Welcome to Liza O'Connor, who shares an interesting perspective on foreigners.
Why do the French hate
Americans? I found over 30 blogs discussing this puzzle.
But first, let me address
the possibility that it is not just the French who hate Americans. When I was
in Australia and New Zealand people kept saying, “I normally hate Americans,
but you’re right enough.”
Since I know without
question, I’m not even close to being the ‘nicest American alive’ I concluded something
was odd about their perspective. “What’s wrong with the other Americans?”
“They come in buses, wear
polyester, and talk loudly.”
Then later someone else
complained about the Japanese.
“What’s wrong with the
Japanese?” I asked.
“They come in buses,
constantly take pictures, and chatter non-stop.”
Suddenly a light bulb
went off in my head. “Is it possible you just hate buses?”
The guy laughed. “Maybe…”
Since a great deal of
tourist take bus tours while in France, this looked like a possible explanation
for the French detestation as well.
And why are buses so
detestable? These aren’t ‘let’s go to work buses’. These are tourist buses — a
roaming infestation of noise, gas fumes, and cacophony. They are like a giant
cicada that swarm into a boutique or restaurant, sending the regulars clients
fleeing. Then after they quickly devour their food, they swarm outside to swarm
the shops before landing back in the bus.
There is also the general
inability to speak French. The French LOVE and protect their language, probably
more so than any other country. They believe it the most beautiful language in
existence and actually write laws to protect it and often to let ‘new words’
come into the vocabulary, instead insisting old words must be found to describe
the item.
In my book, Adam creates
a program to help Amanda learn to speak the language perfectly, and she never
travels in a bus, but she’s still hated by the other French students.
Birth
of Adam
Book
2 of the Artificial Intelligence Sci-Rom Series
By
Liza
O’Connor
Blurb
With a new identity, Amanda believes
she has left her past behind. Then she acquires a stalker. She contacts the FBI
and in doing so alerts a program she once created to her location. Now
ensconced in the internet, the program is safe from harm, smarter than ever,
and sentient. Presenting itself on her phone as a handsome face with a sexy
British accent, “Adam” ingratiates himself into Amanda’s life. To ensure her
safety and happiness, the sentient program proves there is absolutely nothing
he can’t and won’t do.
Excerpt
(Abbreviated)
“This is ridiculous! What is it about
Miss Carrington that bothers you?” he demanded.
Amanda grimaced. This was certainly
not how she wished to start her morning.
“She doesn’t think rules apply to her,” one of
the Europeans said.
“She’s a freshman and shouldn’t be
here,” another added.
“Wait, two days ago the accusation
was that she was too old to be here,” he reminded them.
“That too,” Davy replied.
“She never goes out with us to the
bars.”
“She never hangs around with us at
all.”
Pinchot looked at Amanda. “Anything
you wish to say?”
“No,” she replied.
“No?”
“Well, I’ve no idea what rules I’m
not obeying, and I don’t like bars, nor do I hang around with people who don’t
like me, and I’m astounded, given the anti-American sentiment at this school,
that any of the European students would think I would try to hang out with
them.” She looked at the guy who’d made that declaration. “If you want me to
talk to you, you have to make the first move, because I’m not approaching someone
who hates Americans just on principle.”
He looked momentarily confused. “You’re
American? But your accent is perfect!”
“I work on improving my French every
day,” she replied. “And thank you for the compliment.” She looked at Pinchot. “I’m
not certain why we had to discuss this. Nothing is going to change. Beth’s
jackals think whatever Beth tells them to think, and the Europeans hate
Americans, and I don’t have time to deal with all this nonsense, so yes, I live
in a nice house with really nice people so I don’t have to find fish in my bed
and spit in my food.”
Pinchot sighed and threw up his
hands. “Well, I tried.”
The way he said it made her feel as
though she had failed him, which upset her greatly. When class was over, she
attempted to talk to him, but he ordered her to her next class.
Fortunately, her next period was her
free class, because she had a great need to cry. She found her way to the giant
windows with the chairs and sat down. It wasn’t her fault Beth had turned
everyone against her, and it was certainly not her fault the European students
hated Americans. Nor could she blame them. If the only people she had met were
Beth and her jackals, she’d hate Americans too.
She didn’t bother trying to stop the
tears. God, she was thirty-seven years old and somehow hanging around with
these children had turned her into a child all over again, with all the same
miseries she’d endured the first time around.
BUY
LINKS
For
the Artificial Intelligence Series
Book
1
Public
Secrets
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Book
2
Birth
of Adam
Free with Kindle Unlimited
About
Liza
Liza O’Connor was raised badly by feral cats,
left the South/Midwest and wandered off to find nicer people on the east coast.
There she worked for the meanest man on Wall Street, while her psychotic
husband tried to kill her three times. (So much for finding nicer people.) Then
one day she declared enough, got a better job, divorced her husband, and fell
in love with her new life where people behaved nicely. But all those bad
behaviors have given her lots of fodder for her books. Please buy these books,
because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels instead. They
will likely traumatize you.
Mostly humorous books by Liza:
A
Long Road to Love Series: (Humorous Contemporary Odd Romance)
Worst Week Ever — Laugh out loud week of disasters of Epic
proportions.
Oh Stupid Heart — The heart wants what it wants, even if it’s
impossible.
Coming to Reason — There is a breaking point when even a saint
comes to reason.
Climbing out of Hell — The reconstruction of a terrible man into a
great one.
The
White Oak-Mafia Series: (Spunky, strong women who have given up on love, but
find it anyway)
A Fortune to Die For — Megan wins the Mega Times Lottery and discovers it comes with a
curse. Soon even the Mafia wants to kill her.
Unexpected Love — Coming Soon: What could be stranger than a
British Prince falling in love with a Mafia Princess?
Requires Rescue Series: (Contemporary
Romance where even the strong needs help.)
Saving Casey — Cass wakes up in the body of a troubled teen
who has burned every bridge imaginable. Her only choice is to turn this life
around, but that’s much harder than she ever imagined.
Saving Molly — Coming soon: Sean rescues a young
woman who smiles too much, and she saves him and his child in return.
Humorous Singles:
Ghost Lover —Two British brothers fall in love with the
same young woman. Ancestral ghost is called in to fix the situation. And
there’s a ghost cat that roams about the book as well. (Humorous Contemporary
Romance)
Humorous Sci-Fi series
The
Gods of Probabilities —
In the Multiverses, anything can & does happen. Join the bickering Gods and
the sentient beings they oversee.
Surviving
Terranue —
Welcome to Terranue. Prepare to be baked, pummeled, and frozen. But first
you’ll have to survive the black death growing in the cliffs.
Surviving Sojourn —
You know you have reason to worry when a hyper-grown one-year-old is made
captain of the ship.
Sci-Fi Romance with Artificial
Intelligence and Suspense
Public
Secrets
— Carla Simon is a best-selling novelist besieged
by death threats and lawsuits because her stories keep turning out to be true.
Birth of
Adam —
Carla changes her identity and enrolls in college, but the AI program
finds her and ensconces its life into hers.
The
Adventures of Xavier & Vic Sleuth series: (Late Victorian/Mystery/Romance)
The Troublesome Apprentice — The greatest sleuth in Victorian England
hires a young man who turns out to be a young woman.
The Missing Partner — Opps! The greatest sleuth in Victorian
England goes missing, leaving Vic to rescue him, a suffragette, and about 100
servants. Not to mention an eviscerating cat. Yes, let’s not mention the cat.
A Right to Love — A romantic detour for Jacko. Want
to see how amply rewarded Jacko was when he & Vic save an old woman from
Bedlam?
The Mesmerist — The Mesmerist can control people from afar and make them murder for
her. Worse yet, Xavier Thorn has fallen under her spell.
Well Kept Secrets — The problems with secrets is that they always come to
light, no matter how you wish to silence them.
Disturbing
Historical:
Untamed & Unabashed —The youngest of the Bennet sisters, Lydia, tells her story. A
faithful, yet provocative spinoff from Pride & Prejudice. (Warning: Lydia
is frisky.)
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Thanks for having me over!
ReplyDeleteAlways a pleasure, Liza.
DeleteI also think that Beth was jealous and didn't want Amanda to get all the good grades, etc.
ReplyDeleteWell, Beth claims she stole her boyfriend, even through she had broken up with him, that doesn't mean some other girl could take him.
Delete