I'm actually surprised I didn't get any comments yesterday, but I guess the story about the French president having a mistress didn't break early enough during the day.
I already know everybody in the company will have something to say about it and make smart comments. And I work in a very masculine environment so you can only imagine the type of jokes I'm going to get...
I actually love Irish humour. Irish people have this ability to laugh about anything and anyone, but it's nearly never intended in a bad way. They have this sort of self-deprecating sense of humour. I wish I could be as funny as that.
Maybe I'll be one day, but for the moment I am more the recipient than the instigator of the slagging. Being French is not easy when you're surrounded by Irish people. I've probably been called all the nicknames possibles: French frog, froggy, Kermit, petit filou, petit fromage... I heard plenty of jokes about croissants, baguettes, snails, frog legs, and horse meat ( especially last year with the horse meat scandal!). My colleagues keep saying " Sacrebleu" ( with the worst French accent possible) even if French people haven't used that word for more than 50 years... I've heard about Thierry Henry's hand ball against Ireland ( The World cup qualifier in 2009 if you're not familiar with football) for at least two months after the event...
But all of this is done in a very endearing way and I don't take offence at all. I know they like me (at least I hope so!) and it's just harmless banter, so I usually play along.
I used to work with a guy who would ask me nearly everyday: " So did you drink wine last night?". Well, that's not funny, that's just stupid. The worst thing is that he seemed so serious when saying it that I didn't know if it was a joke or not. And I suspect it wasn't.
I can take the slagging, but it has to be done the right way. So go ahead, I'm ready, and maybe I'll slag you back!
