French faux pas: avoid 'condom bread' at all costs

Many words in French are known as faux amis or ‘false friends’ because they look like English words but mean very different things.

Among the first examples learners encounter are pain (bread) and coin (corner), but there are hundreds of these misleading words.

Simply using an English word with a French accent is a bad idea, as it can lead to very embarrassing mistakes.

Elizabeth S. now lives in Pyrénées-Orientales, and she remembers a fine example from her husband.

“When discussing the difference between baguettes and British bread,” she said, “my husband argued that British bread stayed fresher for longer due to the preservatives in it. Having picked themselves off the floor, our friends explained the joke. Happily this was a long time ago and in our early days here.”

French listeners would have been confused and amused by this, as un préservatif in French is a condom. If you do need the correct vocabulary, it is conservateur, so a meal without preservatives would be un repas sans conservateur.

Michael T. from Australia made a similar mistake when he first moved to Dordogne.

“I was talking to our new neighbours and my wife was out so I must have cobbled together something like je veux introduire ma femme ce soir, thinking I had said that I wanted to introduce her to them that evening.

They laughed and patted my arm, saying they would see us later. When we did go over, my wife – who speaks far better French – explained that introduire more commonly means to penetrate or insert, and I should have used présenter. I felt an absolute idiot, but at least that’s a verb I’ve never forgotten!”

Have you made a similar faux pas? Email letters@connexionfrance.com.