France was the first country to produce Brandy for wide scale commercial scale.

The people of France eat more cheese than any other country in the world.

There are 216 varieties of cheese in France!

Married men in France use more cosmetics than their wife's.

Chasing a chicken though town naked was a punishment for a woman who committed adultery.

It is illegal to sell an E.T doll in France as they have a law that forbids the sale of dolls that do not have human faces.

In France a yellow flower represents "infidelity".

there's a place called "Y" in France.

Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called "Cue", which was the name of a notorious pornographic magazine.

Napoleon was not born in France he was born on the island of Corsica and had Italian parents.

Francophobe is the fear of all things French.

King Louis XIX ruled France for 15 minutes.

Nearly 94 percent of the inhabitants of France are native-born.

No nation is more dependent on atomic power than France; about 73 percent of the country's electricity is generated by nuclear power plants.

National service is compulsory for 10 months for men between the ages of 18 and 35.

In 1348 the bubonic plague entered France from the Mediterranean via Marseille. The resulting pandemic, known as the Black Death, engulfed the country in two years, killing as much as one-third of the population

The French national anthem is called "La Marseillaise" (The Song of Marseille).

The French postal telephone and telecommunications systems are operated by the government.

France is a part of NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

France conducted a series of underground nuclear test's in the south Pacific from 1995 to 1996

The Eiffel tower varies in height depending on the temperature, Sometimes by as much as six inches

There are a few that have changed since they were compiled.
The French telephone company is now privatized. They're not happy about it, but they are. Now it's open to different carriers. It's only been for the past 5 years though.
Prior to that, as in other European countries like Italy and Germany, the telephone company and the post office were the same thing. Called the PTT here.

The Marseillaise is the nickname because it was sung by the troops in Marseille. It's real name is going to be revealed in the quiz I'm finishing on French songs. It was written in Strasbourg though. it's bloody!

Recent massive immigration means that many French are not "native" French. That's a burning issue right now in politics. The birthrate is up and yet the births are treated differently according to your side of the fence. They're happy about the rise in the birthrate in the left, and unhappy in the right.
I'd say that a rough guess might be about 75 percent now.

The makeup thing is not necessarily so. I worked in the cosmetics industry last year and researched it. So men take good care of themselves, but they are just as macho as any other men I know. Women wear makeup but very tastefully. THe latter spend lots of money on it too.

Cue means well, what does a cul de sac mean? it's the word for butt or end. And it also means sex in general. So the toothpaste pronounced Cue must have been hilarious. Probably didn't hurt sales!
There are more cheeses than that. Many. Those are probably only the ones regulated.

The ET doll I doubt. They had Alf a long time ago, I don't think that ET was forbidden.
they didn't like Cabbage patch dolls much, or Patachou, but they didn't forbid them, they just didn't create riots to buy them at the stores!

The French are nuke crazy. They sell and buy electricity from their neighbors to top it off. I have worked with engineers so have had it first hand. The company is nationalized and you're taxed on the electricity you use and then you're taxed some more. Ironic.

I'm not being a wet blanket, but things are rapidly evolving...the last time I saw a woman chasing a chicken naked was about ten years ago...just kidding!

Don't send anyone carnations, death. Don't buy someone a bouquet of them.
They're picky about flowers though...I don't mess with them!

Great post!
As a fervent Francophile, I enjoyed the info. very much.

More please!

Guess I'll go chase that chicken around the town square once more huh? Hey I knew I was a geek but this is ridiculous!

Just heard another one, they say that you can't offer someone an odd number of roses here. Can't find the origin yet.
I'm collecting these for my book on the intimate side of French life but I share them occasionally.
There is a survey in the Commmons if you'd like to find it on ironing and on shoes and hairdressers for my research.