I almost jumped out of my boots
... well, actually, out of my pretty tightly-laced running shoes.A man in front of a post office on Boulevard Raspail said 'Bonjour' to me.
OK that does not sound so exciting so we need some context.
I love running an experiment in places where I go. I wander around the streets, often visibly as a tourist, try to get eye contact with the locals out on the street, and greet them with whatever is the local greeting. I am very curious about how they respond.
And the answer is, generally, they respond to my smile and greeting with reciprocation, perhaps after a little surprise, perhaps because casual greetings are not common there. I have run this experiment in many places - the UK, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Singapore, China. Generally, people are surprised, but respond. (Perhaps it goes without saying that whenever I have done this in the US or Canada pretty well everyone responds.)
Paris is the first place where I had a new experience, turning the experiment into a total fiasco. I could not get initial eye contact! Parisians look everywhere but at oncoming humans. In a whole week I had NO opportunity to casually say 'Bonjour'.
I do not know what to make of this. Part of me thinks it may have something to do with the goofy stuff French philosophy produces - for example, "Hell is other people", which surely has to be a pretty bad way of starting out on your dealing with strangers. On the other hand, when I dealt with French people, they all seemed more or less reasonable, and were willing to look me in the facce.
Is it just context? Is it that uniquely in Paris, walking along the street is NOT a context in which one acknowledges some other person? But why is Paris unique?
I remain thankful to that man at the Post Office. He gave me hope even for Parisians. Hmm but maybe he was some weird foreigner running a Bonjour-saying experiment.
posted by Alan Adamson @ 6:41 AM
2 Comments:
I experienced something like this the year I lived in England, and people of that time are now some of my best and closest friends. But I think there is something else going on; I can get eye contact in London, and get the 'Good Morning' response. I did note in Paris that when the weather improved, people seemed a bit more vulnerable. I think more experiments are needed.
I disagree with Martin but on one point: Paris is different than the rest of France. However, I would not call it "reserve." I was invited into French people's homes almost immediately, but on the streets, indeed, there is a lack of eye contact. That's just Paris. I knew a lot of French people outside Paris who called it "coldness," though I'm not sure that's the word I would use. There is certainly a lack of "politesse" in Paris, that you don't see elsewhere in France. Whereas, in Japan, people will not only meet your eyes, (even in Tokyo), they will smile, say good morning, etc,...and yet, you could live there years and NEVER be invited into a Japanese home.
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