Recently I returned from a week and a half visiting Burgundy from the US (to learn more about the wines and especially thir recent vintages). In Burgundy and in Paris, talking to dozens of people about wine and food and other things, everyday things, I encountered persistent grace (and remarkable patience with my own limited French). I'm embarrassed to consider (for the Nth time) receptions awaiting a person with comparably limited English, visiting the US.
Going there on the 10-hour long-haul flight, my seat neighbor was an experienced French businessman with some years in the US. I asked him frankly, since I had not been in France lately, if I should expect to see anti-US prejudice. "Yes," he answered, "from stupid people." "As in the US, then," I replied. I did not encounter any such prejudice there (more the opposite, in the wine industry -- demonstrations of warmth and generosity toward people who had troubled to visit and learn from the wines and the winemakers' views). I did hear US pop music everywhere, and see Matt Damon ubiquitous on billboards for the latest US movie (no different from 1972 when the billboards in Paris showed a distinctive logo of a hand grasping marionette sticks and the title "Le Parrain," starring Marlon Brando; and the radio DJs blaring in open-air markets announced songs by "Nel Dee-a-mond").
(I forgot about stupid prejudices until reminded by a bit of atypical traffic on the wine newsgroup, which as always is what we make of it.)
-- Max Hauser (California)