Parisians are twisted human beings.

Amongst other twists, Parisians cannot get enough of helpless self questionings. A very Parisian form of questioning is technically simple to decipher and therefore easy to reproduce for each Parisian in an awful number of situations : they start with a question about their lives, making sure they make it sound like they actually have absolutely no control about their lives (e.g ‘Why am I going out with them tomorrow night? or ‘Why do I stay in this company?’).

Then, this first question is always followed by a brutally critical appraisal that justifies the question and make the Parisian look better or deeper than others : e.g ‘Why am I going out with them tomorrow night, I’m so sick of them’ – ‘Why am I going out with them tomorrow night, I think I need something else in my life’ or ‘Why do I stay in this company, I’m underpaid’ or ‘Why do I stay in this company, I think I’m ready for a career change’.

A typically Parisian expression of this Parisian habit is, for every Parisian, when coming back from a weekend getaway or a vacation outside Paris, to always come back home to share with his friends: ˜Why on Earth are we living in Paris, this is ridiculous”.

Amongst other critical remarks about his hometown, the Parisian will systematically bitch about the nasty Parisian weather and how people here are so rude. In the meantime, the Parisian will never fail to remind you that in the South, the weather is gorgeous, real estate is cheaper, people are ˜so friendly’ and life is just way easier. Yet, very few Parisians will actually leave the city for more than a few days. To explain this phenomenon, some blame the lack of quality jobs in other areas of France, others claim that Parisians are ultimately just French and therefore complaint champions and noticeably change-adverse.

To understand Parisians, it is important to realize that such vacuous interrogations are a necessary part of Parisians’ psychological balance. Parisians are in constant need for some helpless interrogation (why I am alive?, why is grass green?, why is it raining?).

This questioning should always take the form of a real Parisian interrogation. Namely Why. How is not a relevant form of interrogation for Parisians. Asking themselves why gives Parisians a sense of self satisfaction: Parisians only ask themselves real questions, noble ones. A How question would lean towards vulgarity for it would actually drag Parisians into the real world and possibly into actual changes in their lives or perceptions.

Only real questioning matters to Parisians. To be a real Parisian, you just have to wonder why.

Useful tip: Venture outside Paris. Pure countryside is accessible only 30km outside le périphérique.
Sound like a Parisian: « C’est fou la différence de qualité de vie ».

Tags: living in paris, Paris

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 and is filed under Stuff Parisians Like. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.