Piles of embarrassment (French/English)
While living in England to improve his language skills, a French friend needed some new batteries for his walkman. On looking around the shop he couldn't see what he was looking for, so he approached the shopkeeper and asked: 'Do you have any piles?' In French, 'batteries' is les piles.
Sent by: Mike
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A French company I work with, had an open day last year, with signs in English for international visitors. A nice green looking bin wore the sign "please drop your piles here for safe recycle" (meaning batteries against the word piles in French). I never dared ask them what sort of recycling they intended for this bin ...
What you're saying is true. French people make the difference between pile, battery, and batterie. Most of the time batterie means something that produces electricity but that is rechargeable. For instance you will say batterie for a car battery or for a mobile device such as a notebook or a mobile phone.
A pile is a cell, a 1,5 volt battery, and a batterie is several cells connected, such as a 4,5 volt battery.
My French friend came to visit me in Australia recently and we went for a night out on the town.
Although his English is fantastic, he got confused in a club when he went to order me a drink: I asked for a rum and coke with no ice, and the poor woman behind the bar understandably couldn't meet his request when he kept asking for, "Rum and coke with no glass!" (glace)
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