Originally Posted by
Christopher
I well remember being in France once with an elderly relation. I made to pay the entry fees to a museum when the woman behind the desk said very quietly to my companion, "Monsieur a peut-être plus de soixante ans?"
It occurred to me that if we'd been in an Anglo-Saxon country the woman would probably have screeched at him, in a stentorian voice that everyone around could have heard, "Are you over sixty?" The French way seemed much more gracious somehow.
French formality is very charming, I find, although it often trips visitors up, as they find themselves being unintentionally rude by omission.
My favourite, however, is the standard, formal letter sign off. "Yours sincerely?" No, "Please accept, sir, the expression of my most distinguished sentiments."