2.22. A woman meets the king, cries “Pain!”, and loses
consciousness. (MI original)

2.22 answer: True story: in France, shortly after the fall of the
Bastille, food shortages became a problem again. A mob of people went to
Versaille to petition the king to do something about the problem. A small
delegation was admitted to meet the king. One woman, overcome with emotion,
could only cry “Pain” (French for “bread”) and faint. (Source: Durant,
The Age of Napoleon, pg. 25) Note that this only works in
printed form, not aloud, because the French word is pronounced more like
English “pan” than like English “pain.”

2.22 variant answer: Nine months earlier, this woman had been
impregnated by the previous king, who died soon afterword. Now, she is
giving birth to the new king. (TV)

2.22a. A man enters a store. After a short pause, he says “pain.” The
storekeeper is confused, but then becomes annoyed. (JC original)

2.22a answer: The shopkeeper is a French baker. An American tourist
walks into the bakery, pauses to look up/remember the word for “bread” in
French, which is spelled “pain.” The American says the word as if it were
the English word “pain.” At first the shopkeeper does not understand what
the American is saying. When he does, he gets annoyed with the person’s
horrible pronunciation. (He then becomes happy after realizing that he can
charge whatever exorbitant amount he wishes because the American doesn’t
know any better.) I may eventually make this one the main entry and #2.22
the variant, since this version works better aloud.