Not even the fact that London and Paris are joined by a swift rail link, or that France and Britain were treaty-bound allies, thanks to the Entente Cordiale of 1904, can sway opinion.
Britain’s love-hate relationship with its Gallic neighbours, a survey has found, can still edge towards the latter side of that coin.
The poll conducted by flight comparison website Skyscanner found that 19 per cent of British travellers rate the French as the most abrupt and curt of all nationalities.
Brits also consider Russians to be short on politeness, with 17 per cent of Brits flagging up the eastern European nation as being particularly terse.
The pollsters might well wish the clock could be turned back 20 years ago, when travel restrictions for Russians were tighter, and certainly, they were less wealthy, and hence less frequently in contact with British holidaymakers.
Tatiana Danilova, Skyscanner’s Russian Market Manager simply puts it down the perceived rudeness to a cultural misunderstanding.
“Russians can be more direct when talking, which may be misconstrued as being rude,” she explains.
“This is more a difference in culture than genuine rudeness.
“The Russian language is not as polite as English. It can sound rude to an English speaker, even if they don’t mean it to.
“Russians tend to consider British people extremely polite due to their courteous way of speaking.”
The survey rated Germans – the travelling Briton’s traditional nemesis – fourth in the poll.
And, if there’s proof needed that Brits are a self-deprecating lot, just over 10 per cent of those surveyed decided their own nation was the rudest on the planet, leaving the UK in third place in the overall table.
