# ISO: French Idioms for "Masterpriece"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 27, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083 "2015-08-27T16:40:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/1 "2015-08-27T16:40:36Z")
I know there are many idioms for “masterpiece”, but there is one French idiom I came across that I am trying to recall. I believe it literally means “life’s work”, and it may have “morte” in the phrase…kind of a backward use of the word that refers to death! To save you all some trouble, I know it is not raison d’etre, magnum opus, joie do vivre, or tour de force. Still, maybe someone in the SD audience can take a wild guess at the phrase that pays? Presently, it’s elusive with a certain…je ne sais quoi!
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### Author:  [@Dan\_ch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_ch)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/2 "2015-08-27T17:23:37Z")
[Chef d’oeuvre?](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chef%20d'oeuvre)
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/3 "2015-08-27T18:08:59Z")
Pièce de résistance?
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/4 "2015-08-27T18:42:50Z")
> [@Jinx](#):
>
> I know there are many idioms for “masterpiece”, but there is one French idiom I came across that I am trying to recall. I believe it literally means “life’s work”, and it may have “morte” in the phrase…kind of a backward use of the word that refers to death! To save you all some trouble, I know it is not raison d’etre, magnum opus, joie do vivre, or tour de force. Still, maybe someone in the SD audience can take a wild guess at the phrase that pays? Presently, it’s elusive with a certain…je ne sais quoi!
_Magnum opus_ is Latin, and I think we can be sure it’s also not _Tour de France_ or _Soup du Jour_. 🙂
I was going to suggest _chef d’oeuvre_, but I see someone else already has.
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### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/5 "2015-08-27T19:29:35Z")
> [@Dan\_ch](#):
>
> [Chef d’oeuvre?](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chef%20d'oeuvre)
In one, with the slight nitpick that it’s technically spelled \*œuvre \*- but it’s not even a character on azerty keyboards and I had to look up the ASCII code :o. In any event, even in written form I’d wager most French speakers forgot all about their "o, e dans l’o"s :p.
Taken literally it means something like “topping/crowning [of one’s] work”. A great, but not \*\*the \*\*best work of an artist would be an \*\*œ_uvre majeure_.
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### Author:  [@Dan\_ch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_ch)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2015, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/6 "2015-08-28T08:08:42Z")
> [@Kobal2](#):
>
> In one, with the slight nitpick that it’s technically spelled \*œuvre \*- but it’s not even a character on azerty keyboards and I had to look up the ASCII code :o. In any event, even in written form I’d wager most French speakers forgot all about their "o, e dans l’o"s :p.
Yeah, French speakers forget to pronounce half of the vowels anyway, why would you need another one? (besides confusing even more the pesky foreigners trying to learn French 😛 )
> [@Kobal2](#):
>
> Taken literally it means something like “topping/crowning [of one’s] work”. A great, but not \*\*the \*\*best work of an artist would be an \*\*œ_uvre majeure_.
IIRC, Italian also has a word with a very similar meaning (capolavoro). I don’t know about Spanish or Portuguese.
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2015, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/7 "2015-08-28T11:51:58Z")
_Obra-prima_ in Portuguese.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/8 "2015-08-28T13:42:17Z")
As every non-Spanish speaking American who thinks he knows some Spanish knows, the equivalent word in Spanish is “El Masterpiece-o”.
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### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/9 "2015-08-28T16:19:59Z")
> [@Dan\_ch](#):
>
> (besides confusing even more the pesky foreigners trying to learn French 😛 )
Dear boy that is the heart, soul and function of French grammar and spelling. All of it. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/10 "2015-08-28T17:33:42Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> Pièce de résistance?
P_r_ièce, n’est-ce pas?
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/11 "2015-08-28T17:36:53Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> Pièce de résistance?
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#):
>
> P_r_ièce, n’est-ce pas?
Nope, it’s pièce.
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/12 "2015-08-28T17:38:25Z")
“I’m taking French lessons. Today we studied final consonants.”
“You don’t say!”
_\_
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/13 "2015-08-28T17:43:20Z")
I find that I can speak passable French by Speaking Spanish and making sure I drop the last syllable and slur the rest of it together.
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/14 "2015-08-28T19:35:11Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> I find that I can speak passable French by Speaking Spanish and making sure I drop the last syllable and slur the rest of it together.
I’m fluent in both…and you’re about half right. 😛
BONUS: Put a couple of marbles in your mouth and you’ve got Portuguese covered as well. 😃
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### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2015, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iso-french-idioms-for-masterpriece/729083/15 "2015-09-10T19:52:22Z")
Ug! It’ll come to me one fine day…years from now. In the meantime, que sera, sera! (And, yes, I realize “magnum opus” is Latin.)