Do you want to look like a Parisienne?

It is called je-ne-sais-quoi, the effortless elegance with which Parisiennes move through life. But despite the fact that the presence of the Française seems to hang together with well-packaged coincidences, there is indeed something of a recipe to somewhat approach that Parisienne.

1. Don't eat on the street
Unless it's the little end you broke off your baguette and want to test on the way home for the right crispiness on the outside and texture on the inside. But otherwise: no. For eating, you take time and attention. You don't hide that away while walking to metro 4 direction Bagneux.
Smoking, on the other hand, is a whole different story. You could almost say: go smoke and you will rise sharply in the Parisienne ranking. Vaping is indeed done here, but just like with bags and perfumes, Françaises swear by classics and therefore prefer a real cigarette over some chemical fake.

2. Don't be too enthusiastic
Are you soaring with happiness after eating the vanilla bourbon mille-feuille with salted butter caramel at Antonia in the courtyard of Le Bristol? Then you give the waiter-manager a nod and whisper that it was ‘pas mal’. Woe to your bones and everything around them if you start using American superlatives where you might even call upon the Lord. Mon dieu, jamais.

What is advisable to do instead:

1. Move in silence
Without wanting to cram whole populations into the same corner, you can still speak of a different national character. Italians have a lot of theater around them, in word and gesture, while the French go through life more whispering. They prefer to call with their hand on the receiver (if they still use an old-fashioned phone), they have earbuds in, and speak as softly as possible with the person on the other side. In the studio of the sports class, they wait neatly on their mat with their phone. They do not take up the whole space. Yes, maybe with their looks, but they can't help that.

2. Read a book
And preferably in the metro or, why not, while walking on one of the wide sidewalks. Of course, you read a French author and preferably a philosopher.

3. Dip your croissant in your café au lait
And then you probably don't have a croissant au beurre (the tastiest and more expensive), but an ordinary croissant. They are firmer and therefore dip better.

I'll just finish with a prohibition. You absolutely must not cut your croissant in half to put toppings on it. Faux pas. A croissant does not need toppings according to the French. At most a little butter, but you apply that to a piece of your croissant that you have broken off. Anyway, you are not going to eat that croissant completely, are you? What do you think? Those slender bodies don't just appear out of nowhere.

Do you find it all exaggerated fuss? Just head down to Italy, where they cut the croissant (which is called cornetto there) nicely in half and fill it generously with a quarter jar of Nutella.