I Have Just Bought On E Bay A French Army Knife

[gollob]

It's te same as a Swiss army knife but when you open it a little white flag pops up

[Canary42]

Since Switzerland always opt out as "neutral" in a war situation, but the French have frequently demonstrated extreme bravery in battle situations, your "joke" is in very poor taste.

[VHG]

The French lost about 350,000 men defending Verdun in the first world war, and eventually the Germans gave up and retreated.

[sandyRoe]

Was it President Bush or Condoleesa Rice who famously called them 'cheese eating surrender monkeys'?

[jno]

it was the Simpsons, sandyRoe

[sandyRoe]

I'd always thought Bush and Homer to be on the same level intellectually. So, an easy mistake to make.

[jake-the-peg]

As I recall the we fought with the French at Suez

The Americans said "No" and we both surrendered!

[jno]

Homer has fewer fingers

[NOX]

It's a joke that plays on popular stereotypes people,k and stereotype jokes all always in poor taste- but often funny. I thought this was quite amusing.

[jno]

sort of, Nox. 30 years ago it would have been an Italian knife (hear about the Italian tank? Six gears - five of them reverse). I suspect some American has adapted it to say "French" because he's miffed that France wouldn't join in Bush's wars. France hasn't really surrendered that often, they've just stayed out of wars in the first place, which I wish Blair had done.