YES WE CAN!
On dogs, etc. One of my anglo neighbours had me laughing out loud this week. He had been really shocked at how rude and disrespectful someone in the french administration had been to him...surprise, surprise. He said, "Do you know why the french are so outrightly rude and why dogs lick their balls? Simply, because they can." After nearly 20 years living in France I have become somewhat immune to the french " attitude rude ." In fact I would go as far as to say it's not as bad as it once was. I remember being so shocked myself that I often couldn't reply. I then moved on to " bite back" mode, which got me nowhere fast. My way of dealing with this cultural difference now is to simply wrinkle my innocent forehead and say, " Excusez moi?"..feigning miscomprehension, needing repetition. This achieves 99% positive results - usually a smile and an explanation, even the odd apology. Rudeness repeated always weakens the offe...