Monday, May 02, 2005
Gotta Fave Word?
I love this kind of thing - sharing favorite words - but can never recall them when I want to, like now. Let's see ... off the top of my head ... "Dominique's father didn't like me." I didn't know what to say. "Yes, swore no Englishman would marry his daughter. The fact that I spoke not one word of the lingo didn't help neither. Anyway, we were sitting there in awkward silence one evening, rather like now, and suddenly I remembered one of the few words I knew: 'C'est l'heure de crépuscule,' I solemnly pronounced to no one in particular. Stunned the old boy. Just sat there, then gave one of those gallic grunts they're so good at, got up and came back with two snifters of brandy. Never mentioned Dominique again til it came time to hand my darling over to me." Speaking of words gallic, I was tapping away the other night on some calumny and my own little cabbage sidled up with a plate of snacks: "A little 'amuse-gueule' for my lord and master?" What a lovely term. Roll it round the tongue. How can one not kiss and be kissed when the mouth shapes that way?
I was once enjoying a drink with a delightful Anglo-French girl and her family, watching the sun sink into the South China Sea. Sudenly her father came out with,
And don't forget the two words Henry James said were the "most beautiful in the English language":
summer afternoon
BB
