French people have a reputation in america for being the ones who hate us, or at least thinking they are better than us. Statments like the one above this one by hibernian make them sound pompus and arrogant. It is a common rumor that they hate people who come to france and don't speak french, and they won't speak to you in english eventhough almost all of them could if they wanted to. They are beleived to be rude people. They are alledgedly hedonistic and i don't think this is the cause of envy but disgust as we are a country founded by christians and quakers. We (americans) have helped the french whenever they have asked, and they always do because they are very weak in matters of millitary, they always either surrender or refuse to fight. We saved them from the germans in world war 1, and again in world war 2, and we even fought and lost in vietnam just because they asked us to, but when we asked them to aid us in iraq they refused. This may be because of the huge muslim population in france, it is commonly believed that this is where criminal muslems and terrorist flee to for protection a.K.A. France harbors terrorist. This may be because they don't support american ideas such as democracy and capatalism as much as they do ideas like communism or even anarchy. Last and the least concerning is a common beleife that the french don't bath often or wear deodorant but rather they stink and drench themselves in cologne to cover the smell, which just makes them end up smelling worse in the end. I don't know how much of these stereotypes are true but i do beleive that that should answere your question.