If you remember your Physics class from way back when, you'll surely remember the Second Law of Thermodynamics, right? In a nutshell, it says that entropy (or 'heat', 'useless energy', 'chaos') always increases in a closed system. If you blow cigarette smoke in the perfectly still air of an enclosed room, the smoke will dissipate - the molecules spread out to increase chaos as much as possible. In other words:
In New York's Soho neigborhood, sidewalks are narrow and full of people. And yet, somehow, order emerges from the chaos. People spontaneously walk on the right-hand side of the sidewalk, they cross each other like they would on the road, and they don't stop in the middle of "traffic" to light a cigarette, answer the phone, or look at a store's window. In Paris, all these rules fly out the window. If you walk towards someone on the sidewalk in Paris and you're both at the center of the sidewalk, there's an equal chance the person will step to the right or to the left. And a good chance they'll blow a puff of cigarette smoke exactly at the moment you do cross them. When exiting a building here, it is customary to just spring out - and not worry if you're going to step into someone's path.
People often say the French are rude, but I don't think that's accurate. The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. A Parisian will step on your toes, block your passage, blow smoke in your face, or bump into you, not because he hates you but because he just can't be bothered to care about you - too much work! A Parisian walking down the street is simply unaware of any other person on that street. Maybe they're missing a "civilization" gene - the one that makes you realize there are indeed people around you. So really, they're more aloof than rude. Not the most satisfying of excuses, to be sure...
In an isolated system, a process can occur only if it increases the total entropy [chaos] of the system.The French, ever the curious minds, subscribe to that one hundred percent, especially when they're walking on the sidewalk.
In New York's Soho neigborhood, sidewalks are narrow and full of people. And yet, somehow, order emerges from the chaos. People spontaneously walk on the right-hand side of the sidewalk, they cross each other like they would on the road, and they don't stop in the middle of "traffic" to light a cigarette, answer the phone, or look at a store's window. In Paris, all these rules fly out the window. If you walk towards someone on the sidewalk in Paris and you're both at the center of the sidewalk, there's an equal chance the person will step to the right or to the left. And a good chance they'll blow a puff of cigarette smoke exactly at the moment you do cross them. When exiting a building here, it is customary to just spring out - and not worry if you're going to step into someone's path.
People often say the French are rude, but I don't think that's accurate. The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. A Parisian will step on your toes, block your passage, blow smoke in your face, or bump into you, not because he hates you but because he just can't be bothered to care about you - too much work! A Parisian walking down the street is simply unaware of any other person on that street. Maybe they're missing a "civilization" gene - the one that makes you realize there are indeed people around you. So really, they're more aloof than rude. Not the most satisfying of excuses, to be sure...
Labels: france
)
