Do you think the traffic jam problems of ancient Rome are in any way related to modern Parisian driving? I was searching for a reason why romance language speaking countries have such higher road fatality rates compared to germanic language speaking countries, which are so much safer. Then I discovered aggressive, competitive driving was a big thing in ancient Rome itself. Other modern French habits seem to be rooted in Rome too. Like the obsession with shaking hands and air-kissing. Of having long lunches. Having olive oil. Drinking wine. Prevalent extra-marital affairs. Being very hierarchical. Having powerful local prefectures. Autocratic administrators. Corrupt politics and police (both these are fading though). Overloaded, creaking beaurocracy. Dysfunctional postal system. Road tolls. A feeling of superiority over other cultures. A fascination with organs of state. Grumpy Italians, basically.
That's a really interesting question. I'm sure the narrow ancient road design contributes to modern day traffic. As for the rest, it seems hard to prove but I'm sure there's definitely some influence. Speaking of bureaucracy, that reminds me of this scene from Astérix! ua-cam.com/video/YrCuMKIzMH8/v-deo.html
Haha - I love the Asterix clip! The combination of speed and funny voices makes it difficult for me to understand well but I understand perfectly well that particular French experience. When I first moved here three years ago I was incredulous how cashiers at the post office or the supermarket will stand talking to each other in preference to actually serving a customer. The same thing at fuel pumps. Drivers and passengers will linger chatting after they have fueled while there's a big queue of other people waiting to fuel. But the weird thing is the people waiting don't seem bothered. It's all very alien to someone from an English-speaking customer-oriented culture. Another big shock is the total disregard for pedestrian crossings. These crossings are obviously designed and built with a purpose and I think that purpose is to look pretty, as in safety terms, they are pretty much ignored. I agree it's impossible to prove that there's any connection with ancient Rome, but if you search for: traffic jams ancient Rome, or similar terms, you'll find that it was a real problem. For various reasons, but largely due to competition between vehicles and pedestrians on higgledypiggledy streets. They even had time zoning where carts were banned for most of the day and only allowed out for certain restricted hours, which led to, for example, carts racing oblivious of pedestrian safety. As this image shows nicely: www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/files/1960/05/pomeii-street-scene.jpg - the exact scene I see in motorised form every time I leave my apartment here.
@@galacticambitions1277 Hah that image is classic! And yeah, I understand it takes some time to get used to the waiting. I guess every country has its quirks!
The Latin Quarter name origin is rather from the language: this is where all the universities were located(Sorbonne for example), and the students were speaking Latin in the streets, hence the name. Students were coming from all over France and Europe, so Latin was the Lingua Franca. Look at the French Wikipedia page for the details of the name origin.
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Do you think the traffic jam problems of ancient Rome are in any way related to modern Parisian driving? I was searching for a reason why romance language speaking countries have such higher road fatality rates compared to germanic language speaking countries, which are so much safer. Then I discovered aggressive, competitive driving was a big thing in ancient Rome itself. Other modern French habits seem to be rooted in Rome too. Like the obsession with shaking hands and air-kissing. Of having long lunches. Having olive oil. Drinking wine. Prevalent extra-marital affairs. Being very hierarchical. Having powerful local prefectures. Autocratic administrators. Corrupt politics and police (both these are fading though). Overloaded, creaking beaurocracy. Dysfunctional postal system. Road tolls. A feeling of superiority over other cultures. A fascination with organs of state. Grumpy Italians, basically.
That's a really interesting question. I'm sure the narrow ancient road design contributes to modern day traffic. As for the rest, it seems hard to prove but I'm sure there's definitely some influence. Speaking of bureaucracy, that reminds me of this scene from Astérix! ua-cam.com/video/YrCuMKIzMH8/v-deo.html
Haha - I love the Asterix clip! The combination of speed and funny voices makes it difficult for me to understand well but I understand perfectly well that particular French experience. When I first moved here three years ago I was incredulous how cashiers at the post office or the supermarket will stand talking to each other in preference to actually serving a customer. The same thing at fuel pumps. Drivers and passengers will linger chatting after they have fueled while there's a big queue of other people waiting to fuel. But the weird thing is the people waiting don't seem bothered. It's all very alien to someone from an English-speaking customer-oriented culture. Another big shock is the total disregard for pedestrian crossings. These crossings are obviously designed and built with a purpose and I think that purpose is to look pretty, as in safety terms, they are pretty much ignored. I agree it's impossible to prove that there's any connection with ancient Rome, but if you search for: traffic jams ancient Rome, or similar terms, you'll find that it was a real problem. For various reasons, but largely due to competition between vehicles and pedestrians on higgledypiggledy streets. They even had time zoning where carts were banned for most of the day and only allowed out for certain restricted hours, which led to, for example, carts racing oblivious of pedestrian safety. As this image shows nicely: www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/files/1960/05/pomeii-street-scene.jpg - the exact scene I see in motorised form every time I leave my apartment here.
@@galacticambitions1277 Hah that image is classic! And yeah, I understand it takes some time to get used to the waiting. I guess every country has its quirks!
The Latin Quarter name origin is rather from the language: this is where all the universities were located(Sorbonne for example), and the students were speaking Latin in the streets, hence the name. Students were coming from all over France and Europe, so Latin was the Lingua Franca. Look at the French Wikipedia page for the details of the name origin.
Thanks for the video's, love the topics, your voice is perfect for podcast's let me know if you have one !!!
You're too kind! I have my hands full with the videos at the moment, but if I do make one I'll let you know!