Bonjour, tout le monde! Today I’m back with even more little things France does differently than the U.S. You seem to love these types of posts just as much as I do, so let’s jump right in…
1. Crutches
For my first two years living in France, I had this impression that an enormous amount of people in my area were disabled after seeing about 10 people per week walking around with forearm crutches (left, in the photo above) when I was out walking Dagny or just out and about.
In the US, forearm crutches are most commonly used as permanent aids for people with disabilities and not just a temporary aid after an accident. With this type of crutch, you slip your hand and arm through the forearm cuff part and then grip a handle.
I’ve always associated them with people who had a long-term need for a mobility aid because that’s how this type is commonly used in the US.
My middle school French teacher had polio as a kid and he had these crutches as an adult. So did Dr. Kerry Weaver on the TV show ER (for hip dysplasia). If you have a temporary leg injury in the US, you’re given underarm crutches, also called axilla crutches, which are most commonly used in the US if you have a short-term injury.
If a kid in school growing up broke their ankle, they’d have these underarm crutches (right, in the photo above). They’re taller, can be adjusted for height, and rest under your armpit. It’s just a different style and I’ve never seen this underarm kind in France.
So here I was after moving to France thinking that there were a ton of people with disabilities in my area because everyone had forearm crutches. I never thought much of it. This led to a funny misunderstanding between Tom and me about a year later that went something like this….
A teenager passed us on the street with a leg brace and winced with every step. He had forearm crutches — French crutches.
***
Tom: Aw, looks like he’s really in pain.
Diane: Yeah, well not that it makes it any better but he’s probably used to it and has a good team of doctors to help manage everything he’s going through. [Me assuming he had a disability or something he’s dealt with for a while]
Tom: Why would he be used to it? You think he hurts his leg a lot?
Diane: No, just that he probably deals with a lot day to day and everything that comes with having a disability.
Tom: Huh? I think he just has a knee injury or something. What are you talking about, a disability?
Diane: What are YOU talking about?
***
At this point, the misunderstanding over French crutches became clear and I explained to Tom that forearm crutches are most commonly used in the US for people with a disability, a permanent aid and not a temporary aid to use for a few weeks while an injury heals. In the case of an injury, the most common type of American crutches are the taller crutches that rest under the armpit.
He laughed and explained that in France all crutches are forearm style so if you’re a 10-year-old with a broken ankle, you’ll have the same crutches as someone with a disability. Same style. We had a good laugh about the differences between European crutches vs American ones.
French people view the ones we use in the US as old school and what soldiers after the war used. The word “crutches” in French is les béquilles.
2. You can buy horse meat in France
In France, you will find horse meat in the grocery store, yup, right there next to the beef and pork. While it’s not as popular as beef or chicken and not available in every grocery store, it’s common enough. The picture above was taken at the mainstream supermarket Leclerc just a couple of days ago.
It tends to be popular with the older generation and was consumed even more frequently after the war.
Horse meat isn’t something we really eat in the U.S. Horses aren’t food. Even in France, I’d say it’s fallen out of favor over the years. But you can still find it, although horse butchers aren’t quite as prevalent as they were decades ago. It’s not something I regularly see on restaurant menus either. But people do eat horse meat.
As someone who grew up riding horses, I’ve chosen not to eat horse meat. While I’m not vegetarian (yet), I’ve questioned my relationship with meat more and more over the years. FYI, Colby’s Crew Rescue in Virginia does amazing work rescuing horses in slaughter pens and they deserve as much support as possible.
3. Med Spas
OK next, in a lot of areas of the U.S., it’s pretty common to see med spas (medical spas) when you’re out and about. I googled and there are five within a 10-minute drive from my brother’s house in Palm Beach County, Florida.
I wouldn’t say they’re popular everywhere but med spas do exist in more affluent suburbs and cities in the U.S.
Med spas are standalone businesses that offer laser services, medical grade facials, microdermabrasion, maybe injectables like Botox or filler, and other nonsurgical cosmetic treatments. They’re often very lucrative businesses and have a full office staff of doctors, estheticians, nurse practitioners or PAs.
Sometimes you’ll see them in shopping centers or office complexes. They might be run by a dermatologist or plastic surgeon and are big business especially in areas where I’ve lived like the NYC metro area, south Florida, etc. I had laser hair removal done years ago at one in NJ.
In France, businesses like this don’t really exist in the same way – meaning a dedicated business with multiple practitioners that’s a luxurious spa or medical office run by a doctor. While certain dermatologists may offer cosmetic services in France, it’s a bit more low-key and less “big business.”
Outside of big cities, cosmetic services like these are much harder to come by. You might find a dermatologist who offers laser and cosmetic treatments but it’s not his or her main gig and she’s not part of a 10-person staff with a treatment list of 50 cutting-edge treatments.
In Paris, I’m sure things like this exist, but full-service med spas aren’t mainstream here. In France, you’ll find spas that do massages and businesses that offer hair removal or specific treatments like tattoo removal or Botox (although way less frequently than in the U.S.). But full blown med spas run by doctors with all the latest and greatest cosmetic treatments haven’t really taken off in the same way.
4. Credit cards with points/miles/cashback aren’t a thing
I’ve mentioned before that credit cards aren’t widely used in France. Nearly everyone has a debit card though, les cartes bleues, but not credit card/charge cards like we have in the US that function differently.
I don’t want to repeat myself, so read the linked post for more background on that, but something I do want to point out is that not only are there very few credit cards, meaning your average French consumer doesn’t have one, but there aren’t many rewards cards that offer free points, miles, or cash back rewards.
You certainly won’t be getting constant credit card offers in the mail or to your email like you often do in the US with all kinds of signup or bonus offers. It’s just not a thing in France. I personally have two US-based miles/rewards cards, including one for an airline and one where I accrue miles for every purchase. When used responsibly, credit cards can be amazing ways to get perks.
5. The treatment of ADHD and the fact that Adderall and other specific meds used for ADHD aren’t available in France
France diagnoses and treats ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a bit differently than how it’s done in the United States. People who have ADHD that I know in France have explained how French people (including teachers) aren’t always up to date on the most current practices. They view ADD/ADHD as more of a behavior issue in kids rather than a neurological one and don’t always take it seriously.
Getting diagnosed as an adult is even more difficult. I’d love to hear from anyone out there who has dealt with this in France to share your story, maybe to help others reading the comments. Comments on reddit are pretty grim and people I know in real life have echoed the same sentiments.
I have a friend whose adult son needed treatment for ADHD and getting him evaluated has been a very difficult process. Just finding a doctor who could see him quickly (meaning within the next 6 months) was difficult. She had to go outside the French healthcare system and ended up paying out of pocket for the specialist which was several hundred euros.
I also knew someone who was putting the final preparations on her move to France and when she realized she wouldn’t be able to get her specific ADHD medication in France, she called off the move. Without her medication, which was one that wasn’t available in France, she wouldn’t have been able to function in her day-to-day life.
Adderall is not available in France or the entire EU. It’s a class of medication that is not approved here at all.
By the way, ADHD in French is TDAH, Trouble déficit de l’attention avec ou sans hyperactivité.
6. Putting grocery items directly into a bag while shopping
Something I learned very quickly when I moved to France is that it’s totally normal to walk into a grocery store with your reusable bag and put items from the shelves directly into your bag. If you’re just running in for a few items, people won’t bother using a cart or shopping basket and will put their milk or whatever right into the bag, go to the checkout line, pay, and leave.
But in the US, this might get you some strange looks from security or other shoppers because people might think you’re stealing. Even though it’s a shopping bag and you intend to go to the cash register, people view it the same way as putting an item in your purse… like you’re intending to steal.
And to that point, just to illustrate this cultural difference, my dad sent me a picture from Shop Rite in New Jersey that had this sign (pictured above) at the entrance. He also saw a similar one in Whole Foods. They don’t want you putting items into an opaque bag to help prevent retail theft and instead they remind shoppers to always use a cart or basket.
When I’m in the US visiting, I have to make a point of using a basket if I’m just getting a few things. By default, I’ll just put items directly into my reusable bag the French way. But I trained myself out of it one time when my friend was like “what are you doing” thinking I was stealing. I WAS NOT!
7. Mailboxes are locked with a key or just a slot
In the U.S., homes commonly have a mailbox at the end of their driveway along the street. It’s usually a rectangular box shape and has a door that opens so the letter carrier can deliver the mail. Most can be opened by anyone and don’t have a key.
You’ll even see decorative mailboxes as well. Where my family lives in Florida, you commonly see fish, dolphin, and manatee mailboxes when out driving around.
In France, though, mailboxes are usually a bit more discreet and are locked with a key. They tend to be square boxes built into the side of a house, gate, or exterior wall. I can’t say I’ve seen any decorative ones either.
French ones are also not big enough to reach inside. There’s just a mail slot big enough for letters and small envelopes, so it’s pretty secure. Only the mail carrier or someone with a key can open the mailbox. This way, you don’t have to worry about nosy neighbors or the wind blowing open your mailbox and letters blowing away.
8. Homes are fenced off/gated
Many homes in suburban areas of the US have front and backyards and many are not fenced in. Some people have fences around their pool or to make sure their dog stays on their property, but it’s normal to drive around U.S. suburbs and see homes that don’t have fences all around the property lines. It comes across as welcoming and open.
Take for example, if you’re mowing your lawn where I grew up in suburban NJ, you’d see both neighbors’ backyards on either side so if they were out on their deck or mowing their lawn, they’re in clear view.
In France though, it’s very common to see homes with front gates or walls or fences that provide security and privacy. Homes tend to be more closed off and obscured. Backyards are often fenced as well, even if there’s no dog or pool.
Where I live, each property line has a wall or treeline type of divider and although I can hear when my neighbor is mowing his lawn, I can’t see him.
***
Something I always like to mention in posts like these is that this isn’t a judgment call on the US or France. No one country’s way of doing something is inherently superior to anywhere else. Every country does things differently and I find different ways of doing things really interesting.
We can have our personal preferences of course, but I’m not saying that France or the US is better across the board. That would be silly. I’m not here to judge.
What I am here to do is to help you to be more prepared when traveling and interacting with the French.
To that end, I have an eGuide I’d love for you to check out called 75 Beginner France travel tips for a standout trip, that’s linked below and is a way to support Oui In France, so thank you again. 😉
If you enjoyed this post, you’ll love these too:
16 American concepts that don’t exist in France
77 Little differences about life in France
5 American comfort foods you can’t find in France
17 Things I can do in France but not the US
22 Things I can do in the US but not in France
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M-C says
Just a note, I have lived in multiple Western States (California, Texas, Colorado, and Washington), where almost all backyards in the cities and the suburbs, have fences or block walls enclosing them for privacy or safety. In California, where I grew up, if you have an in ground pool in your backyard you have to have a 6 ft fence or block wall enclosing it. In the country, it seems, a fence of any kind is mostly used to indicate property lines. I’m not saying that every single property has them, but “most” city or suburban homes and gated communities have fences or walls, at least, enclosing their backyards.
I enjoy all your posts and have been a subscriber for awhile! Thank you for keeping us so well informed about living in France!
MCSJ
Diane says
So glad you enjoy my content, thank you! Overall, homes In France have more fences (front and back). But I know different areas of the US use fences more than others.
Anne-Marie says
Horse meat is délicieux. It makes excellente burgers and is more lean.
As for shopping, like you say, if we just want a couple of things we put them directly into our sac.
Once, though, when visiting Angleterre I just wanted 2 or 3 céleri branche so just pulled them off the main stalk. Apparemment you can’t do that ! You have to buy the whole céleri !! Same goes for splitting packs of milk etc. If I just want one bottle I simply open the packet of 6 and take the one. That’s a no no too!!
Diane says
Hi, can you pull off 2 pieces of celery in France? I always see the HUGE things of celery and it didn’t even occur to me that I could take just one stalk for my tuna and not the entire thing….
Anne-Marie says
yes of course, I NEVER buy the whole thing ! For a start, it’s priced by weight, so if you buy the whole thing you’ll be paying for quite a bit that will end up in the composteur. Not that’ it is very expensive, but my food shopping bill seems to rise every week ! So just grab a branch, or even leaves if you just want to flavour a soupe or something, weigh it et voilà !!
MIke says
Thanks for another great article. I was really surprised about the Adderall (actually, probably not so surprised but). I think with the amount of sugar and other artificial items in the American food system, more children are suffering with ADHD and the sad fact is that it is cheaper to give Adderall than it is to see a behavioral health specialist.
Concerning the forearm crutches, are they easier to get around in? I was thinking that because more people get around on foot or pubic transit, that forearm crutches are a little easier? I think though the knee scooter have surged in popularity over the use of crutches.
Diane says
Glad you enjoyed it! I’ve never (thankfully) had a need for crutches but from what I’ve observed, it seems that the forearm ones are way more comfortable.
PaulT says
Hi Diane – glad you’re posting all these differences. Having just been in France for three weeks (I sent you the “France in Three Weeks – for better or worse” site I put together), I noticed some big diffs too, I didn’t see about the horsemeat as I wasn’t cooking that much. I did notice a lot on the roads/driving. But I have to take the opportunity to comment on the ADHD thing, some excerpts from your Reddit link are at the bottom. The commenter has got it exactly backwards. France is correct, the the drug-soaked USA has got it cockeyed. The doctor’s comment back to him “ADHD is just a box that we want to put kids in, so that we can give them amphetamines to be obedient.” could not be MORE correct. France seems to be ultra-careful about any drugs as I found out when I went into a pharmacy in Bellarive-sur-Alliers, even the Alka Selzer, along with all the aspirins etc, were behind the counter. You didn’t have to have a prescription for it, but evidently they didn’t want people shoplifting it either. But as to taking drugs, especially high-power and addictive ones, for “ADHD”, it is the biggest con job. When I was a kid in school (1960-70’s) there was no ADHD, or a lot of other labels for manufactured disorders. These exploded in the 1980-90’s from a carefully orchestrated Big Pharma/APA (American Psychiatric Association) campaign to push their drugs and that is it. And it’s a good thing or my mom might have put me on it. I couldn’t have been more “hyperactive”, and I did very well in school, my dad wouldn’t tolerate it otherwise. Why I chose speed (Benzedrine, then Dexedrine, both pills, then later on in my 20’s methedrine) to abuse and overload on is a mystery. My mom fed us some refined sugar, but no soda and nothing compared to other kids (who were also stunted physically but did well in school also). All this labeling and corporate drug pushing has been condemned heavily by parent groups and even part of the psychiatric profession as enough years have gone by to have trend statistics on it. The casualties from Ritalin (suicides, etc) are a national disgrace. Kurt Cobain of the band Nirvana is a classic casualty of early Ritalin drugging. There is a whole museum somewhere in Hollywood tracking this descent into psychiatric/Big Pharma drug control and the shocking statistics of the fallout, I heard. The very idea of giving people, especially little kids, amphetamines to “slow them down” is max ridiculous. I saw some ignorant grandmother the other day at the pharmacy collecting some Xanax to put what looked like her 12-year-old grandson on, which is one of the most addictive and high-powered drugs on the market, thousands of ADULTS have had severe battles with that stuff. The American Trial Lawers Association had to create a whole special department to deal with the blizzard of lawsuits arising out of sucides and other horrible effects of Prozac back in the 2000’s, or 1990’s. Even a casual search on “psychiatric drug abuse” will give you a long pile of casualty/warning stories. Any profession that would make women’s PMS a “disorder” has got to be looked at as crank. They are constantly, every year, adding things to their bible, the DSM, because Americans, and a lot of others, being the suckers that they are will believe anything anyone with a diploma says, and not do their own research. The weirdest thing is that it has infected society to the point of being a sort of fad and crutch, with thousands of adults being willing to label themselves. “I can’t do this or that because I am (ADHD or name your label de semaine)”. There are dozens of things you can give kids, and adults, to slow them down and make them sleep better, if they even need to be slowed down, which they don’t. Warm milk, light herbs like melatonin, on and on. And how about NO SODA or other refined sugar, which a lot of (fat and diabetic) Americans drink from a hose. Simply cutting out refined sugar alone is a major step towards controlling “hyperactivity”. So is less “screen time”. When my boy was around 5 years old, his weird bad behavior would turn on, like clockwork, if he had over about 10 hours of TV, any TV, a week. It got so precise I used to log it. Stay under 10 hours, and he would be a happy bouncy cooperative kid. Above that and he became the Tasmanian devil, routinely. And now everyone gives a kid a phone to stare at for a babysitter, because their parents are staring at their phones and can’t be a correct parent. We have advanced! So French doctors have it right. Defy the drug-pushing psychiatrists and Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and the rest of the drug pushers, and recommend natural solutions and a severe cutdown of refined sugar. I wonder if Mr. 20-years-behind on Reddit has tried any of that stuff or if he/she just likes doing speed. Enough said, all the statistics back me up. Thanks.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/12fjwn0/adhd_in_france_is_a_disaster/?rdt=50499
ADHD is just a box that we want to put kids in, so that we can give them amphetamines to be obedient. (right, and stupid)
And the sad part is that I don’t even know if I have it yet, but the whole thing feels very discouraging. (dying to get on a drug obviously)
Diane says
Hi there, I don’t know what the answer is for ADHD and I’m not a parent, but I know a lot of people (adults as well) suffer from it and depend on their medication. I’m generally not a fan of Big Pharma in general for a lot of reasons (especially cancer drugs but I won’t go into that).
Muriel Areno says
Ironically, forearm crutches are called “cannes anglaises” in France, or at least in Champagne where I’m from.
I ate a lot of horsemen growing up in the50’s. “Boucheries chevalines” were quite common, and had a sculpture of a horse’s head above the door to leave no doubt. My mother liked it because it was leaner and cheaper than beef, but my grandmother wouldn’t touch it. I like the taste, but I don’t know if it would feel the same after more than 50 years out of the country…
When I am in France, I just cannot put my purchase into my own bag. That feels so weird to me.
French people do not give any chocolate, tea, coffee or (especially) soda to children under 3, and severely limit candy. They believe many behavior conditions stem from giving too much sugar and stimulants to very young children. They also don’t have school shootings, as the vast majority of young perpetrators in the US are on some kind of psychotropic drug.
Diane says
Glad you enjoyed the post, Muriel! xx
Jay says
Things may have changed since I lived in Paris in the late 80’s until the mid-90’s, but the door keys are (or were) very different. My apartment had a Muel key that was totally different from anything I’d ever seen in the US.