French false friends: why the word 'office' can be so misleading

The innocuous word ‘office’ is one of those misleading words or faux amis in French, as it does not always mean what you think.

In certain contexts, it seems to be straightforward, as l’office de tourisme is indeed the tourist office, but head office is le siège social and a working office with desks is un bureau.

Rather confusingly, un bureau can also refer to the desk itself.

When office means duty

For anglophones, it makes more sense when ‘office’ refers to a concept that is official or a duty.

If you are ever assigned a duty solicitor or one who has been court-appointed, that would be un avocat commis d’office.

A related phrase appears when someone does their duty or performs a role well: elle remplit bien son office.

However, you may be more perplexed by faire office de – a phrase that English-speakers often misinterpret.

You might approximate it to ‘doing the duty of’, but it is broader, referring to something that has served a purpose or function.

This means that the phrase si besoin, un gros livre peut faire office d’haltère translates as: ‘If need be, a large book can be used as a dumbbell.’

More figuratively, le week-end, Bob fait office de papa pour son petit voisin tells us that every weekend, Bob acts as a father figure for his young neighbour.

Office in the kitchen

Surprisingly, the word ‘office’ in French is also frequently found in the context of catering, because office refers to a pantry or larder.

Consequently, le cuisinier a oublié ses clés à l’office means that the cook left his or her keys in the pantry.

And next time you pick up the small paring knife used for trimming vegetables, you will know why this is called un couteau d’office.