Overseas Briefing Bridging the Gap

Author: Tom Brant

PARIS - In September, standing with a friend on a pedestrian bridge in Paris called the Pont des Arts, I was almost persuaded to jump into the River Seine. As we were admiring the night view of the City of Lights, a group of about five French guys our own age sauntered up to us. Seeing our decidedly non-Parisian garb, one of them asked, "Where are you from from?"

"The United States," I replied in French.

Then one of them asked, "Are you going to take off your clothes and jump in the river? Everyone does it at midnight."

We both looked at him blankly.

"Yes, it's true!" he said in English. "The water, I hear she is a-nice this time of year."

"Okay, maybe. I don't know," I mumbled. It's times like these when my gullible side shows its true colors.

We parted ways, and around midnight, I casually glanced at my watch and half expected to see people actually jumping into the frigid water. Of course, no one did. Neither did we.

After living in Paris for several months, I gradually realized that the guys on the bridge weren't really messing with us to be mean. They probably just held a stereotype common among French people: Americans are stupid. Of course, like all stereotypes, not everyone in France actually believes that.

I have been keeping an eye and an ear out all semester long for French opinions of Americans. Many of the stereotypes I've come across have been at my volunteer job helping kids with homework at an after-school center. Here are some of the most striking:

There are two kinds of Americans: either they are obese, unintelligent and full of faults, or they are rich, beautiful movie stars with all the right qualities.

The staples of American food (in addition to hamburgers and fries) are corn flakes, mayonnaise and coffee.

American society is artificial, violent and primarily based on making money.

America's chief exports are political ideas, eating disorders, the media and McDonald's.

Once American students obtain their A-levels (an obvious confusion with the British school system) they immediately attend a university as far away as possible from their parents.

But perhaps the most amusing stereotype I've encountered was on a tenth-grader's English assignment. The question asked her to read a short passage on American universities and summarize it in her own words. This is, more or less, what she came up with: "To me, the typical American male student always goes to class with a can of Coke, wearing a sweatshirt personalized with the name of his university. During class, he slouches in the seat and thinks about American football and pom-pom girls."

Are the stereotypes true? I'm not sure. I'm busy obsessing over the Philadelphia Eagles loss to the Cardinals the other night, and pretty soon I'm going to need to go get another can of Coke to replace the empty one on my desk.