epargne, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Lyonnais (recently renamed LCL), Société Générale (you know the bank of the trader that lost 7 billions the other day), Banque Populaire, BNP, I might forget a few.

Cartes de Séjour: there seems to be a dizzying array of different types, and I'm not sure which to go for, or even if I get a choice in the matter. I will be 19 when I start working (for 12-18 hours a week) and apparently because of my age and working hours I may get a less-comprehensive (student?) carte? Obviously I want a proper one which will last the year, not just the année scolaire. I just don't know how to work the system ;)

If there's one thing I'm really proud of knowing nothing about it's the cartes de séjour thing... For people who don't know about French administration imagine a mix of administration the way it's depicted in the movie Brazil and of Soviet administration and I think you obtain a pretty clear representation of what French administration is like. And as a French citizen I have to deal with it on many aspects of my life, but also as a French citizen, there's one section of the French administration that I will never ever have to deal with, it's the immigration bureau.

So, I make sure I never go -not even remotely- near it (just in case a confused and lost foreigner asks for my help and then I just can't say no).

So, sorry, I can't give you any information about it, I don't want to give information about it, I don't even want to think I could be able to give information about it, and this is the one and only case I'd tell a foreigner what I'm about to tell you: Figure it out by yourself!
Actually, I even think that's a good test... If you survive the immigration bureau and paperwork, there's a chance you might be able to survive France...

That being said, if I'm not wrong you're Scottish, and as such, whether you like it or not, you're also a Citizen of Her Majesty's United Kingdom and Colonies (or something like that), which also means... and here I might surprise you as I know the Brits are pretty ignorant about that fact... you're also a European Union citizen... and as such, you don't need a carte de séjour to live in France...

Surprising, isn't it? :-)

This might be a bit Paris-centric but Navigo/Cartes Orange: are they worth it? I will probably be going in and out of Paris from Créteil academie and the neuf-trois, but wondered if they were good value for money. I've looked at prices and can't really judge...

Don't worry about being Paris-centric, most foreigners don't even know there's a whole country called France just outside of Paris. But I know the British know better, as nowadays there are more British citizens than French citizens in some of the best French villages (I personally love this true expression of what the European Union should be... I'm not too sure what the locals think, but who cares?)...

So, about the Navigo (because Carte Orange will cease to exist in a matter of weeks now (or maybe it has already ceased to do so, I haven't paid close attention lately))...

Well, it really depends on how often you'll take the subway, and if you work, whether your boss will pay for half of it or not (as it's common practice in Paris).

Currently 10 tickets cost €11.10 (because only tourists and fools will buy tickets one by one)
A monthly "credit" on a Navigo pass costs €53.50 (for zones 1 and 2, which is Paris and the very close suburbs)
A weekly one costs € 16.30 (for zones 1 and 2)

So basically to have your Navigo pass to be worth it on a weekly basis, you need to take the metro more than 15 times a week.
And as far as the monthly pass, you need to take the metro 49 times a months, that is about twice a day...
What I'd advise you is that for the first few weeks you buy tickets by 10 (actually you'll have to, while your card is being made, the card itself being free) and you'll see how much it costs you per week... But keep in mind that once you have the Navigo pass, you'll also tend to take the metro more just because it's "free".

I hope all of this answers your questions...

Two Extra Questions...

(asked by Linda from Brno, Czech Republic)


-Also, the women on the job market, I guess it is still not very "equal", is it?

Well, in theory it is. State jobs are usually equal (to my knowledge at least). In the private sector, the glass ceiling is there, like anywhere else in the world (more or less).

-Also, what is the usual length of maternity leave? Is it becoming like the US?? (go to work asap?)

No, it's very different from the US (where it's pretty much insane).
Here are the numbers I found:

It varies according to different factors.

If the woman is expecting one child (and is already raising 0 to 1 child)
Prenatal leave: 6 weeks
Postnatal leave: 10 weeks
Total leave: 16 weeks

If the woman is expecting one child (and is already raising 2 children)
Prenatal leave: 8 weeks
Postnatal leave: 18 weeks
Total leave: 26 weeks

If the woman is expecting twins
Prenatal leave: 12 weeks
Postnatal leave: 22 weeks
Total leave: 34 weeks

If the woman is expecting triplets or more
Prenatal leave: 24 weeks
Postnatal leave: 22 weeks
Total leave: 46 weeks

Note that some contracts can have longer leaves.

Also, if the birth is premature, the "unspent" days of prenatal leave are added to the postnatal leave. If the birth is late, the postnatal leave is unchanged.

I have heard that French women are not really that much into friendship. Is it true or is it just a cliché?

(asked by Linda from Brno, Czech Republic)

Well, well. It’s pretty hard to reply properly to this question. First because I’m not a woman. Second because of the language we’re using right now.
Strangely the English language, so rich in vocabulary, really sucks when it comes to friends.
There is only one word: “friend” to express a vast variety of relationships from vague acquaintance to somebody you’d give your life for and love more than anything on Earth (you’re just not having sex with them… or maybe you do. In any case, this is not of my business).
I know there are other words and expressions to modulate the lack of precision of this word (buddy, pal, BFF, etc.) but still…

And in my opinion, this has an influence on what English speakers think friendship is. Sometimes they can be best friends with somebody in a matter of minutes. Some other times, they can ditch a very intense friendship in a matter of minutes too.

Well, things are pretty different in France.
First we have a lot of words for “friend”:
-connaissance
-ami
-camarade
-copain
-pote
This list being incomplete.

This variety implies that people that are your friends in English are one of those in French, and you won’t do the same things with a “ami” and with a “pote”, you won’t tell them the same things, you won’t feel the same for them.

And to start answering the question, yes, I have the feeling that French women have very few “amis” (which is the strongest kind of friendship) while they have no problems with the rest.

One thing to take into account here is that friendships in France are pretty different from the ones in the English speaking world (well, actually, I’m not that sure about the non-US English speaking world).

Real strong long-term friendship in France are usually lifelong (or at least last decades) and are usually made in high school or college. It takes months or even years to build these friendships and it’s one of the main reasons why foreigners moving to France as adults have sometimes such a hard time making real friends in France.

French women tend to have these kinds of friendships too, but much less than men. And to tell the truth, I’m not too sure why.
Maybe, one thing I’ve noticed is that despite the fact that France is supposedly an egalitarian country when dealing with genders (could be better, but it’s much better than many countries, including the Anglo ones), traditions are long to die, and I’ve noticed among my female friends that once they find their life-partner, they tend to enter their man’s social circle, their slowly fading, especially their female friends…

So, I guess entering their man’s social circle is one reason why they don’t keep long-term friends. But that doesn’t explain it all.

The other possible explanation (that would also be the reason why French women don’t really make new female friends when reaching adulthood) is that sort of constant competition French women tend to be with other women, especially when they’re single…
In other terms, other women are the enemy…

It seems a little farfetched but maybe not as far from the truth as I suspect.

So to summarize:
Single adult women don’t have real female friends because of competition.
Married (or in couple) adult women have their man’s friends as friends.

I must admit I’m not totally satisfied by this answer though.
Maybe because French women do make friends…
If a French woman wants to complete my answer, do not hesitate to comment on this.

When is it OK to use slang in French?

(asked by Leesa from Southern California (and currently in France) on March 25, 2008)

Here is her question in its entirety:

"I also know that French "slang" terms are not considered "proper" and are not to be used with people you don't know pretty well. English jargon/slang doesn't carry this same negative stigma to Americans- I am not talking "gros mots" here, btw."

And here is my answer:

Well, it's all a question of social class and also what kind of slang is being used.
In my opinion French slang carries a negative stigma only in the more bourgeois layers of the population, not in the middle and lower classes (not even among the "nouveaux riches").
Now, there's no one French slang, but many. I even can safely say that French slang is richer than American English slang. Once again, we're talking about slang and not curse words and I assume that the situation is far more different (thus more similar to France) with British English.

And both things (the fact that it has a negative stigma among the bourgeois and the fact that it's very rich) are totally linked.

Most French slangs come from working class jobs. Many different professions used to use specific terms -related or not to their profession- to communicate. Partly because back in the days people tended to stay among their own much more than today. Of course, the rich didn't hang out with the poor (neither today), but also, let's say butchers tended to hang out with other butchers, etc. Competition was not as much of an issue back then (think about guilds and such), and they all ran into each other constantly, when going to Les Halles for example and in Paris' case.

Concerning Les Halles, you need to know that before being a crappy shopping mall, it was the main (and only?) wholesale market of Paris where all the products coming from farms all over France where send to then sold to Parisian retailers. I'm mentioning this here, because it has its importance as Les Halles is more or less the birthplace of most Parisian slangs.

So, people from the same profession tended to develop similar words and expressions, partly because when you are a more or less tight group you tend to develop your own expressions and ways of expressing things (this is roughly why there are many languages in the world and not just one), partly because it could be used as a "secret" language when they wanted to talk in front of a costumer or somebody else without wanting to be understood by said person.

On the other hand, the bourgeoisie and the upper class in general (it was the same thing until quite recently) also tended to develop their own words and expressions, but as they were the dominant class, it didn't become slang, but new words and expressions in the official language.

Which brings us to today where professional slangs have partly disappeared, partly merged into what we call today "French slang", but to the eyes of the bourgeoisie nothing has changed, using slang still has this lower class connotation, hence the fact that they think poorly of it.

And if this is a very Parisian phenomenon, one must also mention regional slangs, which are words and expressions developed in specific regions of France and which carry the same stigma because of the fact that the dominant class considers non-Parisian France pretty much the same way it considers the lower Parisian classes, with much disdain.

But while I'm sure you're thankful for all of this information and background, you might also think that doesn't really help you in your everyday life.

So what's the situation today with the use of slang?
When is it OK to use slang, and when is it not?


My answer is simple (and at the same time, not): It depends who you're talking to.
The problem for non native speakers of French is that it's a very intuitive thing (like it is with every other language, it's not specific to French). It's growing up with the language that makes you know when it is OK to use a certain word or expression and when it's not. Especially because slang is not a unified thing. There are many slangs, and even many different levels of slangs in "one" slang.
So if you're not a native speaker of French, the only thing I can tell you is that to be adventurous and try using certain words with different people and see their reactions to it. And if you're not adventurous, just listen to people from different social backgrounds and pay attention to the words they use and the words they don't.

Also keep in mind that this feeling of the language (as opposed to the knowledge of the language) is pretty much the last thing one gets when learning a language. Once you're there, you're completely bilingual. And I know very few people that are there with French. I even remember my professors in the US who spoke perfect French (perfect grammar of course, but also perfect pronunciation, even their accent was sort of French) but once in a while they would misuse a familiar term and that would betray them...

How do you say I wear at weekends in French?

(asked by Abby from Basildon, UK on September 12, 2007)

I'm a bit confused by this question.

Do you mean: How do you say "I wear at weekends" in French?
Or is it: How do you say "I wear" at weekends, in French?
Or did you mean something else? But what?

With all due respect, I'd like to use this opportunity to remind everyone that punctuation is never optional, if you want people to understand you (even though I'm not perfect with it, English punctuation and French punctuation differing from one another)...

Also, the goal of this blog is not exactly to help you with your French homework but to give you insights on the French culture and the French people, not really to teach you the French language (class will be much more useful than a blog for that).

Anyway, because it's a first, I'll try to answer to this (these?) question.

So how do we say "I wear at weekends" in French?

First, I'd like to underline the fact that in French we rarely wear "at weekends" we wear pieces of clothing, not periods of time, and if I'm not wrong that is the same in English.

So, I'm going to assume the actual question was: How do you say "I wear" and "at weekends"?

And here is the answer:

In French, we say: "Je porte" for "I wear" and "le week-end" (note the singular form and the absence of preposition) for "at weekends".

And if by any chance, the question was: How do you say "I wear" at weekends? Well, we don't have a special way to say it on the weekends that would be different from the way we say it on weekdays

We all know that French women do not shave their armpits. What else do they not shave?

(asked by Sculi from Citra, Florida on Augusr 31, 2007)

I knew this question was gonna be one of the very first. So let's get it out of the way.

Let's start with the armpits. I'll make it short: French women do shave their armpits!

Pretty much 100% of French women under the age of 60 have hairless armpits. Actually, I have seen more hairy armpits in the US (I'm thinking about hippie girls here) than in France (where even hippie girls tend to shave their armpits).

Let's talk about the other body hair now.

- Legs.

French women don't shave their legs that much. They wax them!
Actually thinking about it, maybe they wax their armpits too… I guess they do a little bit of both.

- And what about the other body hair? The pubic ones?

Well, I have to admit something here.I haven't been intimate (in that way) with a French girl since the 90's so I'm not too up to date with the latest trends.
Back then, French women didn't really shave their pubic hair, but young women tended to at least trim it… Well, not all of them…

Nowadays, well, I don't know. I assume that the full bush is not as common anymore, but I also guess that the trend of completely shaving down there is not as popular as it is in the US (even though I think that even in the US it's not as widely spread as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears want us to believe)

One a side note this stereotype of not shaving armpits comes from back then when the GIs stationed in France just after WW2. As most French stereotypes in the US, really. But remember that things were pretty different back then, France in the 40's was a complete different country altogether, and a country that was just getting out of 5 years of war and 4 of foreign occupation with all the privations that go with it.

Why don't French people have a Vice-President?

(asked by Emlyn from Liège, Belgium)

That's quite simple really.

Most democracies have one of the following:

-A President and a Vice-President.
-A King and a Prime Minister.
-A Chancellor and a President who is just a joke (barely the equivalent of a Speaker of the House)

Let's not talk about the latter because we don't care about it (sorry about that Germany).

We are now left with choosing between a King and Prime Minister or a President and Vice- President.

Thing is that, back then, France was not a democracy and had a King and a Prime Minister, so when we killed our King (well, the one we killed was not the very last one, but that's beside the point), it was time to decide what to do. The logical choice was to have a President and a Vice-President…

But one event in particular prevented that to happen:
The US just got their independence and decided to have a President and a VP.

And one thing you need to know about the French is that they have a vital need to do things their own way. They hate being followers. In their mind they are the one that enlighten the world with new things (and in that case it worked as several other countries chose the French model when they became democracies, Romania for instance).

So a decision had to be made and the vice-president was its collateral damage and since that day we've had a President and a Prime Minister.

It was the logical choice since -with the way the French system works- the President has more of a role of an elected monarch rather than the real chief of the executive, role which is the one of the Prime Minister.

Also, you need to know that things might change soon as I type these lines. Our new President is not content with that role and has already taken over the role of Prime Minister (everybody is currently wondering what the real one is for) as well as several other ministers' to the point that France will soon have a one man government. But if France will still be called a democracy in that near future still remains to be seen.