Mostly because they lost in WW2. The Americans had to save them. Kinda the same in WW1, they just skip over the stalemate and say the Americans had to save them. Also they refused to help in Iraq.
Nobody is mentioning Vietnam? That’s the source of boomer complaints IME. France “abandoned” the US and the industrial war machine convinced the American veterans that it was France’s fault that the greatest military in the world couldn’t defeat communist Vietnam.
France has no US military bases on its soil and has refused to be entirely vassalized by the US unlike much of the rest of Europe. It’s one of few Western countries that has managed to maintain strategic autonomy in the face of US hegemony. Refusal to participate in the Iraq war is an example of this, as other Western countries like the UK followed the Americans in blindly like a dependent vassal would.
I’d venture to say most Americans wouldn’t know any of this, or think about this, when giving France shit.
That is clearly not the reason.
The French have also won the vast majority of battles and wars they’ve fought throughout their history, with a handful of notable exceptions.
And Americans can’t be bothered to read history books. It’s easier to just repeat memes that sound good to them.
I dislike the French for normal reasons, not weird nationalistic ones.
Ignorance, propaganda and probably racism.
I can imagine that many African and East-Asian countries have their own strong opinions on the French and with better reason than the USA.
The French are our oldest and bestest friend and it’s fun to give your friend shit, I know we are probably gonna lose that friendship because we have lost our minds and that’s sucks
They folded like oragami in WWII, and the french have a reputation for cultural pomposity that dates back centuries so people give them shit for both. I don’t know of more than a handful of people who mean anything by it though, and the french/american cultural exchange is one of the most vibrant in the western world. Excepting politically right now (especially given the current trump BS), we’ve gotten along extremely well as nations for a long damn time and americans tend to tease their friends.
I’ve never heard the french complain about it - I have heard the french clap back with some equally devastating mockery of their own, though. Seems healthy enough.
I live in an area of the country that was explored by the French, so the names of many towns, rivers, etc are French. Locals seem to delight in butchering the French pronunciations as much as possible. Not a single one is pronounced anywhere close to correct. There is definitely an element of brotherly teasing to it.
Note how anti-french sentiments in US only get serious when republicans are in power. Otherwise it’s just “hon hon hon stinky frenchman more baguette please we love you ❤️”.
From what I remember: France refused to join US war in Iraq in 2003, and around the same time I started hearing nonsense like “freedom fries” and “google french military victories and you get no results lolololol”, and it was all really fucking stupid. But some of that seemed to remain in popular culture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-French_sentiment_in_the_United_States
Yes I remember that. The phrase “cheese eating surrender monkeys” was going around. That was the point I lost all support for the war on terror. My opinion was very unpopular. To the point one meth head at work started trying to find a replacement for me. Took him about a year and I left. Right after that he got caught stealing funds and was off to rehab.
I am exceedingly proud to say I always opposed the war on terror and the war in Iraq, and I was right. In the fall of 2001 I had people threatening me for refusing to stand for the anthem at the Mizzou/Texas game, but even then, it was clear where the US was going and I was ashamed of the university’s failure to address discrimination against Muslim students in the wake of 9/11. (I forget the exact number, but I’m pretty sure it was 47 who ended up leaving campus for good.)
And partly why I hate Democrats so much is that, not only did they go along with the Iraq War, but they had all the power they needed to punish Republicans for creating an illegal war, and all they did was stand to the side and let Dubya and his cronies revise history.
It was well before that. French were saddled with the white flag, from results in wwii, whether deserved or not
This is the answer. The core of all American-based French slander is badly-remembered WW2 anecdotes.
I mean… Look at the news any day of the week.
Americans on the whole are incapable of understanding history at even the most surface level.
WW2 ruined their reputation.
The Fall of France and the Vichy regime were pathetic, but the French Resistance was legendary.
They also had hundreds of years of military dominance of Europe, up until the Napoleonic Wars. Generally not so hot since then. I definitely don’t think it’s a completely deserved rep, but it undeniably exists.
Same thing with the germans. They sent some of their best generals to train our troops but after ww2 we didn’t really want to be associated with their kind.
Unless they knew something about rockets.
We love our fireworks more than our image.
Ignorance… that is usually the root cause
Muricans are poorly educated, half can’t read past 6th grade level and most do not read unless forced to.
In this particular case they make fun of the French for not beating the Nazis in WWII because they probably saw it in a meme somewhere but their history knowledge does not go far back enough to realize how stupid they look when they do this “seriously”
American exceptionalism at work. Decades of being lead to believe they are the solver of the world’s problems and the centre of the “free” world. I’d also many don’t even know that the French were involved because US education is very good at altering history to make them look superior.
US history curriculum really doesn’t spend much time talking about wars (most of it is spent talking about exceedingly boring stuff, the exploration/founding of the country, first nations cultures and sociopolitical movements like the civil rights / the vietnam protest movement / cold war), but we for sure learn about Yorktown & as a result at least some about Lafayette
Americans forget that France was basically our only European ally for a very long time, while we fought the British twice. Memories of what happened in WWII, though, remain strong and color American perception. It’s mostly harmless joking based on stereotypes. The French are far more likely to go their own way compared to the British, including in areas of culture, and that annoys some people. Hence, the “freedom fries” kerfuffle during the 2003 Iraq war.
Do most Americans give the French shit? I think most Americans don’t care one way or another TBH. Our country is famously self-centered and unaware of the rest of the world.
I do give my French friend a hard time sometimes, but it’s all in good fun. He does the same to me. I certainly do not look down upon him or his country.
The minority of Americans who do sincerely talk down about the French are ignorant and shitty, though.
Yeah this is news to me. Apparently I’m supposed to give French people shit? Sounds like a hassle.
