Rude de chez rude adj. composé [rudəʃerud]

very impolite; très impoli(e)

etiquette & étiquette

in English the word etiquette is most commonly used in the sense “system of rules and conventions that regulate social and professional behaviour”‘. Proper etiquette is associated with polite society, good breeding etc.

Interestingly enough, even though English borrowed this word from French, the most common sense associated with the word étiquette in modern French is “petit morceau de papier fixé à un objet pour en indiquer la nature, éventuellement le prix etc”; ” little piece of paper attached to an object to indicate its nature, price etc.”.

I could explain to you what happened to the words etiquette and étiquette (how a Germanic word basically meaning “to stick, to pierce” was borrowed by Picard then Old French and was used to describe a type of sign stuck into the ground to indicate a type of goal in certain games, then went on to describe a small written thing, and eventually the behavior of the royal court, then good manners in general, etc.), but I am not able to describe what actually happened to French people’s interpretation of polite etiquette.

bonnes manières - good manners

“attitudes, gestes considérés comme la marque de la bienséance, du savoir-vivre” ; “attitudes, gestures which are considered as the mark of socially correct behavior”.

So even if French and English don’t share the prinicipal meaning of etiquette, good manners & bonnes manières seemed to be defined pretty similarly. So how is it that I am constantly bombarded by bad etiquette and even worse manners?

personal hygiene in public

Not once, not twice, but repeatedly, I have encountered people clipping their nails in public. Ceci n’est pas une blague -je t’ai vu, je t’ai entendu. I don’t know who raised these people or if they honestly do not believe this behavoir to be extremely rude (rude de chez rude); but this is just disgusting.

Se couper les ongles en public - cutting one’s nails in public

The latest instance of public nail clipping I encountered was on the bus yesterday. When I take the public transport, I expect to have some time to sit in peace and work. Yet thanks to Rudy McRuderson sitting across the aisle, I was forced to endure 20 minutes of public manicuring. I may be wrong in assuming that trimming your nails in public is rude in France, but I did notice that 2 different women looked around questioningly when they heard that awful sound of the clip, clip, clip of someone’s dirty fingernails falling to the floor of the bus.

After about 5 minutes, I caught the eye of the woman who was doing this, I don’t know how she managed to go that long without feeling my burning stare. I mouthed the words, ‘c’est impoli’ (that’s impolite). She looked at me, smiled in a devious manner, and stopped ; but continued staring at her nails, then started up again. She continued for 15 more minutes, avoiding the burning stares of new passengers getting on and hearing the clipping sound. The last 3 minutes of her route, she had no more nails to clip so she just played around with her nail cutter, making the clipping noise just to irritate people.

So for all of you public nail clippers out there, stop it. It is called personal hygiene for a reason, it’s personal and should not be done in public.