Sixième Jeu de Mots Trivia Quiz

Answer: bouteille

"Avec tous les si" etc., is an expression to make someone stop making suppositions, the other expression that is slightly more earthy is: « si si si, si ma tante en avait, elle serait mon oncle». Prendre de la bouteille is to age, you may use it for a person though and it sometimes means experience. "Jolie bouteille sacrée bouteille" is a drinking song, the next verse is, "je veux te quitter, je veux m'en aller, je veux recommencer ma vie."

Answer: bicyclette

"La bicyclette bleue" is a novel by Régine Désforges that was extremely popular. The film version included the most recent answer to Brigitte Bardot (though no one will probably ever equal BB) - Laetitia Casta. "Rouler à bicyclette" is one way to say you're riding a bike or you cycle. France holds cycling sacred as witnessed by the first Tour de France in 1903, organized by Desgrange.

As I'm writing this in 2003, there are rather festive things going on for the centenary. Most children in France however would refer to their bikes as "vélo" from the precursor to the bike or the "vélocipède" and another name for it is "bécane" which is used for several things including a computer. One romantic name for the bike is "La Petite Reine" or the Little Queen.

Answer: corps

"Corps et âme" is body and soul, "le diable au corps" is to be inhabited with passion, possessed so to speak. "Un juste au corps" is a leotard you wear for dance.

Answer: doux

Doux means sweet as well as soft and even, for a voice, to lower one's voice. If you say "doucement" to someone, it might mean "slow down" or it might mean to lower his or her voice. "Un mot doux" is a little message usually expressing love or affection, could be verbal or written. "Aigre-doux" is sweet and sour. Don't forget to put the feminine though if it must agree with the noun. "Une sauce aigre-douce", a sweet and sour sauce.

Answer: point

Point is a word that's used in so many ways in French that you'd have to use three pages instead of three examples. Un point de désaccord, something upon which you disagree, faire le point to assess a situation, un point de vente is a point of sale and a term used often in business for an ATM or even a cash point. Point c'est tout! is to put a stop to a discussion, that's it! Period! (US English). Deux points is what you call a colon in grammar, and point-virgule a semi-colon. Un point noir is a blackhead.

Answer: roue

La roue de la fortune is the French version of the game Wheel of Fortune. If you put sticks in someone's wheels, you prevent the person from going ahead, a literal interpretation of that expression. Une cinquième roue (de la carrosse) is a fifth wheel. La grande roue is a Ferris Wheel at the fair. Réinventer la roue is to reinvent the wheel.

Answer: plein

J'en ai plein le dos, is to be totally fed up. There are several nuances of this expression so the back will have to suffice for now. Plein means lots of, plein d'idées, plein d'energie, so it may be used instead of beaucoup in some instances but not all. Faire le plein is to fill up one's tank, and by extension "on fait le plein d'energie à la montagne", you get back your energy when you go to the mountains. Plein à craquer is totally full, like "le bus était plein à craquer". Plein comme un oeuf is an expression to indicate you're full at the table, yet, it's not terribly good manners to say so, so it should be reserved for, well, I'd wait till I heard it before using it!

Answer: grenouille

Coasser is the verb for croak, they don't seem to have the other one we might call « rideep rideep » so perhaps the poor frog doesn't get the time to show off his calls before he's fricasseed. Un homme-grenouille is a frogman or a scuba diver. La grenouille qui veut se faire aussi grosse qu'un boeuf is a fable from La Fontaine (1621-1695) about a frog who wanted to be as big as a cow and had the unfortunate end of; well, you'll have to read it. French school children enjoy it caring little for the political implications behind it.

Many French people were raised on recitations of La Fontaine and it's considered part of something that most everyone should know.

Answer: abri

Un sans-abri is a homeless person or the administrative abbreviation, SDF or sans domicile fixe. Un abribus is a bus stop shelter and place where advertisements are often posted. In France the ads are often destined to catch your eye as you drive and in the Spring, the lingerie ads are cleverly destined to make even the jaded Frenchmen fall off of their motorbikes with the number one Aubade and its scantily clad young women airbrushed to perfection.

These posters are collector's items in how to sell a product. Un abri de jardin is a garden shed, trouver un abris contre la pluie is to find a place out of the rain. Se mettre à l'abri is to seek shelter, it could be figurative too. Un abri fiscal is a tax shelter.

Answer: assiette

He's not on his plate literally, means he's ill at ease or in a bad mood. Une assiette d'impôts is your tax rate, the percentage at which you'll be taxed. Une assiette creuse is a soup type plate for food that has a sauce or soup. A pique-assiette is a freeloader who comes over and eats you out of house and home (that doesn't include people who are biologically related to you, namely your progeniture). Une assiette anglaise is for some odd reason, a plate of charcuterie, ham, sausage, nothing resembling a vegetable on the plate.

It's basically what the café owner has on hand from what I can tell. In general it's best to avoid things labelled anglais in France, except for crème anglaise which is custard sauce.