While I usually don’t subscribe to most stereotypes, there are always a few that are true enough to merit their labels. Here’s one: the French are flirts. Is this true of all of them? No, probably not, but as a country France is pretty flirty. Playful—but always polite—conversations can be had between friends, between strangers, and even between married men and women with people who aren’t their significant other (gasp!). In other cultures this may raise a few eyebrows, and tempers, but in France it’s just a conversation, there’s no strings attached.