Is "Paris Syndrome" A Real Thing?

[@TomScottGo]

A correction to this video: tachycardia is accelerated heartbeat, not irregular. The video's also a very early one that, in hindsight, I'm not particularly proud of, but that's not technically a correction. All corrections can be found at www.tomscott.com/corrections/

[@lmaonoidea]

Hi I am your big fan

[@freatythedreary5491]

Ah so this comment is the reason this video showed up in my recommended... Nice of you to still make corrections to videos from 5 years ago :)

[@Corbynyt]

oh tom why must you correct a 5 year old video and make it show up in my recommended, none of us would have known!

[@andysabur4966]

Are you just randomly watching your previous vids in search of mistakes?

[@thekid9989]

I was there in the spring. I believe that is the bridge they cut all the locks off. There are new ones there but they are trying to stop it from happening.

[@onszik]

Imagine being so underwhelmed you hallucinate

[@ManiacalForeigner]

I've seen some movies people recommended that did that to me

[@ArthurKnight1899]

@@ManiacalForeigner tell us more!

[@televizion9962]

@@ArthurKnight1899 no!

[@edsan9788]

Whenever I travel I just assume all city I visit will be as depressing as the burned down crumbling South Bronx I grew up in in the 70s this way I'm always amazed

[@thismans1405]

Whenever I ask someone out

[@casey6556]

That went really dark really quickly.

[@dooplon5083]

Bet that's what the tourists said.

[@JordanBeagle]

I know right

[@oriongate3535]

Zero to One Hundred in record time

[@kestrels-in-the-sky]

That’s life bucko

[@Sentientmatter8]

And then went 10x darker in the last 6 seconds.

[@Finallybianca]

This is the Lock Picking Lawyer and today I have for you a bridge.

[@gautamvaze1101]

xD

[@sa3doz]

I read that in his voice.

[@CheesyHotDogPuff]

And we see here, a little shortcut that saves us a bit of time. *Unlocks every lock on the bridge*

[@cmelton6796]

@Boco Corwin A shaving off a Red Bull can

[@j29maniac]

don't bink that has to be the best KZbin comment ever! Keep up the good work.

[@colinfurze]

Last 5 secs are amazing. Plus take that bridge to your local scrapyard and with your check they give you Paris syndrome won't seem so bad. Good work Tom

[@OfficialMexicanNinja]

Damn, I had to dig through some comments to suddenly find Mr. Colin Furze.

[@rjames0820]

OfficialMexicanNinja tru dat

[@helpmegetup]

just scrolling through the comments when suddenly a wild Colin Furze appears! also I love all your builds.

[@Potatoverse]

wow 3 years ago

[@Lucas_van_Hout]

Help Me Get Up you let it sound like you love Pokemon and collinfurze is a super rare Pokemon

[@Sarusource]

Is there a syndrome for cities that actually confound one's negative expectations? Maybe Detroit Syndrome.

[@hotelmario510]

Manchester syndrome. Manchester plays second banana to London in nearly every way but it's arguably a better, nicer city than London.

[@koninkrijkdernederlanden8711]

Sarusource In the Netherlands it's the same case with Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Rotterdam is much uglier than Amsterdam, but still it's a nicer city to visit than Amsterdam.

[@Tycini1]

LMAO

[@OHYS]

hotelmario510, I disagree, I've been to both, and I much prefer London, that said I still really like Manchester.

[@diamondfailer11]

Koninkrijk der Nederlanden Yeah, I agree. Amsterdam was full of high people harassing others in the streets. In other cities, everyone was calm and nice to me.

[@iamjimgroth]

Fun fact: The railing of one of those bridges fell into the water because of the weight of those locks. This happened just a few weeks ago. The padlock industry must have been devastated.

[@TheRinzl2r]

Jim Groth did they fish it out? i'd imagine that it was very heavy.

[@iamjimgroth]

TheRinzl2r I have no clue actually. Good question though.

[@princessthyemis]

Whoa!!!!!

[@kabhes9040]

that railing couldn't have been secured well.

[@ew6483]

kab hes Whether it was or wasn’t, putting locks on historical monuments (especially bridges) is dangerous and disrespectful in some cases. If you want to have a love lock, the house of the late Serge Gainsbourg on Rue de Vernouille in Paris is a permitted place with railings on which to secure a lock.

[@theBoonarmies]

"My issues aside..." perhaps the most perfect segue ever

[@buybymail]

That's Tom. A rant and interesting info!

[@pauljmorton]

There was this Finn who went to Japan and the Japanese were like "OOO You're from Finland, you have Nightless Nights, that's so cool!" and the Finn made them supersad when he said that having nightless nights also means having dayless days.

[@r.b.4611]

Wait so... what happens, is there some stable equilibrium? Is it dark during day and light during night? What happens?

[@sa5624]

Nightles night is for a one day a year the sun does not go down so its light 24h. And a day less day is the opposite.

[@henri8286]

In the summer in the northern parts of finland the sun doesnt set for 1-100 days, depending on how north you live. Same in the winter with sun not coming up.

[@thehiddenninja3428]

@@r.b.4611 The nightless night happens in the middle of summer. The dayless day happens in the middle of winter.

[@davidhayward6382]

That's the law of Equivalent Exchange.

[@SeanTheOriginal]

The way he puts it, he makes it sound like it's the most extreme form of disappointment.

[@Dankman9]

I'm more disappointed in my EX GF than I am in Paris.

[@jacksainthill8974]

Paris is much grubbier than London. After a week there and having become used to it, I arrived back at Waterloo and the contrast made the whole station look as if it had been cleaned and sterilised like an operating theatre.

[@thefrosty1925]

Yeah, I went to Paris a couple of years ago. Been to France a few times, but only to Disneyland Paris. When I got there though.. Wow. I had been watching the news quite a bit at the time and the news being the news, it kept talking about how wealthy France is and how they all have much longer holidays etc so I was convinced it would be a really nice place.. But no. I honestly started to wonder if I had boarded a plane to Birmingham or something because, for the whole,it was a bit of a shit hole. I mean, the Metro compared to ours.. Have they even touched it since they put it in like 130 years ago? I seriously don't think so.. Quite a lot of beggars as well and quite a few places made you pay to get in (no where near as bad as Barcelona but Barcelona is a better place overall I feel). But it was really strange because over here in the UK we're CONSTANTLY told of how we're not as great as we used to be and how every other country is beating us and is so much more wealthier etc etc but I was amazed at how much better London is! It's like going to Dubai in comparison haha, love the fact that basically every tourist attraction is free! (One of the few good things the government does haha)

[@jacksainthill8974]

ThaGamer Britain really is _Great_. Including Birmingham. :)

[@thefrosty1925]

Jack Sainthill Yeah it is, and suurree whatever you say man ;D /s

[@aroxsimona8164]

Jack Sainthill I disagree, my family and I visited last summer and we both agreed Paris was cleaner than London. Perhaps, they've cleaned up their act, or maybe we just got lucky with our hotel.

[@jacksainthill8974]

+Rita Simonian OK, fair enough.

[@VyvienneEaux]

I can imagine Japanese tourists in particular being affected by this because 1) French culture is somewhat romanticized in Japan and 2) Japanese cities are impeccably clean. Imagine being told your entire life that there's a spectacular place in the world where many of the fancy elements of your culture originated, only to then visit that same place and find it far filthier and less organized than your own city. It would be hope-crushing to experience this for people already dissatisfied with their own standard of life in their own society.

[@MJ-uk6lu]

Happened to me when I went to Spain. In my country there's a perception that it's an exotic country, but reality was that it's more like an endless desert with occasional civilization.

[@DanielSultana]

I've heard so many stories of Paris being filthy, that I was pleasantly surprised when I visited and it was better than I imagined, similarly I've been told so many times that the Mona Lisa is a small painting, that I almost expected it to be the size of a Polaroid photo, but instead I was pleasantly surprised that it is about life sized. With this in mind, I'm most likely getting parris syndrome when I visit Japan

[@Ramboost007]

So basically weeaboos when they get to Japan.

[@brinckau]

That's true, but as a French guy, I can tell you that we are totally aware of that, and we are working hard to figure out why there is so much vandalism in our cities. We are making progress, and soon, I'm sure Paris will be even cleaner than Tokyo, and Japanese tourists will be enchanted to visit our capital city. Actually, I'm joking, we aren't doing anything at all.

[@weppwebb2885]

@@brinckau just behead the vandalists!

[@KishoreShenoy1994]

1:58 Remember Evian backwards is naive

[@NoriMori1992]

Never noticed that.

[@klobiforpresident2254]

"There's no way people will just buy bottled water. They'd have to be incredibly naïve." "Why are you grinning like this?" "I've just had an idea."

[@BibleStorm]

I've read this before and gone "haha, I'm not falling for that one" only to realise that actually it's not a joke.

[@Juslin7989]

I thought you were making a joke but then I realised you were actually right lmao

[@PrisonerZero]

Just to be pedantic, tachycardia is a fast heart rate; an irregular heart beat is arrhythmia.

[@youluvana]

+Scarlett Phoenix tachycardia sucks.

[@Crossark1]

+Scarlett Phoenix Is a fast heart rate not also irregular?

[@JonesNoahT]

+Crossark1 "irregular" implicitly refers specifically to the rhythm.

[@FruityVeggieHead]

Crossark1 irregular doesn't refer to it being different from your "regular" heartbeat. It literally means irregular in rhythm, meaning the pattern itself is irregular/unpredictable/or offset by staccato beats in an otherwise regular pattern. Generally people with arrhythmia, that is their normal heartbeat, the one they go through life with, although certain arrhythmias can be treated. Tachycardia generally refers to a quickening pace due to environmental or physical factors. For instance, some people go into tachycardia when they run too long, if they stop running, they will come out of tachycardia.

[@pezpeculiar9557]

...and that's something you might not have known

[@nijnij3988]

This is amazing. I once did a few weeks of French language summer school in Paris. They taught us that Paris syndrome was when foreign tourists would get overwhelmed with the Shere beauty of the city and all its amazing culture. I'm not joking. They taught us (all foreign students) this as fact. This was like 15 years ago and I'm only now finding out that, actually, it's basically the opposite of what I was told. Thank you, Tom Scott. That was a thing I did not know

[@0wnter1d1ck]

That’s Stendhal syndrome, being overwhelmed

[@pumpkinhill4570]

The term is actually meant to encompass both situations. It applies to anyone so overwhelmed by Paris, in a good or bad way.

[@thecheeze9001]

All those people watching romanticized versions of France in anime would be pretty disappointed.

[@cdemr]

Some cities in France still look a bit like that... But definitely not Paris

[@user-kd3lm3fn6t]

@@cdemr PARIS SMELLS LIKE PISS

[@ThreadBomb]

I think people who watch anime know it's fantasy.

[@thecheeze9001]

@@ThreadBomb know that weebs would disappoint you, always

[@ksng767]

As an Asian guy who just came back from traveling alone through Europe and America, I have an anecdotal testimony that this Paris Syndrome did in fact happened to me. When I was in Paris, I was hit by the reality of it and felt extremely lonely especially since there are couples everywhere. I felt so compelled to talk to strangers to ease the loneliness that I visited the Eiffel Tower every evening on the way back to my hotel to talk to other East Asian tourists, who all expressed similar disappointments. But this experience made me a much more out going and bolder person as I continued my journey across the world and talked to hundreds of strangers. Of course my TARDIS hat helped in the UK and the USA where more people approached me instead of me approaching them, I guess an Asian Whovian is quite a curious sight.

[@jamesbizs]

An Asian nerd in America isn't a curious site. They are everywhere. A black whovian might be a little bit more out of the norm.

[@aperfectlynormalinternetus6715]

Ah, you've given me an excellent strategy to spark conversations more easily, since I'm generally extremely bad at that.

[@arthurfinidori609]

in paris we just don t care if your asian ... it s a cosmopolitic city, with withe, black, arabes, asians and to much tourist so ....

[@markfox1545]

KS Ng - you have a TARDIS hat?! Cool! 🤣👍

[@TiberianFiend]

@@arthurfinidori609 Paris is a multi-culti dump of a city, you mean?

[@JJceo]

I've been to Japan, and I can see how that could happen.

[@devastator5042]

yeah, same here I get what your saying

[@Tycini1]

Hell on earth of a country, isn't it? You know what they say, the difference tween Japan and North Korea is that in North Korea there's one person who lives happily.

[@festethephule7553]

@@Tycini1 ...Who says that?

[@princessthyemis]

@@Tycini1 North Korea!? That's literally impossible. The people aren't even PEOPLE there. Mere misery would be a luxury. Even if it's just a saying, there's no way that could be true.

[@dashingtherouxthesnow4017]

@@princessthyemis It's a reference to Kim Jong Un...

[@laurenconrad1799]

I 1000% experienced Paris syndrome. I got there and was like, this is it? I knew that London and New York has grimy bits, but Paris was always portrayed in media as being nothing but beauty. No, it’s just as grimy as any other city.

[@oleksandrfabry8497]

If you think that any city can be nothing but beauty you're probably dumb to begin with

[@ThreadBomb]

@Jay Saenz You must be from a very small town.

[@StumpfForFreedom]

"As grimy as any other city" what other cities do you know where people freely urinate in the streets and let stray dogs run? Is New York as filthy as Paris?

[@ayellowpapercrown6750]

@@StumpfForFreedom urinating i get that its a real societal problem, but ive always lived in paris and i dint recall ever seeing a stray dog. I even thing nyc has the same filth problem, it just doesn’t have the same reputation as paris so its not as much of a shock. It definitely smells like piss tho, and that coming from someone who is used to the smell of piss

[@overlyobsolete2797]

@@StumpfForFreedom lviv, kiev, moscow, stalingrad, leningrad, kharkiv.

[@CamstonIsland]

The locks on that bridge were removed today. This is likely the best quality video of those people's locks of "everlasting love".

[@justayoutuber1906]

Everlasting recycled brass

[@jasonreed7522]

I imagine its like how you toss a coin into a fountain and make a wish, and then the city collects them and spends them on something hopefully good for the disadvantaged members of the community. You know it won't litterally stay there forever, but its the act of putting it there that matters.

[@NoriMori1992]

I went to Paris on a school trip, for two weeks. I loved it. Sure, it's not as glitteringly beautiful as it is in the movies… But it's definitely beautiful. Most of it just looks like any big city, but there's so much beautiful architecture and other sights, and I loved the Louvre. The Champs-Élysées is breathtaking, and watching the Eiffel Tower light up was magical (I hadn't known that it does that until literally the moment it started).

[@CaptainFalcon92]

I'd like to talk a bit about these padlocks: I work everyday a few 200m from where you shot. Locking padlocks on bridges (or anywhere else by the way) is illegal and dangerous : people give stupid meaning to a single padlock in Paris, but in pratice what happen if that railings become so heavy that THEY FALL! and it is pretty annoying when they fall as a peniche (a flat paris boat) passes under it. There were many accidents of falling railings... So now the city 'tries' to snap them of.. but there are way too much of these. If a police man sees you lock a stupid 'love' padlock, you be arrested and have to pay an forfeiture. However this is only the theory and people still place locks, onto locks, onto locks... because there is no place available remaining. Please if you comes and visit paris as a couple, dont do locks, nowhere. Or maybe bring it as a souvenir.. i dunno..

[@dooplon5083]

Or they could just put the locks on in their own house where there's no real danger of putting too much weight for the railing (unless they get addicted to lock collection)

[@hentaigod1963]

My strange addiction: Collecting locks.

[@shares5]

idea, maybe they should start a campaign where you cut off a lock and take it home as a memento instead of the alternative lul

[@jamesbizs]

yeah, no. If I go, I will put a lock, just because you told me not to. It will be a lock for me myself and I. Cause I'm single.

[@solarsatan9000]

@@jamesbizs dude that's a gross display of disrespect never put a "lovelock" on anything these sites are historic these locks ruin them and cause the decay to speed up it looks ugly and ruins the city for those who lives there do NOT do this

[@penthehuman]

the evian part made me giggle, this is such a great series Tom

[@joblessalex]

as a lock picker, it pains me to not be able to remove all these

[@josephcarrick5334]

They were removed a few years ago due to safety concerns

[@josephcarrick5334]

Firstpo jkh the locks might cause the metal fence to snap off and potentially fall on a boat down below and even kill some unfortunate boater.

[@josephcarrick5334]

Firstpo jkh There either wasn't enough room, wasn't aesthetically pleasing, or wouldn't support the weight of several tonnes. Either way, this happened a long time ago and I doubt the Parisian government cares about the locks anymore.

[@josephcarrick5334]

Firstpo jkh What the hell are you even going on about? This happened over a year ago and the city council doesn't plan on doing anything. If you care so much then take your argument with them, not some random youtuber on the internet who lives several thousand miles away.

[@lucaspal61]

Actually I thinkit was the whole brige that threatened to collapse. All the lockers weighted approximatively 45 tons. And they didn't plan that two hundreds years ago.

[@JoeBleasdaleReal]

“A dirty and polluted European city.” *Subway* 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@highonlife2323]

God Bless the USA and her massive sphere of influence

[@bobjenz]

great as always

[@DUNDUA2]

You're everywhere

[@ananttiwari1337]

Hello!

[@Evanz111]

Anyone here after Tom’s announcement of stepping back from KZbin? This video feels weirdly fitting

[@sudonim7552]

Japanese people expecting Paris to be way better than it really is is like American people expecting Japan to be way better than it really is. (When they start living there, that is. Japan is very cool if you're just visiting.)

[@dooplon5083]

Pretty much. Also, your icon is perfect for this.

[@EllTheBob]

Awesome Person I went to Japan, and it was really cool

[@Droid5767]

Went to Japan last year...was extremely impressed on how delicious and neat/clean everything was.

[@Nickknows00]

what u on about toyko was the coolest city ive ever been too

[@jeannebouwman1970]

Their judicial system is crap tho

[@MrPs103]

You received a like simply for that Evian joke at the end :)

[@kylepickus5712]

I’m studying anthropology and one interesting thing I learned while taking a class on culture, health and Illness is that there is a lot of unknown when it comes to syndromes and mental illness. One culture may see one thing as traumatic and another may find it typical. The only concrete thing is feeling, not emotion. Different people express different emotions and possibly different symptoms which could be interpreted as an illness or a syndrome. I feel like “Paris Syndrome,” just like any mental illness is real yet created by the power of the human mind at the same time.

[@ShadowKick32]

All those padlocks have been removed at once recently, it was too much weight for that old bridge.

[@nitehawk86]

Those locks are starting to infect the bridges in Pittsburgh. American version of Paris syndrome: "If people in Paris think it is trendy, we should do it too."

[@____-pb1lg]

The irony is, Parisians don't like them only tourists do

[@nicetryalive11]

I'm not sure if I believe it myself but I was told about this or a similar theory in my intro to religion class. Apparently tourists visiting Jerusalem have been reported as exibiting these "overwhelmed" symptoms also.

[@justayoutuber1906]

Happens in Hollywood a lot

[@MrTarmonbarry]

The opening monologue was brilliant , thank you

[@ajs41]

Apparently he hates it now.

[@nrviognjiocfmbkirdom]

The only time ever in my life that someone stole something from me was in Paris. That's why I hate it.

[@CanaryAlien]

Me too!

[@oleksandrfabry8497]

Lived in Paris my whole life. Never got stolen anything.

[@cdemr]

You haven't been stolen by Parisians though...but some other people...

[@thelordofforeheads2839]

Was there for a day and half, my phone was stolen.

[@gaia7240]

So you've never been in any other european city?😂

[@SanitysEdg3]

0 to 20 seconds - wow, maybe its better to never have loved than to loved and lost

[@KodieS]

Having traveled to Paris and London for a vacation in 2019, London lived up to every expectation I had while Paris made me feel uncomfortable and out of place. The movies paint Paris as a place of Romance as was said here, but it sure didn't feel romantic. I couldn't wait to get back into the City of London, I felt safer and much more at peace!

[@heliedecastanet1882]

Happy to know that you feel so safe in a city where stabbing has become a national sport 🙂

[@ajs41]

@@heliedecastanet1882 Stabbing isn't that common in London, considering it has a population of around 10 million people. I was in Paris recently and it felt a lot more unsafe than London does.

[@heliedecastanet1882]

@@ajs41 There is a huge difference between sensation and reality, you know 🙂 Actually, London and Paris have almost the same murder rate : 0,00127% for London, 0,0012 for Paris. Not a big difference. Happy New Year !

[@priestpilot]

I went to Paris with very low expectations because I heard about how dirty it is there. But I ended up being amazed. So sometimes I feel like I need to have low expectations to be satisfied in life. My favourite city is Montréal and I am trying to get friends to visit there. But when I tell them how amazing it is, I also tell them that it can be very depressing at times. I love Montréal for their mix of the very good and the very bad things about it. And so I hope that I don't create high expectations of others for a city I love.

[@aepokkvulpex]

Ouch that intro hit me deep into a personal thing I'm still processing

[@tricky778]

I once read that the effect on Japanese wasn't that Paris was so different from what they expected that they couldn't cope with physically existing any more but simply that they way they needed to interact with their environment was so far outside what they'd ever learned could be so that they had no means to make basic plans like stepping forward, or saying Bonjour.

[@papa8bit39]

Possibly it just hits a little harder, the jetlag and all. when you look at the disapointment people leave behind everywhere

[@ZachBeauvais]

The market calls out for a bolt-cutter shop for separated lovers.

[@kaimonington]

In France, subways are measured 15cm or 30cm.

[@DanielSultana]

Kai Hammond which is just about 6inch or a footlong

[@kierancullen8161]

That's because no one knows what an inch is due to using a sensible system of measurement

[@Tycini1]

They measure it like that in the whole Europe and Russia. The question is, how do you do it in America?

[@autumnakins7640]

@@Tycini1 when you grow up with it, it is easy and makes sense. I understand why the metric system is so much simpler, bit converting your brain from one system to another is difficult. Younger people are learning both in school though and probably in another 50 years we will have rid ourselves of the non metric system.

[@Kuolema1337]

@Ori Windsor Imperial is based on metric for some reason. It's just that they didn't use round numbers for conversions.

[@thecactaceae]

Apparently part of the lock bridge railing collapsed under the weight of the locks. You were certainly right about them not being there for eternity.

[@kilésengati]

Paris is one of the dirtiest capitals in Europe I have seen so far. Berlin, compared to Paris, seems like a city where you can eat right away from the streets.

[@oliverlane9716]

Berlin is wonderful, one of the cleanest cities i have been to

[@kilésengati]

Wikiramblings I don't know why they doing this. At least the campingside and any more civilised place in Paris had a proper toilet. But to be perfectly honest, the Japanese and Koreans laugh at us. ;) I don't like this high tech toilets.

[@DaveTexas]

I dunno. I spent a week in Paris a couple of years ago. I expected pollution, smelly streets, pickpockets, and snooty French people who would refuse to talk to me because my French isn’t perfect. That’s what I experienced when I was there 25 years earlier. This time, however, it was a lovely experience. The people were genuinely nice, the streets were clean, the sights were spectacular. My "Paris syndrome" was that I enjoyed it so much that I want to go back soon, despite having gone there with a negative attitude.

[@ajs41]

It depends entirely which part of the city you visit. Also, there are good and bad streets right next door to each other. You could walk down one of them and miss the other one entirely, and that's replicated throughout the city.

[@obviousbear1289]

Living in Innsbruck, Austria, the only people there wearing Dirndl and Lederhosen were Japanese tourists. It formed a cycle of disappointment where you could watch them see other people in Dirndls, only to realize they were also tourists. It was quite fun!

[@IceMetalPunk]

My ex and I had planned on visiting there and putting a lock up one day... so I completely agree with your intro and I'm glad we never did xD

[@solarsatan9000]

Putting those locks up is gross and ruins the site the fact you even thought of it is disgusting

[@archdukefranzferdinand567]

@@solarsatan9000 calm down

[@solarsatan9000]

@@archdukefranzferdinand567 stfu before i go princip your arse

[@ndescruzur4378]

@@solarsatan9000 lmao

[@BluJuiice]

I must say I was disappointed when I went to Paris. There wasn't a lot to do and I only went for two days and I wouldn't go back. New York however was excellent and I would definitely go back. Enjoyed every minute of it.

[@williamoldaker5348]

Also it sounds like something that can happen anywhere when one's expectations are shot down most become disheartened in someway more some over others.

[@AbigailPoirier]

I really like these videos...always interesting. Hope you keep 'em coming for a long time!

[@CallieMasters5000]

Next video: all the partners that left Tom a coldharted wretch.

[@junedug]

"I THINK I FOUND THE EVIAN BOTTLING PLANT."

[@Rog5446]

That bridge must be under some considerable stress with the unforeseen additional weight of those padlocks.

[@inserttexthere4070]

That's why they removed them a couple yaers ago. Now there's a glass railing so you can't put locks there anymore.

[@NathanBoehm]

For every one of those locks there's probably a key in the water.

[@blueskull1119]

None of these couples are still together

[@veer8123]

The sarcasm that begins with the video.

[@moabfool]

Living in a large city probably helps to dilute the expectations. I lived in NYC for a couple of years after high school. Going to Paris wasn't a big deal. The people I met seemed friendly and helpful, but I can turn on just enough crazy to keep bad actors away so I didn't have trouble from pick pockets. I loved walking around and found the city very approachable and on a much more human scale than NYC. All was well until we tried to leave. CDG may be the most awful airport on the planet. The utter inefficiency and lack of signage is a joke. They do things the absolute worst way possible simply because it's easier for them. I don't feel one bit bad that I went full ugly American and yelled at someone who claimed they couldn't help me when I know full well they could have. I'd like to visit Paris again, but I'll hop a train to Frankfurt, Brussels, or Amsterdam before I fly out of Paris again.

[@tooyoungtobeold8756]

You were right. The council did come along with bolt croppers and removed them - they said the weight was damaging the bridge.

[@kirstenwalstedt1620]

I'd never heard of Paris Syndrome, but I do remember being surprised at how naff and grubby it was and how many highly unfashionable young people I saw walking around.

[@Dudukina]

gosh this is THE BEST intro i've heard yet

[@ki4gmx]

I can tell you that reverse-Paris syndrome also exists. That there are some places that are far more wonderful than ever imagined from home where you can fall in love and never want to leave. -- An American emigree in Prague.

[@JasminMiettunen]

Jason Evans is Prague really that wonderful? Like, add to your bucket list wonderful?

[@ala0284]

Jasmin Miettunen Prague is nice but I wouldn’t want to live there, the outskirts are quite communist looking

[@jackieyo6128]

of course it exists, it's called "Stendhal syndrome" and it was experienced in Florence.

[@ThePixel1983]

Watching this 5 train minutes outside Paris. I don't regret moving here.

[@mikejohnson6302]

Lock Picking Lawyer you should go to that place and see if you can pick all the locks. The city removes them every now and then so you could plan to do it with permission if you look into it

[@mikejohnson6302]

LockPickingLawyer spelled together to make sure you were tagged

[@Grattenj]

That opening monologue about spiraling into death - wow that's brilliant

[@rob11s]

I believe you got tachycardia mixed with arrythmia.

[@eli1000fer]

He's British, it's okay.

[@GooseCee]

I had New York syndrome, I romanticized it so much and when I finally went it was the most boring and ugly place i had ever been on earth.

[@DSQueenie]

"My own issues aside." Christ let's keep love alive eh Tom?

[@bentoth9555]

"My issues aside" is strong Chris Joel saying "Wrong meeting" vibes.

[@BigyetiTechnologies]

Unlike Stockholm Syndrome, which is the crux of the story to Beauty and the Beast.

[@johngreer4298]

Congratulations... this video made my burst with laughter *twice*. Well done!

[@jgperes]

Well. In Brazil, the situation is worse. So seeing how clean everything is there compared to us really obliterates the possibility of this being a thing here.

[@MrJPEzra]

That was a succinct definition of a relationship.

[@SeaJayBelfast]

Anyone else hate those padlocks? I probably sound like a grump but I equate it to graffiti and littering.

[@christianbarnay2499]

+SeaJayBelfast Bad news is it's become dangerous and some grids have fallen into the river under the heavy weight. Good news is the council has come with a more radical solution than bolt cutters. They remove the grids and put sturdy plastic panels instead so you can still look through but can't attach locks anymore.

[@GhostInTheShell29]

+Christian Barnay But what will that do to the lock making industry? and the sellers. Wouldn't it be most effective to just send in a lock picker? that much variety of locks, and permission I imagine you could get many lock pickers to come in for free or just pay them in locks. Then resell the locks to new tourists.

[@christianbarnay2499]

+GhostInTheShell29 Those were mainly shitty low grade locks with absolutely no interest for lockpickers. You can open them faster with a hammer than with skillful lockpicking.

[@GhostInTheShell29]

Christian Barnay So people who want a symbol of their love to last forever are buying the cheapest ones they can find.... Well that kinda ruins my plan then.

[@NoriMori1992]

Though +Christian Barnay points out that they have posed a safety issue, aside from that I'm somewhat of two minds about it. Part of me feels exactly the same as you - "graffiti and littering" - and another part of me feels like it's cute and beautiful. Most of them were probably just teenagers in puppy love or following a trend, but presumably they cared deeply about each other when they did it, and were excited to do it. And there's _history_ there. There's an ice cream and hot dog place near where I grew up, that has graffiti - mostly names or little messages - written in pen or marker, or scratched in, on the wood panel walls next to the booths. And they've left them there, on purpose. I think it adds so much character to the place, and it's fun to read the messages and think about those people who were there before you and had fun writing it. You can wonder about what kind of people they were, and what their lives are like now. I sort of feel the same way about those padlocks.

[@2ofdee]

I really like these videos. Thank you Tom.

[@slaughterround643]

Where I live (Liverpool), locks on a fence or bridge mean somebody has died and couldn't afford a gravestone (iirc)

[@solarsatan9000]

Now that makes this more interesting

[@SirSidi]

"drawing a little too much signal from the noise" wow I never heard this expression before

[@AveryIsScared]

Woah, Tom, is everything alright?

[@000MIKE]

If anyone was wonderimg, there is also an opposite case: the Stendhal Syndrome, or Florence Syndrome, due to the which you're overwhelmed by the beauty of Italian works of arts and cities, to the point of almost fainting (quite the opposite of Paris...)

[@jannepeltonen2036]

I thought Paris syndrome referred more to the shock that Japanese tourists, being used to very good service at home, would get with the less than polite Parisian service :D

[@Meimoons]

The quality of food and life in Japan is expected to be higher then France and that's why they're so shocked when the food doesn't taste as good

[@UndergroundLookingUp]

I found France to be as lovely as it was rumored to be. The thing I keep in mind is that the city of love is perched atop a city of death.

[@laki5717]

No mention on the migrants?

[@elisam.r.9960]

I mean, personally, Paris is among the last place in Europe I'd want to visit. My dad told me that place was dirty when I was a child, and that's stuck with me ever since.

[@amazingdrewH]

Damn dude, you go through a break up right before filming this?

[@gracemember101]

Those locks contribute a tremendous weight to the bridge structure and must be taken off by bolt cutters to lighten the load to keep the bridge safe.

[@Andrew_Alxf]

Japanese Paris Syndrome is much like weebs obsession with Japan 🤣

[@sabaducia]

That opening cut like a knife 💔

[@lizzam]

at 0:14, does that bicycle lock counts as a padlock for this? there should be guidelines for something as trivial as this.

[@tetleydidley]

the subway near the bridge really sucks. extremely rude workers.

[@sleepyancient6655]

I imagine this happens for a lot of people visiting Tokyo nowadays, especially the Akihabra district (if I spelled that correctly). People expect a lot of things when visiting that city on vacation, and don't realize there's a dark underbelly until they're there in person.

[@jjk5693]

Really? Who says that?

[@jjk5693]

Akihabara is amazing anime and video games neighborhood

[@sleepyancient6655]

@@jjk5693 It's also rife with human trafficking and back room prostitution.

[@tiro0oO5]

The opening is just great

[@rorycollier7521]

Brits have a natural resistance to Paris syndrome because of our cynicism and general disdain for anything French, but still, Paris is so vastly disappointing compared to its expected fantasy that there should be no question of whether this is a real condition, only what the extent of its effects might be.

[@TheRyan4778]

Or plain British prejudice.

[@anateresafavelaalmaraz2988]

I can’t imagine all the pollution in the river with the keys they throw away in the river

[@walloper9972]

Tom who was in paris?

[@gutobernardo7457]

I'm always surprised at how much things i hadn't known before watching your videos! And, oh, brilliant take on bottled water!!! Thanks

[@Cecilia-ky3uw]

Tbh france needs a better paris and for that matter the uk needs a better london and edinbugh

[@ozymandia9902]

This sounds like something from the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

[@ivanbregar1646]

We all know what is the problem in Paris, we also know who is responsible, we also know how to solve the problem but we cant do it. And in the end we know that it will just keep getting worse.

[@GM-wq6kq]

I am never going to forget that up until I was around 6 (thus, 2006 or 7), I used to believe people in Europe still live in castles and wear huge dresses like in fairytales. My disappointment was when I saw the weather cast featuring live clips from some European capital and everyone was dressed in shorts and T-shirts 😢😢😢

[@offtheball87]

Who hurt you?!

[@kaca2903]

Wondered the same after that intro.