I think she's fairly intelligent, just has NO common sense. I'd rather see Zoe go before Susan.
Oh and I'd have loved maragaret/Nick's reaction to "Do the French like their children"

I've had several mothers who visited the UK who have asked me just that. They were appalled at the way children were shunned from restaurants and other public places.

In business (and in life in general) a questioning mind is very useful. A lot of business ideas have come about by questioning the status quo. At my company we are actively encouraged to ask questions about what we are doing, and why. And some of the best questions were originally "stupid questions".

Yes, but that is a question of 'do the British like other people's children.


Yes, I'm waiting until I get a much better idea of the context before coming to a decision as to just how daft Susan's questions were.

The editors of this programme are slimly b****ds and often edit things in a way that make people look a lot more foolish then they are.

It may be that Susan was simply asking whether they spend money on these things. It was clear, even from the edit, that she was primarily talking to herself so the fact that the question was not articulated well isn't really that relevant.

She probably just needs to learn to internally review thoughts before sharing them with others.

"Do French people like children...?" should become "What attitudes do French people hold regarding children...?"

I think it could be done to editing perhaps? You don't actually see her saying 'are the french very fond of their children', just the bottom half of her body...so it could just be taken out of context?

I know that television can be very manipulative.

Would Karen have made her comment if it was the editing ?

But a clip is a clip and doesn't denote much until Wednesday reveals all. All that's clear is thanks to Susan there's proof that Karren became animated.

Yes Im sure youre right. Im sure Susan probably said something like 'I hate West Ham United and the way its run.' but they edited Karens reaction to this to her other comment about the French and their children.

Some people will grasp at any straws to defend her. Heres a novelty. Maybe what she said and Karens reaction DO belong together. I know is a novel idea ..... continuity in editing ...... but it does occur sometimes!

Until Wednesday then.

Of course they belong together. Karen actually specifies what she's complaining about.

But her reaction is almost certainly over the top because it's fairly clear that Susan is talking to herself and just mulling over ideas. It's not as if she's seriously trying to prosecute the argument that the French don't like their own children.

Jepson - I don't know ........ remember Hitler started by muttering a comment to himself about how nice Poland was and when quizzed further by his travelling companion he just said he was having a little think and not to worry about it as it wasn't important.

Up to this point you have yourself bang to rights.


Congratulations.

That has to be the most inept attempt an an analogy that I have ever seen.

Keep up the hate aussie_dave_, it's quite amusing!

Yes, at least one person who posts here earned himself a short DS 'posting holiday' for making an offensively misogynistic post.

It's really strange the way some people are happy to spend their time posting in a negative fashion exposing a rather immature and unpleasant aspect to their personalities.

I wondered who would be the first to cry racism

Susan hasn't demonstrated a dislike of the French has she?

I really do not think Karren's reaction is over the top.

I think it is thoughtful and balanced.

I would say that whoever she was talking about.

I wasn't crying racism.

I was talking casual, like Jeremy Clarkson's comments about Mexicans on top gear. comments borne either out of ignorance or stereotyping.

That is the sort of thing I was driving at.

I think there has been enough done on out and out racism in another thread. I do not for a single minute think Ms Ma is a racist.

I say it may be over the top because, even from the clip, it's clear that Susan is not seriously suggesting that the French don't like their children. She's just musing out loud on various things.

Karen is reacting as if Susan had seriously asked someone if the whether the French liked or disliked their children when, in reality, it's obvious that what she really wants to know is whether they spend a lot of money on them.

In all the brouhaha about Susan being the youngest and the shortest, it's been completely overlooked that English is not her first language. Whilst she clearly speaks it fluently, it's not surprising that when she is concentrating on her thoughts and giving a running commentary - basically, talking to herself - she may express herself oddly.

Not by me, I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago when I was praising her for leaving China, learning a new language and getting excellent qualifications.

I know some Susan fans here think I hate her simply because I criticise her flaws but I really do not. I think she has many admirable traits but equally has many poor traits.

Oh calm down, she moved to Australia when she was 6 ........ its hardly like she learned it 2 years ago after being stuck in her ways.

It's just that you do seem to spend a lot of time pointing out those poor traits.

That means that you are probably unfairly lumped in with the rather sad individuals who really do seem to detest the poor girl.

You really don't know a lot about acquired linguistic skills, do you?

Not really .......... I mean I only spend half the week in Germany and half in the UK and would only rate myself as 'almost fluent' German speaker but nope, apart from that, not a clue.

This is actually the problem with people who don't speak another language themselves (aka YOU) and then profess to tell us how hard it is.

Actually English is quite an easy language to learn. We have very simple articles 'The' and 'A' ..... try German where you have Der, Die and Das ...... except if during the sentence, the Die becomes dative, in which case it becomes a der (yes thats right, it IS possible to have Der Frau in German) ... or how about the fact that in English we just say 'put' whereas in German it could be Stellen, Legen or Stecken depending on whether what you are putting is standing upright, lying flat or being stuck in between something.

So not only do I know about learning another language, I also know that of all the languages to learn English is NOT one of the hardest.

That really does nothing more than show how clueless you are.

Picking a few trivial differences between a couple of European languages means diddly squat.

What I am talking about is the fundamental difference between speaking in a language that you learned before you were four and when your language learning abilities were at their strongest and any other language you may learn at a later date.

Whilst I'm certain that your opinion of your ability at German matches your opinion of your attractiveness to women, I'd bet good money that if you were thinking intently about some problem and commenting to yourself in German your utterances would give native German speakers a few good chuckles.

Not at all, most of them are surprised when I tell them Im not a native of their country, in fact some of them say how can such an attractive man who speaks Deutsch so well be a native of another land? ........ (OK I made that bit up)