Rudeness is charming

last updated 8 January 2015

Paris

A French tourism agency is using the stereotype of French rudeness to lure British visitors. At Cestsoparis.com, the Web site of the Ile-de-France tourism board, Brits can learn how to pass as French by emulating typically snooty Gallic expressions. Those include the exaggerated French pout, which is mostly used by women, and its male counterpart, the “Gallic shrug,” achieved by raising the shoulders and eyebrows simultaneously. That move, when sufficiently vigorous, expresses total denial of responsibility for any problem. “The English often label us arrogant,” said tourist board director Jean-Pierre Blat. “Our goal is to show them that we can have a British sense of humor and laugh at ourselves.”