That French shrug!?

The official tourism site for Paris and the Ile de France (www.pidf.com) is a useful site for visitors to the Paris region and has a spin-off site where amongst other things the French do not take themselves too seriously – unusual, I know, especially on a government-funded website.
Here at www.cestsoparis.com (it’s so Paris!) you will find invaluable guides to French and Parisian humour and an illustrated guide to the gallic shrug!. Apparently a survey showed that many visitors (especially from the UK) often misunderstood the non-verbal body language employed by the capital’s residents, reinforcing the idea that Parisians are rude – although in my experience no ruder than Londoners as a general rule.
c’est so paris
Hence the BOF! which is perhaps the classic French shrug. It is used to “deny knowledge, agreement or responsibility”. With a visual guide and instructions you can add it to your own armour of communication skills whilst in France
– firstly stick out your lower lip, and then
– raise your eyebrows and shoulders sumultaneously! (not as easy as it sounds!)

– official tourism site for Paris and the Ile de France (www.pidf.com)