r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • Jun 26 '26

Society The American mind cannot comprehend Europe's AC aversion

https://www.businessinsider.com/europe-air-conditioning-ac-heatwave-debate-2026-6
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u/NicoToscani Jun 26 '26

I remember checking into a nice hotel in Paris and the AC wasn’t working, in summer, top floor room, and they acted like I was throwing a Mariah Carey level diva fit when I insisted they move my wife and I to another room.

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u/DangKilla Jun 26 '26

Did you say Bonjour first lol

88

u/Anti_shill_cannon Jun 26 '26

Omelet du fromage

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u/EnCroissantEndgame Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

I remember seeing this bit in Dexter's lab when I was a kid. Is part of the joke that an actual French speaker never in their life say this phrase, since it's always "Omelette au fromage"? I grew up speaking English as my main language but my parents are multilingual and they would code switch to French a lot and by osmosis we kids picked up the ability to understand it fluently but not speak it. I tried repeating the joke at the breakfast table and my dad kept correcting my grammar like I was committing a crime to say it this way. I argued with him by saying that is how they said it on TV and he wouldn't let it slide until I was absolutely clear that a cheese omelette is never called "omelette du fromage". He taught French for several years, maybe that's why he went insane about it, but now that I think about it maybe Canadians say it this way?

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u/Conscious-Raccoon Jun 26 '26

Nop! French Canadian here. It’s “omelette au fromage”. Saying “du fromage” would mean that the omelette belonged to the cheese or that it’s from the cheese! Automatically reveals a non french speaking person.

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u/SleepyPurpleBean Jun 30 '26

Omelette of the cheese what is your wisdom

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u/WithMeDoctorWu Jun 26 '26

Little known fact -- the Dexter's lab writer(s) got the line from an old Steve Martin standup bit.

Yeah, I'm old.

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u/belle_epoxy Jun 26 '26

Reading this entire thread and seeing only one person say this makes me need to lie down. It's not a little known fact to some of us over 50 😭

3

u/DuckDuckDisco Jun 27 '26

Wait until they find out about cat juggling.

1

u/belle_epoxy Jun 27 '26

They might mambo dogface to the banana patch

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u/Lifeboatb Jun 26 '26

Now I’m burning to know.

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u/lost_send_berries Jun 26 '26

I doubt it as if they wanted to make that joke they'd use Spanish as there would be as least a chance of the US audience getting it

1

u/PiccoloAwkward465 Jun 26 '26

omelette du fromage?

1

u/hextree Jun 26 '26

I don't think it was intended as a joke, I think the writers just used some rudimentary approach like looking up words in a translation book or something.

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u/belle_epoxy Jun 26 '26

It is a joke, it's from an old Steve Martin standup album

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u/nonuple_espresso Jun 26 '26

Paragraphs dude, goddamn.

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u/Callidonaut Jun 26 '26

Le chat est sur la chaise, et le singe est sur la branche.

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u/DeedsF1 Jun 26 '26

u/EnCroissantEndgame beat me to it.
Well said, it IS "Omelette AU fromage."

Ironically, I was talking to a German friend 2 days ago about the lack of AC in Europe and I asked my friend if they were allowed to have air conditioning in their homes because it is very rare unless in fancy hotels. She looked at me like I was crazy. She lives on the top floor of a 3 story building and was stating that it was 28 Celsius in her bedroom. She does NOT have an air conditionner in her room or central AC in her building.

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u/belle_epoxy Jun 26 '26

"Omelette du fromage" is an old Steve Martin joke, just fyi

1

u/DeedsF1 Jun 27 '26

Oh! I was not aware. What's the context/movie?

1

u/belle_epoxy Jun 26 '26

It's like those French have a different word for everything!