Brittany Starr French 111 Katherine Bevins 24 avril 2014 The Beret There are so many stereotypes that

come to mind when thinking about Americans thoughts on French people. The one that stands out the most to me is the beret. When Americans think about the French, the first thing that will come to mind for most people is that many people in France wear this hat. To a French person, this stereotype nowadays is not true at all and rare to find. The beret is very outdated and the only people who many wear them today are elderly and farming life people (Siskin). There is some origination and explanation to why this stereotype is known. The ancient Greeks first used the beret in the 5th century BC, 2500 years ago (Beret). The Romans gave the beret its true shape and only aristocracy could wear white berets, giving the colored beret its first social symbolism (Beret). Around 1280, the beret had its first appearance in France. A barely discernible stone figure on a Notre Dame church portal near Orthez, France wears what is unmistakably a beret (Beret). While the Basques of northern Spain and the Basque-pays region of France are normally credited with the introduction of the beret, this church carving helps confirm that the style did, in fact, begin in the region of Barn (Beret). During this time, the Barn and the Basque regions are mountainous areas and herders had to travel this rocky terrain with their flocks of sheep (Beret). Knitting wool berets would have helped them keep their hands busy while watching their sheep (Beret). Once the berets were knitted, the shepherds beat them with

hammers to turn the cloth into felt (Beret). Because the sheep provided brown wool, the early berets were probably brown. During the Second Empire, Napoleon III drafted many men from these areas to fight in the army against Prussia, and the men brought the style to the attention of the French people (Beret). By the 1900s, men and boys of all ages were wearing berets, and it was sometimes considered, along with a smock, part of the standard French school uniform (Beret). The beret also gained popularity in Belgium because the people there closely followed French styles. The French "Alpine Hunters," a special mountain force stationed in the alps, was the first military unit to adopt the beret (Beret). Americans have had this stereotype about the French for a very long time and still do to this day. This shows that Americans are not completely educated about current French people. Americans seem to not have an interest in wanting to be educated and that shows that we have poor values. This can reflect badly on us and I think we should consider educating ourselves on learning about not just French people but other people around the world too. Assuming stereotypes is not the right thing do to and other countries might look as us and think we are poorly educated.

Works Cited "Beret: Origins of Style." PrivateIslandPartycom Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. Siskin, H. Jay. Dbuts: An Introduction to French. Third Edition ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.