THE BEHAVIOURAL IDIOSYNCRACIES OF EUROPEANS, ESPECIALLY MALES

There is an ongoing and fascinating discussion between me and my friends (of various nationalities) about the eccentricities of the different European nations, especially the boys. Naturally we are making sweeping generalisations in our musings, and I really do apologise to anyone who might be offended, but so far we have come up with these conclusions: English men generally don’t have a clue how to behave with women, they are either Hugh Grant, foppish types i.e. too damn polite, or they are drunken hooligans, in any case: they are a bit odd; the Germans are VERY organised and efficient, not great romancers but very good at engaging in meaningful philosophical debates; the French are very romantic and know how to treat a girl, even if they do argue about EVERYTHING and look you up and down as if assessing a work of art and they must have everything on their own terms; the Spanish are very passionate and loud and try to beat you into accepting their convictions and they don’t hurry themselves to do things; the Italians are usually very self-assured and nicely dressed but complete charmers and they call you ‘bella’ at every opportunity even when you are blatantly not looking your most bella; the Portuguese, according to one of my friends are perfect in almost every way: real linguists, charming, easy, unpretentious, very polite and she isn’t Portuguese; okay the Australians are not in Europe but there are a lot of them about and they are not shy about telling you what they think about everything, they don’t know the word ‘subtle’ but they are huge fun and know how to have a good time (and they are usually good at rugby). As I said, an ongoing discussion .....