With one of my conversation partners, we started in English. “Since we’re speaking English, I’m going to ask you all of the questions that an American would ask you, but a French person wouldn’t–where you’re from, what your job is…”
“Actually, French people ask each other those kinds of questions when they meet, too,” he replied. ” What we don’t ask each other about is families–you don’t talk about family with someone you don’t know well.”
Indeed, the French are, in general, far slower to talk about family than Americans are. And there’s one question that, I think more than any other, you don’t ask a French person: what did your family do during the war? If they want you to know, they’ll tell you. Uncle Jean-Paul was a fighter in the Resistance? It’ll get worked into the conversation. Mom got arrested by the Gestapo while she was pregnant with your big sister? It’ll come up without you asking. (I’ll tell you mine: one of my uncles was in the Resistance. According to another uncle’s autobiography, he was executed by the Germans, along with a bunch of his buddies. The uncle who survived to write an autobiography was in the Army, apparently mostly spending his time driving trucks and teaching boxing to the son of an Army officer who thought his kid was a bit effeminate and wanted him toughened up a bit.) Otherwise: don’t ask. Plenty of French resisted the Nazis, and plenty of those, like my uncle, paid with their lives. Others collaborated–the reason that the French government is not allowed to collect most demographic information today is that when the Germans told the Parisian police to go round up the Jews, they had no trouble finding them, because everyone’s religion was recorded in the local records. (Altogether, French people sent around 70,000 French Jewish fellow citizens to the death camps. (Wikipedia says 78,853.) Under 1,000 came back.) Most people just ate Jerusalem artichokes and rutabaga (cattle fodder otherwise) and tried to stay alive.
So, if you’re an American: someday your kids and your grand-kids are going to have questions. We’re not French, and we do ask about family. Your grand-kids are going to want to know what Grandma and Grandpa did during the Trump administration. Did you speak up? Did you collaborate? Did you just try to get along and let the refugees, the religious and racial minorities, and the people losing their health insurance worry about themselves? We’re not French–we do ask. Your grand-kids will. They’ll ask you.
English notes
to be in a world of shit: to be in a very bad situation. There are a number of shit-related expressions for describing the state of being in a bad situation–to be in deep shit, to be up shit creek without a paddle, and I imagine others that slip my mind at the moment. How it was used in the post: America is in a world of shit right now.
French notes
la Résistance intérieure: the Resistance within France. What we would call in English “the Resistance.”
la Résistance extérieure: the Free French forces operating out of London.
clandestin: clandestine, underground, secret.
la presse clandestine: the underground press. Putting out newspapers was a big move during the Nazi occupation–Germany took the press so seriously that in Germany the Nazi government killed intellectuals and writers who published underground anti-government writings. It was a difficult one, too–it was illegal to sell paper, ink, or stencils.
Zipf's Law 
A thing that is less asked about than family to new acquaintances is money for sure . In France money is dirty but fortunately sex is not 🙂
Nous vivons dans un monde de merde is a common opinion here too . If things go on every country will run out of shit pretty soon .
You should join the Resistance . The thing is, I often wonder how it is possible with Big Brother’s tools of now . Imagine Robin Hood, or the Maquis du Vercors in the 40s : how could they hide and survive with the bloody satellites and sci-fi stuff ? This childish question starts becoming a preoccupation for me . I like a nice piece of shit, but not so much overdoses .
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Plonked here in Grenoble for a few months le Resistance is at the front of my mind. Going to the little cinema almost next door and watching ‘Un Sac de Billes’ (highly recommended) made me chew on Trumpery, Brexiteering xenophobia and how close we are to the same again. IN Britain the children do ask and we do expect to answer … I’m not sure how easy many will find it to sugar the pill when the time comes ….
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Let’s forget all this fools’ madness . We’ll laugh when we’re dead, like everybody .
“Un sac de billes”, vraiment ? You must be THE Anglophone who watched this movie . Out of the madness, if you are into masterpieces with children, what about ” Les 400 coups” from Truffaut or rather “Zero de conduite” from the very young Anarchist genius Jean Vigo ?
Psst : “la” Résistance is feminine, wonder why … :confused:
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I don’t know how this is going to work with Big Brother watching us all, but I’ll sign up for this new Resistance right now.
My 9 year old grandson and I had a discussion about this subject just yesterday. He wants to know how Trump happened( and what happens next) and was keen to give me his Muslim classmates’ views on this.
He doesn’t know any Mexicans, but is empathising with their position too.
It’s a small glimmer of hope to me in these merde times that my children’s children already know this is wrong and want to know what the grown ups are going to do about it.
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I agree that they’ll ask. I’m less convinced that we’ve overcome all the bad stuff you list. We have a long way to go on racism (ask anyone who’s been arrested for driving while black).
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