Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2023 June 21

= June 21 =

"The French copy nobody, and nobody copies the French."
I've heard this saying both in the car enthusiasts community, and the firearms enthusiasts community. Is there a discernible origin for this saying? Mel Gervais (talk) 17:53, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * A fair few people on the Web seem to agree, rightly or not, that it comes from the radio show Car Talk. --Antiquary (talk) 19:51, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Comics and film enthusiasts beg to differ... 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 20:08, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Among those, quite a few attribute it specifically to Tom and Ray Magliozzi. --Lambiam 07:59, 22 June 2023 (UTC)


 * I'm reminded inexorably of what François-René de Chateaubriand once said: The original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate. --  Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  22:31, 22 June 2023 (UTC)


 * Ever tried changing a tyre on a French car? They have wheel bolts instead of wheel nuts. Wartime Free French pilots had difficulty adjusting to British and American aircraft, because in a French machine, you had to pull the throttle back to go faster.
 * As far as Google can tell, the first use of this phrase was by Tom and Ray Magliozzi (linked above) in 1991 (or at least, that's when it appeared in print). Alansplodge (talk) 23:27, 22 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Last century, France was the only Western European country that used SECAM instead of PAL (leading to some VHS compatibility issues). It also had it's own popular online service Minitel long before World Wide Web. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 20:19, 23 June 2023 (UTC)