Combat sports

The list opens with la catégorie de poids, and the noun inside it is worth following out of the gym, because French has hung three everyday expressions on it. The first is faire le poids, word for word to make the weight. Said of a person it means to be equal to what is asked, and it is nearly always used in the negative: il ne fait pas le poids is said of a candidate, a rival firm, an argument that cannot hold its own, and we say « he is not up to it ». The second is peser de tout son poids, to bring the whole of one’s weight to bear, said of a minister, a shareholder or a parent who settles a matter by influence rather than by argument; the nearest thing here is « to throw his weight behind something ». The third is the trap, because it is the most ordinary. Un poids lourd is a heavyweight on a fight card, but on a road sign and in a newspaper it is a lorry, and le transport de poids lourds has nothing to do with sport at all.