Incompatibilities

Obviously, during the course of my everyday life here in Paris, I cannot help but compare all the little differences between here and the U.S. From a global perspective, life is probably not all that different between the two countries--the difference between Botswana and the U.S. is far more evident than the different between France and the U.S., for instance. But nevertheless there are differences above and beyond the simple fact of language. And although many of these differences contribute to the subtle charm of the French way of life, some of them are, quite frankly, annoying.

Take, for instance, paper. The 8 1/2" x 11" printer paper that is the standard in the U.S. is replaced by the A4 (210 x 297 mm) size in France (and, in fact, all of Europe). It's not simply a matter of metric conversion, either: the A4 paper is noticeably longer than our paper. Furthermore, instead of using a "3-hole punch" to store their paper in folders--they use a "2-hole punch" (or sometimes they double it up to make it four holes in the margin of the paper). I was really annoyed when I realized I had to buy a new hole puncher upon moving here just to store my papers in folders. Realize that I'm not passing judgement on the superiority of American or European paper--I'm just annoyed that they are different! Couldn't the world just decide to adopt one system or the other?! Is there anybody that benefits from this inane compatibility?!

Other incompatibilities that are also annoyingly different between the two cultures: electrical current (I've already lost one major technologic appliance--my computer--when I forgot and plugged the computer directly into the wall instead of into the power converter), DVDs (French DVDs don't work on American DVD players and vice versa--totally annoying), and the convention of date format (e.g., my birthday is 12-08-73 at home but 08-12-73 in Europe...there is no good reason for this and it confuses the hell out of me sometimes). I could also think about putting the metric system into this list, but the fact that America is obviously in the wrong for not adopting this clearly superior system makes it a little different from the rest, which in my opinion are instances of differences just to be different.

French for the Day: the phrase "draguer les femmes" means "to hit on women."

Link of the Day: Check out this awesome preview for The Grindhouse--a double feature of the film "Planet Terror" and Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof." I can't wait.