Smokers are smarter, I say.

In article
Ken Blake wrote:

On Tue, 11 Apr 2017 12:01:03 -0700, Snit
wrote:

The idea the
French hate Americans is not at all true overall... they hate STUPID
Americans who think if you speak English slowly and loudly everyone will
understand.


I've been in France eight or nine times. I agree--the French don't
hate Americans. But in Paris, if you try to speak to someone and ask a
question in English or in French with a heavy English accent, you may
find that they have no time to try to help you.

That's because Paris is a big city, and typically in a big city,
people are in a hurry. The same thing is true of big cities in the US,
such as New York. Someone who doesn't speak English or speaks with a
heavy foreign accent is likely to get the same result.

Reminds me of a story. The first time we went to Paris, I had written
down on a piece of paper, in French "My name is Mr. Blake and I have
a reservation in your hotel." On the flight, I took it out my pocket
umpteen times until I had it strongly memorized.

In the morning we arrived at the hotel, and I went to the desk and
said "Je m'appel Monsieur Blake et..."

The clerk replied "blubllubblublubbl" and I stood there with my mouth
hanging open. Dummy that I was, it didn't occur to me that he would
reply in French and I would need to understand what he said.

He repeated "blubllubblublubbl" and I still didn't know what to say or
do.

So he answered me one more time: "Yes, and how long will you be
staying with us, Mr Blake." He was very patient with me--more patient
than I deserved.