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How much Poles trust to France? [130]
The French though and the Poles are almost entirely different as a people, in my experience!
First of all, the French have what has often been termed an ironic/"laissez-faire" view of life, quite in contrast to the more serious, impassioned, indeed almost dogged, world view of the Poles. The former have always been told that they're the belly button of the known universe, that they are perfect, classy, savvy, aesthetic and enviable in nearly any way one can think of. This being in stark contrast with the latter whose country had long been (UNFAIRLY!) labled by richer, more powerful neighbors a primitive backwater whose inhabitants were said to have been little more than stupid, lazy clodhoppers living at the far end of "civilized" Europe. Even Chopin has been claimed by the French for their ownLOL
That's scarcely a very happy head start in life now, is it. Furthermore, Catholicism has often been treated with a degree of nominal importance in France, frequently the but of jokes and spite by many a French writer, among them Flaubert. On the other hand, Poles would seem to treat their rock-ribbed Catholic faith with more seriousness than life itself, often crossing themselves in front of a church as a matter of rote whereas the French on average might not show such open religiosity.
Stereotypes as the above may well appear, every stereotype is based to a degree on the truth.
