Les clichés ont la vie dure
July 21st, 2007Clichés have a long life. From this week’s New Yorker (7/23/07):
What strikes me as particularly good about this cartoon and its caption is that it manages to very efficiently combine two clichés: the French have lower standards of personal hygiene and are more at ease with the dirtiness, both literal and figurative, of sex.
The lower standard of hygiene cliché dates from the post-war period, I believe, when the French simply had much less indoor plumbing than, say, the Americans, and therefore (presumably) tended to wash less. (See Kristin Ross, Fast Cars, Clean Bodies)
As for the reference to sex, the cartoon seems to suggest that the couple have just had a sexual encounter and are now dressing to go to the movies (without showering). I don’t know how far back the Anglo-American notion that the French are more at ease with their bodies and with sex goes. It complements the “no sex please, we’re British” stereotype. It also fits into (Protestant) notions of Protestant austerity and Catholic debauchery. And one can go back to the 19th century, when Paris was a notably less prudish capital than London.
An intriguing linguistic clue to French and British attitudes to each others’ sexuality is contained in their respective terms for condoms. The British used to call condoms ”French letters”; the French still sometimes refer to them as “capotes anglaises.” In both cases what was until recently considered a dirty, shameful item is associated with the other country!
