French Culture Test
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- 1.In what order are courses served at a meal in France?
- A.
Soup – starter – main – salad/cheese – dessert – coffee
- B.
Soup – starter – main – dessert – salad/cheese – coffee
- C.
Starter – soup – main – dessert – salad/cheese – coffee
- 2.What is a “soixante-huitard”?
- A.
A late-comer – 68% of French people habitually arrive late.
- B.
A baby-boomer, a child of the sixties.
- C.
A veteran of the events of May 1968.
- 3.Who treads “le parquet”?
- A.
The principal ballet dancer at the Opéra in Paris.
- B.
The Ministère Public, the French public prosecutor.
- C.
The mayor – the term refers to the town hall.
- 4.Who are the Pieds-Noirs?
- A.
One of the early Cro-Magnon tribes at Les Eyzies.
- B.
Natives of Pas-de-Calais - a famous coal mining region.
- C.
French colonials in Algeria.
- 5.What is a “sous-préfet”?
- A.
The local representative of the French state.
- B.
A junior-ranking school prefect.
- C.
A past participle in a subordinate clause.
- 6.“La nostalgie n’est plus ce qu’elle était” are whose memoirs?
- A.
Simone de Beauvoir
- B.
Simone Signoret
- C.
Marcel Proust
- 7.“Je lui ai posé un lapin” – what does this mean?
- A.
I stood him up.
- B.
I made a fool out of him.
- C.
I boxed his ears.
- 8.Which one of these French icons is actually French?
- A.
Plastic Bertrand
- B.
Jacques Brel
- C.
Johnny Halliday
- 9.The words “Après moi, le déluge” are attributed to:
- A.
Louis XIV
- B.
Louis XV
- C.
Napoléon Bonaparte
- 10.The word “fastoche” means:
- A.
Easy money
- B.
A doddle
- C.
A drag
- 11.What was Pascal’s Wager?
- A.
Believe in God – you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
- B.
The roulette table can be beaten with a mathematical formula.
- C.
Democracy is like gambling, except the people always lose.
- 12.Which of these cheeses is generally held to be the smelliest?
- A.
Camembert
- B.
Munster
- C.
Roquefort
- 13.Which of these composers is NOT born French?
- A.
Hector Berlioz
- B.
Georges Bizet
- C.
Frédéric Chopin
- 14.The term “cordon bleu” has its origins in:
- A.
The bell-pull used by Louis XIV to summon his meals.
- B.
Chef’s trousers, which became today’s hound’s tooth pattern.
- C.
The ribbon holding the medal of an order of French knights.
- 15.In his novel “La Disparition”, writer Georges Perec:
- A.
Does not once use the letter “e” in any of its 300 pages.
- B.
Leaves all the pages blank, except for the title page.
- C.
Repeats the question “Où es-tu?” 25,000 times.
- 16.What are “les Trente Glorieuses”?
- A.
Thirty women who heroically stormed La Bastille.
- B.
The period of economic growth in France from 1945 to 1975.
- C.
The thirty French cathedrals that survived the Reformation.
- 17.For what would you have used “Minitel Rose”?
- A.
Dating – Minitel was a precursor to the Internet.
- B.
Sleeping – Minitel was a chain of small hotels.
- C.
Sending flowers – Minitel was later bought by Interflora.
- 18.Why is the Lacoste logo a crocodile?
- A.
Lacoste initially made crocodile skin bags and shoes.
- B.
René Lacoste was nicknamed "le crocodile" by his fans.
- C.
René Lacoste's father was eaten by a crocodile.
- 19.Members of the Sénat (upper house of Parliament) are elected by:
- A.
Universal adult suffrage.
- B.
The members of the Assemblée Nationale (lower house).
- C.
Mayors and other locally elected officials.
- 20.Who escaped from prison, fought a battle and went back to prison - all in the space of a "Hundred Days"?
- A.
Napoléon Bonaparte
- B.
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo
- C.
Charles de Gaulle
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