October 2008
01
Stereotypes Are Not Always a Bad Thing
Anyone who has never seen in their mind's eye the chauvinistic Frenchman running around with his béret and his baguette (and the occasional stinky camembert and bottle of red wine) when they thought about the French and anyone who has never 
04
Why the French Don't Speak Any Other Language
Now here is a commonplace. I believe I have heard this a million times. The French are terrible, they won't ever speak to you in English or any other language and if you address them in English, they'll be very unpolite and unfriendly. I
06
Of Values and Grades
A few days ago, as I was surfing along the message board The Local, I ended up on this survey (which I can't take, cos I'm too old, *pout*). So I browsed the different questionnaires, to see. One thing struck me about the value scales (1 to
08
The Bowl Theory
I'm being lazy today, and I am just translating an article I wrote quite some time ago on my other (dead) blog, which explores the way words are interpreted with a cultural filter. The full title for this post was The Bowl Theory, or The
15
Trick Question: Where Do You Come From?
I arrived yesterday afternoon in sunny Lisbon, Portugal for the Shift Conference where I am giving a talk. Lisbon, for what I have seen so far (the modern part), is a very beautiful city and I'm already loving it. As I arrived, I joined up
29
Immigrants, What Countries Are Importing People?
It's interesting to see how people are migrating across the globe. I came across this map thanks to Alexandra while we were socializing at the Frankfurt Girl Geek Dinner. International immigrants The size of each territory indicates the