Without being able to say "love", the French have learned to show it instead. "Flattery", "chivalry" and "romantic" are all words that found their way into the English language through Old French. Giving compliments is something of an art form here, coming just as easily from a new lover as the butcher preparing your leg of lamb. Men don't think twice about carrying a woman's suitcase down the metro stairs, and, as for being romantic, it's ingrained in a culture that perfected chocolate, invented Champagne and built the opulent Art Nouveau Pont Alexandre III bridge.
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