frenchkiss

From Delores, "I hold this grudge, and honestly in my heart, believe we all should. Never let them, or any other country we have given so much to help, disregard our country again, especially when we ask for help."

Allrighty then Delores, my sentiments exactly. No doubt france was/is/will continue to be our favorite whipping boy, as well deserved. Not that other countries don't have theirs coming ... gotta start somewhere.

By now everyone's seen the same old jokes* - no need to include here. However, the graphic is new, first time published on a page and it's free for the taking (thanks Becky). Do the right click thing to save for sending around - better yet, send the whole page. Have fun!

*Any fresh, particularly imaginative material is welcome: MarthaJones1@aol.com - (a certain degree of crude is OK, see end of page).

Please use french kiss/bash as subject line. Due to junk volume and virus threats, unknowns will be deleted.

Comments are invited too. Plenty of "Love it"s have already arrived, feel free to expand on your feelings. Include how you'd like to be credited - a pen name is fine if using your real identity would cause any problems. I'm the only one who needs to know who you are.

What I don't want and won't publish is whining or armchair judgement. The following is posted on http://www.therealmartha.com/Thanks_USA/index.htm - makes more sense on that page but it gets the general drift across.

Possibly you've noticed the "incorrect" use of caps in a few spots above (also a few below). Ordinarily I fix that sort of thing, and punctuation, grammar, incomplete or run-on sentences, whatever. Almost no one but editors actually care(s) anyway, that is, if they're paying attention in the first place (NY Times slam #2).

Back to the point ... enthusiastic cheer caps as well as the down-caps showing disdain for iraq and france were personal expressions, left as is on purpose. I have no advertisers, no publisher - only me to please - that's my prerogative, real liberty and most valuable freedom. The purpose here is not defense of foreign policy. Nor is it about magnifying differences and/or promoting possible misunderstandings due to language barriers. While I do appreciate those who have taken the time to communicate in English, I see no good in publishing USA-negative opinions. Certain observations and comments may be well founded, I simply can not advocate suggestions to reshape "management" - my knowledge of world politics is sorely limited.

If that sounds blindly Pollyanna-ish, put your mouth on a page. Reminders included on more than a few WAR* pages (and above) should serve as overall recommended guidelines. One more time ... do not believe everything you hear or see. The media, each and every form, far more often than not, is flat full of crap. Bad news sells, be it real, blown out of proportion or figments of twisted imagination.

http://www.therealmartha.com/WAR/index.htm
The Whispering Activist Record
Opinions and support ideas - mine and from others - that everyone can use to get involved, make a difference and lighten the load. Find hoax busters, media hype alerts, timely info, controversy, common sense, commiseration and empathy as well as household tips, easy recipes, critter stuff and variety links with a touch of humor along the way.

Sure liked the pic better than most french bashing sites. The frogs have any and all they get coming to them. Assholes. ~ Paul

I can understand the sentiments of the American people and expect that some of that comes our way too.

Our Canadian Prime Minister (Cretien .. the name comes so close to another, rather fitting, moniker) gives new meaning to the phrase 'talking out of the side of your mouth.'

My grandmother used to say that of people she didn't trust or felt were liars and tricksters, "Don't listen to him. He's talking out of the side of his mouth." Figuratively, of course.

I don't know if you've seen our P.M. speaking but he appears to be talking to someone beside him! It is irritating - even to us! And embarrassing! Compound that with the fence-sitting ... waiting 'til the dust settles to offer assistance and put our efforts into the community-for-peace ... and you have a wishy-washy, garble-talking excuse for a man who can't even speak to your face! ~ Sue W.

Love the new page, to be honest, the french serve great eggs, so many chickens to choose from, amazing those french, great army too, look at history. ~ Jan

Type french+boycott into search box at http://www.google.com/ for 132,000 more links. You will be surprised by some products listed.

After a recent week of words from law, where many of the words are of French origin, I received this email from a reader:

"I propose you no longer feature words which have a base or stem from the French language. I no longer see that as a positive e-mail."

In these times when emotions run high, it's understandable why someone would say that, why US lawmakers would rename French fries and French toast in their cafeteria menus. Or why a group of German professors think they need to exclude English terms from their vocabulary.

This is not the first time linguistic revisionism is being attempted. During World War I, in the US, some had tried to rename sauerkraut as "liberty cabbage" for example. But we're all so interconnected, as are our languages, that any such attempt quickly falls flat on its face.

"Freedom fries" they say? Well, there's still some French remaining, as the word fry comes from Old French frire. "Freedom toast"? What about toast which comes from Middle French toster. Thinking along these lines, we may even have to rename the US (from Old French estat). Estimates vary, but one-quarter or more of words in the English language have a French influence. In the two lines that the above-mentioned reader sent us, at least six words have French connections (propose, feature, base, language, positive, mail).

A language isn't owned by a country. French belongs as much to France as to Senegal or Canada or anyone else who speaks it.

-Anu
anu@wordsmith.org

Insouciant in-SOO-see-uhnt (adjective): Marked by carefree unconcern; nonchalant

Synonyms: easygoing, untroubled, light-hearted

From French: in-, not + souciant, caring.

gauche GOHSH (adjective): Lacking grace or tact in social situations

Synonyms: awkward, clumsy, tactless

From the French for left, awkward.

An American tourist in London found himself really needing to go. After a long search he just couldn't find any public bathroom to relieve himself. So he went down one of the side streets to take care of business. Just as he was unzipping, a London police officer showed up.

"Look here, old chap, what are you doing?" the officer asked.

"I'm sorry," the American replied, but I really gotta go."

"You can't do that here," the officer told him. "Look, follow me."

The police officer led him to a beautiful garden with lots of grass, pretty flowers, and manicured hedges. "Here, whiz away."

The American tourist shrugged, turned, unzipped, and started urinating on the flowers. "Ahhh," he said in relief. Then turning toward the officer, he said, "This is very nice of you. Is this British courtesy?"

"No," retorted the policeman. "It's the french embassy."

An officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve was attending a conference that included admirals from both the U.S. Navy and the french Navy.

At a cocktail reception, he found himself in a small group that included personnel from both navies. The French admiral started complaining that whereas Europeans learned many languages, Americans learned only English.

He then asked: "Why is it that we have to speak English in these conferences rather than you speak french?"

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied: "Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you would not have to speak german." The group became silent.

Help yourself here again ~ they're mine, meaning you won't see them everywhere ... yet.

An elderly American gentleman arrived in paris by plane. At french customs, he fumbled for his passport.

"You 'ave been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically. The old gent admitted that he had been to France previously.

"Zen, you should know enough to 'ave your passport ready for inspection."

The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."

"Impossible. You Americans alwayz 'ave to show your passports on arrival in france!"

The American senior gave the frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, "Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in '44, I couldn't find any **@&/%g frenchmen to show it to." ~ Thanks Ian

One this sort of roll gets started, it's kinda like the impossiblity of eating just one potato chip ~ these arrived with Cheers! from Nick.

As part of the entertainment at Euro Disneyworld (just outside paris), they used to set off firecrackers, but they had to stop.

The french army kept surrendering!

Why are so many roads in france lined with trees?

So the germans could march in the shade.