What does caisse mean and when should you use it?

As I regularly mention, an innocuous incident or amusing episode from everyday life often drives the content of this column. 

The potential subject matter is endless, since, almost daily, something is overheard or witnessed – an unusual word here or a tricky phrase there – that piques one’s linguistic interest and provokes a deep etymological dive to discover the meaning and origin of a French word or saying.

On this occasion, it was not an odd or little-heard word, but a simple one that we see or hear at the supermarket or on the high street – but which we might not know anything about: la caisse.

A friend of a certain age, always ready with a quip, was saying goodbye to friends who had been over for lunch. As he completed la bise, he said with a deadpan tone: “Vous êtes passé à la caisse?” (‘Have you been to the till yet?’ – implying that while it was nice to feed them, they should pay for their meal on the way out).

As well as meaning ‘till’ and ‘checkout’ (for refunds, keep your ticket de caisse),
la caisse can also mean a container such as a box or crate: une caisse à outils is
a toolbox. 

Une caisse can also be used as an informal way of referring to a car.

It also features in the names of banks, as it can alternatively mean a fund: Caisse d’Épargne is a mutual banking network and Crédit Agricole is often referred to as the Caisse régionale de Crédit Agricole. A caisse de retraite is a pension fund.

As for the French for ‘deadpan’, this is pince-sans-rire, used adjectivally and literally, meaning ‘pinch-without-laughing’. It is more commonly used than you might expect, though it can surprise those who misread the inscrutable tone as genuine seriousness.