News out of Quebec City that the relationship between French and English Canada is far more spicy and even licentious than we had imagined:

“Now don't get angry when I tell you that you are completely neurotic,” he said in his presentation. “You are like a sadomasochist couple. The sadist needs the masochist and the masochist needs the sadist. … These types of couples last an eternity, they are the best couples, the most stable. You are with the English a sadomasochist couple and you will be that way forever.” Quebeckers' emotional impulses toward the rest of Canada are part of what Mr. Rapaille calls their “primal reptilian core,” which he says constitutes the “code” that lies deep in people's subconscious. Unravelling that code is, he says, the key to determining how consumers behave toward products.

Freaky. Literally so.

I don't know the value of the consultant in this case but the cost seems to be $300,000. Actual cultural identity as opposed to visions for a community is interesting stuff and should be expected to come up with some unflattering observations. But wouldn't it be nice to be able to write "reptilian core" in a memo and attach an invoice to it. Wouldn't it just.