My fellow Americans (and everybody else!)
I throw around the word "Americans" a lot on this site, and it might make it sounds as though I'm speaking specifically to (or about) Americans only. This is absolutely not the case! I talk about Americans so much for a few reasons: I'm American myself, and in writing about my experiences in France I'm often talking about things as I relate to them as an American.
The vast majority of this site's traffic does come in from the US, with the UK a distant second, Canada and Australia with a few percent each, and the rest is a smattering of traffic from other anglophone countries and also the non-anglophone world; people with English as a second language or people who don't speak English and accidentally Googled their way in here. I'm thrilled to have all these visitors! Hiya! Welcome!
When I write about things on this site with regard to how non-French people relate to them, sometimes I'm talking about Americans specifically, or you could even say Americans-and-anglophone-Canadians (as so many aspects of our cultures are similar), or sometimes I mean the whole anglophone world, and sometimes the whole non-French world, i.e. all my other readers who are visiting Paris from other parts of the world and are doing their research in English.
I've often considered using the word "anglophones" in place of "Americans," but that just doesn't do the job for a lot of the specific things I'm talking about. One example off the top of my head is the size of hotel rooms; Americans are used to much much larger hotel rooms then when they'll find in Paris, but I can't say that's the case for people from the rest of the anglophone world.
So if anything I'm guilty of being a little bit ethnocentric when talking about Americans throughout this site, but that's where I'm from, and that's how I relate to Paris and France; I can't help it! I hope it never sounds like I'm giving Americans too hard a time (unless it's about how we dress when traveling abroad), and I also hope I never sound like I think Americans are the only people who read this site or visit France.
Here's to all of us being good guests!
Tipping in France
What to wear (and what NOT to wear) during your stay in Paris
Hotels and accommodations in Paris
Basic etiquette for Paris; la bise, etc.
Checklist for your trip to Paris