Septième Jeu de Mots Trivia Quiz

Answer: ciel

Septième ciel is seventh heaven, Ciel mon mari ! is an exclamation and this is an old joke and title of a book. If you lift your eyes to the heavens or sky, you're imploring a celestial intervention. If you move heaven and earth to get something done, you're really trying hard. By the way, the plural is cieux.

Answer: or

All that glitters is not gold, it's worth gold, we're not rolling in money, I wouldn't do that for all the gold in the world, literally. L'or noir is of course black gold or oil. The word or is also for "however" or "nonetheless". Jason and the Golden Fleece.

Answer: produit

Produit is not just product in the sense we'd use it in English, but substance as in a chemical substance etc. Actually it's used in this way in everyday life a million times a day as it's the way you use a cleaning product like Mr Clean. Mr Propre is a produit d'entretien. If you read any label you'll see the contents of cereal or any food item referred to as the produit.
Le PNB Produit National brut. Un pur produit de son imagination is pretty clear.

Answer: bain

un bain-marie is using a double boiler to heat up something, something like quenelles need to be heated in this way as it is fragile and breaks up. Bain de soleil is sunbathing and the brand name for a rather famous suntan lotion. Bain de mer is simply swimming in the sea. Se mettre dans le bain is to get into the water and swim or figuratively get right in and start the job. Un bain de foule is walking through a crowd, like politicians do. Un bain de bouche is mouthwash. Un bain bouillonnant is a jacuzzi type bath.

Answer: presse

Un presse-papiers is where Windows stocks your documents you've cut. Presse-agrumes is a citrus press or squeezer. Avoir bonne ou mauvaise presse is a good or bad image with the media. La liberté de la presse is the liberty of the press.

Answer: tuyau

Tuyau is hose or tube. Un tuyau d'arrosage is a garden hose, le tuyau de l'oreille is the ear canal, un tuyau des tuyaux are tips or hints and in this instance for a race, un tuyau de plomb is a lead pipe.

Answer: jambe

Une jambe de bois is a wooden leg. « Cela me fait une belle jambe » is an expression not heard terribly often but means, you couldn't care less, or it doesn't affect you. Prendre ses jambes à son cou is what we'd say in America, "to hightail it" or run away quickly without looking back.

Another expression you might see is toutes jambes. However, the expression with the legs around the neck always makes me laugh for some reason. If you receive bad news you might feel as though your legs and arms were cut off. Les jambes Lourdes is one of those things that French women are haunted by. Funnily enough, with all the walking they do, and the better diet they have, they still complain about this and also, you'll see many of the women's magazines devoting space to how to avoid this sad fate. Of course the models they show have superb legs so that any normal woman will be terrorized by the mere idea of "jambes lourdes" or heavy legs.

Answer: manche

La première manche is the first part of a game or competition. Une autre paire de manches means, well, that's something totally different. Faire la manche is to beg or ask for handouts. La Manche is the English Channel. Now you didn't want to know this, but manche is one of those troublesome words that can be masculine as well. Le manche d'un couteau is a knife handle for example. Le manche d'une guitare is used too. The most common expression used in French is un manche à balai which for some odd reason is considered the height of stupidity. Don Quichotte de la Manche is obviously Don Quixote of La mancha.

Answer: robe

La petite robe noire is the classic nice black dress that's considered the essential for a woman's wardrobe and garde-robe is the word for that. Baked potatoes are pdt en robe de champs. La robe de chambre is the dressing gown or bathrobe. Une robe de soirée is the evening gown.

Answer: madame

"Madame est servie" is what a butler says and the title of the series with Tony and Angela in French. Madame is what a royal princess is called in French. Madame de Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (1857). "Madame Butterfly" the opera by Puccini. The title Madame is given to almost any woman of marriageable age now and also is the correct way to address a woman in business correspondence unless a lady tells you she prefers Mademoiselle. On a similar note, the proprietor of a "maison close" is not referred to as a madam as in English.