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In the series Married ... with Children the character Al Bundy seems to have a bit of hatred towards France.

A list of the original (English) statements on France is found on this site. I've seen the series in German and there they also pick on the French.

Question: Do they pick on France in the French translation as well or do they pick on another country?

I'm particularly interested in the French translation of the following line (from "Legend of Ironhead Haynes" (0821))

Commandment #2: It's wrong to be French.

The easiest would be to just translate this as "C'est mal d'être français." but I know from other series that sometimes the translators spend quite some effort to change running gags like these.

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Yes, in French the allusions to France are modified.

The second command of NO MA'AM is "We don't have to wash our armpits. ('It's bad to be French' in the American version)"

The French Wikipedia page on Al Bundy describes it correctly.

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  • Joachim, why did you edit my answer ? Franco-German friendship is important :)
    – user1838775
    May 11, 2022 at 12:12
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    Many thanks, I did not expect an answer after two years :)
    – Stefan
    May 12, 2022 at 5:48
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There are three main reasons a "redneck" stereotype would be portrayed to have an inbuilt prejudice against the French.

NOTE: I do not agree with or endorse these attitudes

  1. Anything French is generally considered fancy/posh/high-class at this time in US culture (and possibly still). It is common for low socio-economic groups to reject anything high class (reverse-snobbery)

  2. There is a long-standing 'joke' among people in the US (and some in UK) that the French surrendered too easily in World War 2; and it was only due to the stalwart determination of the British and allies that the Nazis were defeated

  3. As tourists to Paris in particular, US citizens often receive cold or outright hostile reactions from the French natives. I'm not going to go into the details, for fear of perpetuating stereotypes myself; but let's just say there are cultural incompatibilities

After a quick read, most/all the references to France/French culture can be attributed by one of these three explanations

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  • Thank you very much for the answer. I may have phrased the question ambiguously, as I'm interested in the French translation and whether they've chosen another contry to pick on. I'll update the question and sorry for your inconvience.
    – Stefan
    May 1, 2020 at 9:47

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