How do you say “let’s get a grip” in French?
I am not really feeling personally offended or marginalized by this “boycott France” fad, although if someone still wants to send me a big pile of money, that would be okay.
That being said, I don’t like it. During the First World War, some Americans really did attack other Americans of German descent, and there really were absurd excesses of “patriotism” that brought us “liberty cabbage” as the new patriotic way to say “sauerkraut.” And we all know what happened to Americans of Japanese descent the second time around.
Right now, the “boycott France” idea seems to be closely associated with radio stations and talk-show hosts, who will toss any idea around — no matter how inane or irresponsible — to get people worked up, tuning in, calling in, and driving up ratings. What annoys me is the assumption that if a nation’s government doesn’t agree with ours, we should get back at them: “Nanny nanny boo boo! I won’t buy my wine from you!”
Let’s save it for when if we uncover other, less… noble reasons for France and Germany’s oppostion to military intervention in Iraq.