Nationality Words in French Idioms Quiz

Answer: rumours

The French probably experienced how in the souks of Arab and North-African towns news spread like wildfire. Faster than Western "modern" communications in the colonial times.
Might be compare with what the Congolese call "radio trottoir" or the old communication style via "the tom-tom".
Or just simply: "the grapevine".

Answer: a little glass of alcohol in between courses of meals

A slight hungry feeling might be "un petit creux". Another popular term in French cuisine is th "île flottante" or "floating island". It is not exactly icecream floating in some sauce but a kind of custard lake with poached meringues.

Answer: an ambiguous answer

The inhabitants of Normandy are not reputed to be very talkative, especially not to strangers. In comparison with the Southerners in France they are rather "closed" in character, hard-working but stubborn farmers.
They prefer not to be outspoken when expressing views, and are evasive when asked for their opinions."Peut être que oui, peut être que non", is
about the clearest opinion you can get from them on many issues.

Answer: exaggerated stories

One has but to read the rather exuberant stories by Alphonse Daudet about the very "fanfaron" character of Tartarin de Tarascon to experience how a Southerner in France likes to colour a report with some self-invented additions and grandiloquent exaggerations. Probably no better illustration of this phenomenon than the sort of role usually held by the late movie-star Fernandel, especially in his Marcel Pagnol movies. Do not jump to conclusions about the sanity of the person you are talking to, if he or she starts telling you the story of the sardine that blocked up the Old Port of Marseille. Marseille is le Midi, not Paris, huh.

Answer: the English

"Les biftecks" may now be a little more archaic than "les rosbifs", but both slang terms occur in the "Dictionnaire du français argotique" as published by Larousse.

The Belgians have a special place in the mind of a Frenchman too. His northern neighbours play for a Frenchman the role that is held by the Irish in Britain. "Une histoire Belge" is always a very "stupid" story.
Also the Dutch enjoy boosting their own morale by thinking they are cleverer than the Belgians.
Most Belgians smile at the French exaggerated self-esteem. They like the "miam miam" of French food, the "glou-glou" of French wines but leave the French "bla-bla" for what it is.
They are usually much more pissed about the Dutch whom they dare to call : (mean) Scotsmen that have swum across from the other side of the Northsea.

Answer: miam-miam

Bla-bla refers to "too much talking". Chi-chi refers to spurious "chic".
Glou-glou imitates the sound of wine or other drinks poured out from a bottle.
And miam-miam is what in English might be called: yummy.
As to the "bla-bla" - in which French television really excels - some
neighbours of the French claim that if you cut off a Frenchman's tongue, he is not worth a dime anymore.
As this topic might lead to the "controversials issues" section in the Funtrivia Forum, further comment is abstained from.

Answer: the Dutch

"Nouvelle-Lunes" as a reference to the Dutch is based on their car-plates with the initials NL for "the Nether-Lands".
In some parts of France the Dutch are "unpopular" because in the summer months they seem to invade the place, spend little money but make a lot of noise.In the winter months they come across too, though in somewhat smaller numbers.Then they start taking over the place in earnest by buying real estate and laying out their winter-quarters.
Secretly, the French might be a little jealous of the Dutch commercial flair.

Answer: a kind of soft cheese

Some sausages are called "des gendarmes". The most popular dried beef however is the "viande des grisons". The coffee-with-more-milk-than-coffee is called "lait russe". In Holland they would call it : "inverted coffee" (koffie verkeerd).
The weaker type of coffee that is drunk in Belgium and Holland is sometimes called "jus de chausette" (socks' juice). In coffee-bars they ask for one of their own small cups of very black and very strong coffee, with: "Un petit noir, s'il-vous plaît'.

Answer: the Germans

When the French remember what happened during the Franco-Prussian War, the Great War or the Second World War, their new-found European friends suddenly become "les boches".
When in a milder mood, it might just be: "les chleus".
Another "mild" term is "les teutons".

Answer: a place where the guests eat and drink what they have brought in themselves

Another reference to Spain is the "chateau en Espagne", which is a castle in the air.