Paris: Le Bof!

photograph courtesy of martin_cadwallader

1. Stick out your lower lip.

2. Raise your eyebrows and shoulders simultaneously.

If you follow these simple rules, according to the Paris tourism Web site cestsoparis.com, you will cop a “bof!” Bof is a classic Parisian expression. It signifies a denial of knowledge, agreement, or responsibility. Anglophones might also understand it as a version of whatever.

Cestsoparis.com is just one facet of France’s vast tourism campaign, a collective effort that saw France welcome 78 million foreign tourists in 2006—a sharp increase of 2.7 percent over 2005 figures.

Paris goes to great lengths to cater to tourists from around the globe, even mocking notorious Parisian attitudes in their ad campaigns.

78 million tourists in a country of 63 million…Bof!