THE AMERICAN STREET SPEAKS: Reader Jim Hogue emails:

I heard the “American street” speak today in a supermarket in Dayton, Ohio and it said “F**K the French!”

I stop by the store after work to get a bottle of wine. While reaching for my usual Australian bottle of red plonk when I noticed that “Georges Duboeuf” “produced and bottled in France” has a Syrah and it was on sale. Not even thinking about anything in particular, I reached for the bottle when a black gentleman standing next to me, looking at the same wine said, “F**k the French, I wouldn’t drink it if it were free!” and picked up another bottle of wine, Aussie I think, glared at me and walked away.

I thought to myself, “yep, me too pal, with barbed wire” and grabbed an Aussie bottle myself.

I have never put much faith in boycotts, they don’t seem to work in this global world economy; you know the old question, what’s more American? A Chevy built in Canada or a Toyota built in Kentucky? But this experience tonight was thought provoking and “yeah”, I muttered to myself as I walked from the store, “F**k the French!” French (and German) anything is off my list.

I suspect a lot of people are starting to think this way.