From: greg@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Gregory Nowak)
Subject: Re: Getting to know FRANCE
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 13:35:29 GMT

In article <9208190918.AA08966@ensmp.fr> thomas@MANITOU.ENSMP.FR (Gregory NOWAK) writes:
}
}Welcome and bienvenu(e) to the one quiz show that lets you find out
}how well your stereotypes and preconceptions of our foreign friends
}match up with reality! (Les francais s'abstenir svp.)

Here we are, back with the answers. 


}1. How did French performance in this summer's olympics compare with
}other summer olympics since WW II?

}(e) best medal count ever!

And they're damn proud of it too. Gave them something to console
themselves with  during the days-long traffic jams caused by the
trucker blockade... Some dim bulb in the government decided that the
day of the first grand exodus for summer vacation would be the best
day to start the new points system for driver's licenses, and th
truckers decided to protest by blocking all the major highways. Some
people caught most of the Olympics on their car radios.

}2. The most practiced religion in France is _______________.

Trick question: the answer is ISLAM! True, most Frenchies are _born_
catholic, but they become non-practicing. The growing Muslim
population (mainly African) is more religiously active. No word on
large populations of GAY FRENCH MUSLIMS yet, but there's a French
hiphop/rap group called IAM (no relation to the babe who's trying to
take over Lindt chocolates)  based in Marseilles that looks like a
likely bunch of candidates...

}3. French supermarkets recently lost a court battle to obtain
}permission to sell which of the following?

}(a) Vitamin C
}(b) Ibuprofen
}(c) condoms
}(d) hard liquor
}(e) syringes


And the answer is (a), Vitamin C! Hard liquor is available in just
about every store you can find -- of the small 7-11 type corner
groceries, one of the four walls is usually devoted to wine and hard
liquor. There is some sort of alcohol-selling license, but it's
laughably easy to get.  The other four options can only be purchased
in a licensed pharmacy. Ibuprofen is sold only by prescription (bring
your own if you visit, ladies), condoms are over the counter, don't
know what the rules are for syringes. The pharmacies (as represented
by some sort of trade association) managed to persuade the courts that
people shouldn't be able to buy a dangerous medication like Vitamin C
unless a licensed pharmacist was available to "counsel" them. (No word
on what sort of how-to-use advice you can get with the condoms --
sorry, Markian.)  Pharmacists here are quite used to people coming
into their shops and showing off their sore throats, loosening
articles of clothing to show off rashes, etc., all to get advice and
recommendations. About all you can get in supermarkets is bandaids and
rubbing alcohol; the CVS-type combination pharmacy and market is
unknown here. 

}4. Class the following objects into two groups -- those you can, and
}those you cannot, see in French TV commercials.

        CAN SEE ON FTV                        CAN'T SEE ON FTV

                                                beer

Nope. In France, land o the most liberal alcohol laws in the world
(served at 16, _no_ age limit on in-store purchase) even canary-piss
budweiser wouldn't make it on the screen. 

        breasts

You bet! Even in the daytime, there are soap commercials that would
remind you of 2 Live Crew videos, and after about 10PM, there are
frequently soft-core films which run just a bit tamer than Basic
Instinct.

                                                condoms

There are relatively good public service AIDS ads, but you don't see
the little whitefish themselves.

                                                crash tests

For some reason, there is a widespread fear that seeing crash test
dummies undergo collisions during a commercial might harm young minds.
In France, _all_ commercial breaks (not just the ones during saturday
morning cartoons) must be preceded and followed by little "here are
the commercials" video clips -- just having someone say "back after
this" doesn't cut it. And during the 8-o'clock news, we can see bodies
mangled and torn in UYugoslavia, with no worry about impressionable
young minds, because after all it's real people and not doll-like
crash test dummies.

        diet aids

Yep. Slimfast has hit France.

                                                politicians


Only during newscasts, which might include staged debates between
representatives on opposite sides of an issue. But political
commercials are forbidden.  Billboards are the most visible means of
rallying people to a cause.


}5. Which of the following is (are) _not_ stations in the Parisian
}metro system? (Names have been translated)

}Invalids, Stalingrad, Eiffel Tower, Good News, Jewtown, Franklin D.
}Roosevelt, The Mute, The Kremlin, Pyramids

The Best answer is Eiffel Tower. There is a stop called "The Field of
Mars-Eiffel Tower" but I believe it was originally just "The Field of
Mars" (because it was the practice field for the military school);
then they lengthened the name because the locals were sick of being
asked which metro stop for the Eiffel Tower. "The Kremlin" also occurs
in a double name (as Le Kremlin-Bicetre) but in this case, it's first.
"Stalingrad" may not be around too much longer -- Already, the street
in Paris that was named "Leningrad" was changed (back?) to "St.
Petersbourg", so I would imagine that they'd get to work on Stalingrad
too.




-- 
--greg                                     greg@phoenix.princeton.edu

"Excuse me, but I created alt.sewing, and participated in the move to
rec.crafts.textiles."        --sloane@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Bob Sloane) 
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