美国人的讨论:那些辱法的笑话都是从哪里来的?
2022-03-12 yzy86 15438
正文翻译

I sometimes come across jokes Americans do about the French army, on how the French will surrender quickly in a war, etc. That is not common at all in Europe.
Being a bit of a military history buff, I wonder where this comes from: is it only related to the surrender of the French Army in 1940 ? or to another event in history ? Any idea when they appeared ? Is the stereotype about French surrenders still a "serious" opinion among Americans nowadays ?
Note: I am not French myself.

(比利时人)我时不时会听到美国人编的针对法国军队的笑话,说的是法国人往往会在一场战争中迅速投降,诸如此类。而这种笑话在欧洲并不常见。
我也算是个军史爱好者,我很想知道这些笑话的出处:只是因为法国军队在1940年投降了吗?还是和另一个历史事件有关?有人知道它们是在什么时候出现的吗?,今天的美国人当真抱持着 “法国人爱投降”这种成见吗?
注:我不是法国人。

评论翻译
WarHawk920
Pretty common in the UK

在英国相当常见。

CupBeEmpty
Anyone that knows history doesn’t believe this.
It became a trope after WWII because France so quickly got steamrolled by Germany. It’s mostly just a joke and not a really educated belief.

(美)任何了解历史的人都不会信这个。
这在二战后成为了一种比喻,因为法国在很短的时间内就被德国碾碎了。很大程度上只是一个笑话,不算是一个受过良好教育后形成的观念。

If you know history you know that our Revolution was bought with French money and blood. Anyone with half a brain should be thanking God for Lafayette, de Grasse and Louis XVI. There is historical irony that our Republic was paid for in part by an absolute monarch and we repaid him by exporting Revolution to his country and it ended with Madame La Guillotine for him and his wife.
The French Revolution was fucked up and we should be glad ours never went down that road.

如果你了解历史,你就会明白我们(美国)的革命是用法国的钱和血换来的。有半颗脑袋的人都该为拉法耶特侯爵、德格拉斯和路易十六而感谢上帝。极富历史讽刺意味的是,我们的共和国有一部分是由一个彻头彻尾的君主买单的,而我们是怎么报答他的呢?我们向他的国家输出了革命,最后他和他的妻子被送上了断头台。
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The French are our oldest ally.

(回,华盛顿州)法国人是我们年头最早的的盟友。

I'm not saying they aren't an ally, but it's not like we've always been friends. The US and France have had wildly different interests before that put them into conflict.

(回)我倒不是说他们不是盟友,但我们并不总是朋友。从前美国和法国的利益分歧还是相当大的,曾一路推着他们走向冲突。
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Yep - having cultural ties with France, I think this is something totally forgotten from the French side nowadays unfortunately. I was wondering if those French army jokes might have been lixed to a event in the US revolution where Lafayette's troops performed poorly, but I guess that is not the case then.

(回)是的,在文化上和法国有联系,但不幸的是,我觉得法国那边如今是完全遗忘了这一点。我寻思,那些法国军队的笑话有没有可能和美国革命中拉法耶特侯爵部队的糟糕表现有关?但我猜,当时还不是现在这种情况。



(译注:拉法耶特侯爵(1757-1834)即吉尔贝·迪莫捷,曾代表法国参加美国独立战争,在约克镇一役中击败英军)

No.
Lafayette was a hero to the US. We honor him in a thousand place names for cities, towns, roads, mountains, etc., etc.

(回,美)对美国来说,拉法耶特侯爵是英雄。我们有成千个地名(城市、村镇、道路、山脉等等)都以他为名,以此来纪念他。

His influence in France and his own personal fortune was instrumental in ending our Revolutionary war. If anyone says anything bad about Lafayette they are ignorant of history. He was a good man and did all he could for the US and France.

他在法国的影响力和他个人的财富,对于终结我们的革命战争起到了重要作用。如果有人说拉法耶特侯爵的坏话,那他就是对历史一无所知。他是个高尚的人,为美国和法国做了他能做的一切。

When the US expeditionary force arrived in France in WWI General Pershing and Colonel Stanton visited Lafayettes grave in Paris and Stanton famously said “Lafayette we are here.”
His grave is in Paris but the soil he’s buried in was sent from Bunker Hill.

一战期间,当美国远征军抵达法国时,潘兴将军和斯坦顿中校造访了拉法耶特侯爵在巴黎的坟墓,当时斯坦顿说出了那句著名的话:“拉法耶特侯爵,我们来了!”
他的坟墓在巴黎,但埋他尸骨的土是从邦克山运来的。
(译注:邦克山战役是美国独立战争期间的第一场大规模战役,坐标波士顿)

absolutely not. the "french surrender" jokes mostly come from WWII. Lafayette is a national hero in the US.

(回)绝对不是。“法国人爱投降”系列笑话大都源于二战。在美国,拉法耶特侯爵可是国家英雄。

and a total loser in france

(回)而在法国则是一个彻头彻尾的失败者

lannister80
I thought it was pro-Allies propaganda. France got smashed so fast that the Allies wanted to paint France as weak/surrender-happy so it wouldn't scare the shit out of the rest of the Allies regarding Germany's strength.

(芝加哥)我认为,它们是出自亲盟军的宣传。由于法国在如此短的时间内被击溃,于是盟军希望能把法国描绘成软弱/乐于投降,这样,考虑到德国的实力,其他的盟军部队就不会被吓倒了。

gugudan
French surrender (twice) in the Napoleonic Wars
French surrender to Mexico in the 1860s
French surrender in the Franco - Prussian War in the 1870s
French surrender (and complicity in rounding up Jews) in WWII
French surrender and withdrawal in French Indochina

法国在拿破仑战争中投降(两次)。
19世纪60年代,法国向墨西哥投降
19世纪70年代,法国在普法战争中投降
法国在二战中投降(也是围捕犹太人的共犯)。
法国在法属印度支那投降,并撤退

Give France some slack, it took part to the most wars in History, of course there were struggles and moments of weakness on the way. It still won more battles than any other country.
France’s most glorious military era is part of the past, but still to this day, its army is the most powerful one in the EU.

(回,法国)各位就放过法国吧,该国参加的战争数可是历史上最多的,当然了,在此过程中也有过艰困和软弱的时刻。但赢下来的战役还是比其他任何国家都多的。
法国最辉煌的军事时代已经过去,可是直到今天,其军队仍然是欧盟中最强大的。

Yeah, but there is a pretty pronounced difference between the successes of the KINGDOM of France and the REPUBLIC of France: Waterloo, Quasi-war, Haiti, Mexico (twice), Franco-Prussian War, Indochina, Suez Canal, Algeria, etc. I mean, the Republic often lacks unity: French Revolution, Vichy-Free France split, Fourth Republic collapse, 1968 Student Protests, 2005 riots, Yellow Vest protests, etc.

(回)是的,但法兰西帝国的成功和法兰西共和国还是存在相当显著的差别。滑铁卢之战,美法准战争,海地,墨西哥(两次),普法战争,印度支那,苏伊士运河,阿尔及利亚,等等。我的意思是,共和国往往都不团结。法国大革命、维希法国-自由法国的分裂、第四共和国的崩溃、1968年学生抗议、2005年暴乱、黄背心抗议等。

Neo-Turgor
Hm, I think they are pretty common in Europe.
"Woran erkennt man einen französischen Panzer? Er hat einen Vor- und fünf Rückwärtsgänge."

(欧盟)额,我觉得这类笑话在欧洲也是相当常见的,比如:
“怎样才能辨认出法国坦克?它只有一个前进档,却有五个倒车档”(德语)

And why does it have one forward gear? In case it’s attacked from the rear xD

(回)那为什么只有一个前进档呢?为防它被从身后袭击呵呵

They’re known in the UK as well. I’m in Australia, and I’ve heard it here, too.
It’s an idiotic, lame joke based on ignorance, but it’s not uniquely American.
I’ve heard French people blame Americans for it, but then I’ve heard French people blame Americans for everything. :-)

(回)这些笑话在英国也广为人知。我在澳大利亚,我在这里也听到过。
这是一个无知造成的白痴/蹩脚笑话,但并不是美国人独有的。
我听说法国人曾为此责怪美国人,但我还听说法国人在所有问题上都会责怪美国人。

ColossusOfChoads
You sometimes hear jokes about the Italian army in the States, but not as frequently.

在美国,你时不时会听到有关意大利军队的笑话,但不像法国笑话出现得那么高频。
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We didn't come into contact with the Italian army in WWI, Ernest Hemingway aside. So we mostly know nothing about their experiences with that. When we invaded Italy during WWII, they actually fought better than we expected. Although a lot of that was geography: all those mountains and river crossings.

除了海明威,我们在一战中没有接触过意大利军队。所以我们大多对他们那段经历一无所知。当我们在二战期间侵入意大利时,他们的战斗力其实超出了我们的预期。虽然这在很大程度上是因为地理因素:大量的山脉和河流交错其间。

If there was a stereotype of Italian forces from those times, it was that their soldiers were brave to the point of madness but their officer corps was complete trash. (Although I believe the soldiers were already fairly demoralized by the time we sailed from North Africa.) In other words, it was a lack of competence rather than a lack of heroism.

如果说我们对那个时代的意大利军队有什么刻板印象的话,那就是他们的士兵勇敢到了疯狂的地步,但他们的军官群体却完全是垃圾。(虽然我相信,我们从北非启航时,士兵们的士气已经相当低落了)。换句话说,他们是能力不济,并不是缺乏英雄主义。

Although there's also the somewhat positive stereotype of all the rank-and-file guys who didn't really buy into that fascism shit, and who therefore were always scheming to stay alive so that they could make it back home. (In America, a stereotype of Italians is that they are very good at surviving by their wits and charm.) I have seen this in American and also in Italian movies about the WWII era.

虽然也存在一些正面的刻板印象,即所有的普通士兵并不是真的相信法西斯那一套,因此,他们总是在背地里琢磨如何保全自己的性命,这样他们就能回家了。(在美国,对意大利人的一个刻板印象就是,他们很擅长靠自己的机智和魅力生存。) 我在美国人中,以及意大利的二战题材电影中都看到过这种现象。

larch303
I mean, to be fair, you maybe hear like three French army jokes per year to begin with. It’s not a common topic of conversation

公平地讲,你每年听到的法国军队笑话可能只有三个。在谈话中,这可不是什么常见的话题。

LOB90
My grandpa used to say:
"Marschieren im Avanti - Schritt: Einen vor und zwei zurück."

以前我爷爷经常说:
“齐步走:进一步,退两步。”

7thAndGreenhill
There was an interesting part in the end of the Band of Brothers book where they talked about how members of Easy Company felt about the citizens of the countries they “visited”.

在《兄弟连》原著的结尾处有一段很有趣的内容,他们谈到了E连士兵对于他们“造访”国家的公民的感受。
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The impression of French citizens was not favorable. While the German citizens would be out cleaning up the streets after an air raid, the French needed someone to tell them what to do.
The book is quite clear that Easy Company felt we had the most in common with Germany compared to our British and French allies.

对法国人的印象并不好。在空袭后,德国人会自动出来清理街道,而法国人则需要有人告诉他们该怎么做。
这本书中说得很明确,E连觉得,相比于英国和法国盟友,我们和德国人的共同点最多。

So while the joke is inaccurate, I think many American servicemen in WWII came home with an unfavorable view of the French and that continues to color our opinions.

所以,虽然这个笑话并不准确,但我认为二战时期的很多美国军人在回家后,对法国人的看法是负面的,而这也继续影响着我们的看法。

ColossusOfChoads
Yes, it is. We Americans have a very short historical memory, especially when it comes to events that happened on the other side of the ocean. As the saying goes, 100 miles to an Englishman is a long way, and 100 years to an American is a long time.

是的。我们美国人的历史记忆非常短,在涉及发生在大洋彼岸的事件时就更是如此了。俗话说,对英国人来说,一百英里就是很长的路了,而对美国人来说,一百年就是很长的时间了。

With that said, any American who can call themselves a military history buff with a straight face will know about France's glorious military history. A few embarassing incidents such as the Franco-Prussian War or 1940 aside, of course. And it's not like we don't have our share of black eyes when it comes to our own military history.

话虽如此,任何能面无表情地自称军事历史爱好者的美国人都很清楚法国辉煌的军事史。当然了,一些让人难堪的事件除外,比如普法战争或1940年的事。而说到我们自己的军事史,我们也并不是没有过被揍得鼻青脸肿的时候。
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Part of that Gallic glory involved supporting us during our own Revolution. It's quite probable that the British would have spanked us were it not for that.

高卢鸡的一部分荣耀,涉及到在我们自己的革命期间支持我们。如果不是他们的支持,英国人很有可能会打我们的屁股。

BillyBlumpkin
It’s just that - a joke. The French are long term Allies, but are pretty obnoxious, so we’re really just giving them shit. It’s funny but not meant to be really ‘mean’.

这不过就是一个笑话。法国人是长期的盟友,但相当讨人厌,所以我们真的只是在羞辱他们。这还挺搞笑的,但并不意味着我们是真的在 "刻薄"他们。

mobyhead1
It’s a joke. It was further popularized on the television series The Simpsons when the school’s irascible Scottish groundskeeper, Willie, referred to the French as “cheese-eating surrender monkeys.” Also, for a time, the top result on Google when one searched for “French military victories” would be “Did you mean French military defeats?”

(俄勒冈州)这是个笑话。然后在电视剧《辛普森一家》中得到了进一步的推广,剧中,学校里脾气暴躁的苏格兰管理员威利,把法国人称为“吃奶酪的投降猴子”。此外,当人们在谷歌上搜索“法国打的胜仗”时,排名第一的结果一度是“你指的是法国打的败仗吧?”

DrGeraldBaskums
France had a pretty poor strategy of defending itself in WW2, which lead to its surrender in only a few weeks. It was pretty embarrassing given how powerful an army they had.
These jokes regained popularity with them refusing to back the Iraq War in 2003.

法国在二战中的自卫策略相当烂,这也导致其在短短几周内就投降了。鉴于他们的陆军之强,这是很让人难堪的。
这些笑话随着他们在2003年拒绝支持伊拉克战争而重新获得了人气。

People seem to forget WWI wasn’t long before WWII. France lost 1,400,000 men and 4,200,000 were wounded and 300,000 went missing. It’s the country that got the most casualties after Russia among allies. It was nicknamed “La Der des Der”, short for “la dernière des dernières”, which means “the last one of the last ones (wars)”, because of how destructive and exhausting it had been, it was too much for people. And then, only 21 years later, second round, when the country had barely recovered. France’s military conditions weren’t ideal for an easy win, no.
France took part to more wars than any other country, its military History being reduced to WWII in people’s mind is really frustrating.

(回,法国)人们似乎忘记了一战和二战的时间间隔是很短的。法国在一战中阵亡了140万名士兵,420万名士兵受伤,30万名士兵失踪。是盟国中伤亡人数仅次于俄国的国家。这场战争还有个绰号,“La Der des Der”,为“la dernière des dernières”的简称,意思是“最后的最后",因其毁灭性和倾尽全力的程度实在让人民难以承受。然而,仅仅21年后,第二轮又来了,当时的国家还只是勉强恢复了而已。法国的军力条件并不理想,不可能轻易取胜。
法国参加的战争比其他任何国家都多,可是在世人心目中,她的军事历史却被一个二战就归纳了,实在是让人懊恼啊。

coercedaccount2
It's just about the WW2 thing. It's actually quit unfair but many jokes are. France, historically, has been a great military culture but Americans' memory doesn't go back that far.

只是因为二战中的那些事。这其实是很不公平的,但很多笑话都做不到公平。法国在历史上一直都是一个伟大的军事文化,但美国人的记忆回溯不了那么远。

MyUsername2459
Yes, it's a reference to the surrender of the French in 1940, and the perception they surrendered quickly and did not fight back against the Nazis because they'd rather surrender than see Paris harmed by warfare. That's the vast majority of what those jokes reference.

(肯塔基州)是的,它指的是1940年法国人的投降,以及这样一种认知:他们迅速投降,也没有对纳粹进行反击,是因为他们宁愿投降,也不愿看到巴黎被战争破害。这就是那些笑话指向的绝大部分内容。

To a lesser extent it also refers to Charles De Gaulle withdrawing France from NATO in 1966 (and with it expelling US troops from France and kicking NATO Headquarters out of France), the French refusal to allow US aircraft attacking Libya to overly France in 1986, and their opposition to the war in Iraq in 2003.
That's where the remarks and jokes about French cowardice come from.

其次,是指戴高乐在1966年让法国退出北约(并随之将美国军队逐出法国,还将北约总部踢出了法国),法国在1986年拒绝让攻击利比亚的美国飞机飞越法国,以及他们在2003年反对伊拉克战争。
关于法国人是怂蛋的言论和笑话就是这么来的。

It is not a "serious" opinion of pretty much anyone in the US.
It's an old joke and old stereotype that last reared its head almost 20 years ago, and before that it had been obscure for a long time.

这谈不上是任何一个美国人的“认真”看法。
这是一个古老的笑话和刻板印象,最后一次抬头是在近20年前,而在此之前,它已经默默无闻很长时间了。

Current_Poster
I've heard the joke that the most successful French military actions were internal things like the Revolution or the Terror because, with both sides being French, there'd be a guaranteed French victory.

我听过这么一个笑话,说法国最成功的军事行动都是对内的,比如法国大革命,或是恐怖活动,因为双方都是法国人,这样就确保了胜利属于法国人。

GoingCSI
I think people generally think of France as a feminine country. Maybe just the language. Angry french people sound like they are happy

(田纳西州)我觉得,人们普遍都会把法国想成一个娘炮国家。也许只是体现在他们的语言上。法国人就算是动怒,听上去也是很开心的感觉。

HotSpicedChai
This isn’t about WW2. It’s about Vietnam. Americans held a lot of resentment toward France for their abandonment of America in Vietnam. Not only that, but after abandoning America, they then decided to try and get Nixon to cash out their US dollars they hoarded that were given to them by the United States to rebuild their country after WW2. They wanted to exchange the dollars for Gold from the United States Gold Standard. This led to Nixon getting rid of the Gold Standard in the US. Nixon is on tape asking what can the French can do if he doesn’t exchange the cash for gold? His treasurer says nothing really, Nixon says “fuck em” on tape.
Those events in turn led to an expansion of accusing the French of weakness by including WW2 in the jokes.

它和二战无关。而和越南有关。美国人对于法国在越南抛弃美国的行为怀恨在心。不仅如此,在抛弃美国之后,之后他们还决定要竭尽所能地让尼克松兑现他们囤积的美元,这些美元可是美国在二战后给他们重建国家用的。他们想把这些美元换成美国金本位制下的黄金。这也导致了尼克松抛弃了美国的金本位制度。尼克松在录音中问到,如果他拒绝把现金换成黄金,法国人能做什么?他的财务主管说,也做不出什么,于是尼克松就在录音中说“去他的吧”。
这些事件反过来又导致了指责法国人软弱的声浪扩大,方法就是把二战编入笑话。

inbigtreble30
Also- no joke- there was a period of time during the fur trade era in the American northeast/Canadian southeast that the French used a plain white flag. Not that it's the reason for the joke, but it is an entertaining coincidence.

(威斯康星州)还有件事,不是玩笑,在美国东北部/加拿大东南部的毛皮(译注:以海狸为主)贸易时代,有段时间法国人使用的是全白的旗帜。倒不是说这是出现那些笑话的原因,但这是一个很逗的巧合。

The plain white flag was the French king's flag before 1789.

(回)在1789年以前,法兰西皇帝的旗帜就是全白色的。

igenus44
The joke continued because of the pretentiousness of the French toward Americans. Being that many Americans are of British descent, the animosity towards the French is deeply and ancestrally rooted.

这个笑话能绵延下去,是因为法国人面对美国人时的自命不凡。由于有很多美国人都是英国人的后裔,这种对法国人的敌意不仅根深蒂固,而且是祖传的。

_pamelab
A personal favorite of this Francophile:
WWII era French rifle for sale. Never fired. Dropped once.

我这个法语区人个人的最爱是:
“出售二战时期的法国步枪。一次也没开过火。只在地上掉落过一次。”

mrspikemike
Everybody knows about the swiss army knife, but do are you familiar with the french army knife? It is just a corkscrew on one end and a small white flag on the other.

所有人都知道瑞士军刀,但你熟悉法国军刀吗?它的构造很简单,一头是螺旋形开瓶器,另一头是一面小白旗。

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