It’s In Our Nature

Being French has always been in vogue.  Slap a couple of accent marks on something like an Olay bodywash and suddenly you’re paying $2 more for perceived luxury.  What do we call high fashion?  Haute Couture.  The best, most luxurious cut of steak?  Filet mignon.  The best type of kiss?  The French kiss.  You get the idea.  We just can’t help but think that the French are just un petit cut above the rest.

While we may over-romanticize France, I was not disappointed when I visited France last winter.  Thus, it seems that everyone I know is equipped with this bizarre, overly-romanticized fantasy (or fear, depending on your side of the aisle) about the most luxurious brand of man: the Frenchmen.  The polished, handsome man who nonchalantly sweeps us off our feet and leaves us captivated and hanging on every word.  The man who models the very idea of perfection.

I, too, am afflicted with this fantasy, and it was not allayed when I became friends with a Frenchman this summer who, accidentally (he was not of my inclination, after all), had me fascinated and transfixed whenever he spoke.  Was it the French accent?  Was it that he-like all Frenchmen-are acutely aware of exactly what to wear to bring out that certain je ne sais quoi?  Was it the tales of exotic travels and seemingly impossible adventures that were brushed off as almost too common and passé for him to mention?

Who knows…but least we have company.  I discovered today that we humans are not alone in our love for the French. Yeboeh, a 12-year old French gorilla is being transferred from Paris–the city of love–to a zoo in England.  The three female gorillas in England, who have been rendered widows after the death of their silverback last December, were shown a poster of the Frenchie who may, just may, sweep them off their hairy feet.  Their reaction upon being given the poster of their soon-to-be beau?  CNN reports:

“One female gorilla shrieked in delight, while another wedged the poster in a tree to stare at it.  A third, clearly overcome by emotion, held the photo close to her chest — then ate it.”

So maybe it’s just part of who we are.  Thousands, even millions of years of evolution can’t stop us.  We just love to love the French.  C’est la vie.