Musings from Saint Vincent de la Colline & Chateau Blissac

Bowdlerisation 

Removing or changing words or parts from a book, play, or film that are considered to be unsuitable or offensive.

Benighted

intellectually or morally ignorant, unenlightened.

Flibbertigibbet

An irresponsible, silly, gossipy or excessively talkative person.

Insults of the Day

A cross between a half-witted fish and a pneumonia germ.

Pop-eyed defective.

Goggling like a fish.

A low-down, horn-swoggling, double-crossing skunk.

What Patrick (Packy) Franklyn thinks of Senator Opal

"If he ever asks me to come down a lonely alley way with him to see his stamp collection I shall refuse with considerable firmness."

Downright amusing

"It was the first time Packy had been formally introduced to a cistern, and he was not quite sure of the correct etiquette. He bowed slightly and eyed the repellent object with interest."

"You cannot conduct a full-throated long-distance conversation in the early morning and finish up by ejaculating 'Hell!' in a voice like the bursting of an ammunition-dump without rousing such sleepers as may be in your vicinity."

Mr Slattery's Breakfast

Pot of coffee

Omelette fines herbes

Double order of ham and eggs

Small sirloin steak 

Toast and marmalade

Gertie gives Gordon Carlisle the bird

"If you want to know how you stand with me, we're pf' f' ft, and don't you forget it."

The scene changed

Medway smoked her cigarette without exhibiting any of the emotion which a girl listening to the conversation of a libertine might be expected to display.

The cigarette fell from Medway's fingers. She stared at her companion as if what he had just said had shocked her maidenly modesty to the core.

Sagacity

Foresight or ability to make good judgements.

Quagmire

A dangerous place or a difficult situation from which it is hard to escape.

Gendarme

French armed police force.

Auge davonkommen

As we should say in English (hazarding a translation of an untranslatable phrase): 'jolly well out of it.'

Broken off engagement 

Exquisite elation.

Luncheon of the Boating Party by Renoir

* Information taken from 'The Second Worst Restaurant in France' written by Alexander McCall Smith and 'Hot Water' written by P. G. Wodehouse *

Moral Delirium Tremens

Bertie Wooster's evening dinner dress:

Two dinner jackets
Seven white waistcoats
Four dozen shirts
Two shallow shelves filled with white ties


Bertie Wooster's casual dress for congenial climatic conditions:

Heather-mixture suit
Brown lounge with the faint green twill
Dove coloured silk shirt
Light blue silk shirt
Mauve silk shirt
A dozen handkerchiefs
Tan socks
Blue with red domino pattern necktie


New York's places of interest in the evening:

Reigelheimer's
Frolics of the Roof
Midnight Revels




* Information derived from My Man Jeeves *

Tout de la fruit

dernier cri

de rigueur

vis à vis

en secondes noces

noblesse obligé

au pied de la lettre

mot juste

distrait


* French used regularly in P.G. Wodehouse books *

Marcus Aurelius

'To find a man's true character, play golf with him' - (P.G. Wodehouse).

Here are our tips for the Perfect Golf Swing:
1) Line up your feet and shoulders and point them at the target.
2) Bend your knees to allow the club head to lay flat on the ground. 
3) Keep your left arm straight throughout the golf swing to maintain a perfect circle from back- swing to follow-through.
4) Make sure the hips and knees are following the swing to maintain the weight shift.
5) Keep your head down and your eye on the ball to make optimal contact with the centre of the club face.
6)  A good follow-through can increase both distance and accuracy.

Key golfing words:  

Fore
Bogey
Scratch

Tee
Handicap

Links

Mashie
Scratch

Attire: 
Plus fours
Sleeveless jumper 
Shirt Wool socks 
Wide flat cap

Postcards to Jeeves

Postcards written by Bertie Wooster to his valet Jeeves as he travels across America with the cast of 'Ask Dad' - a Broadway musical.


Lackawanna, New York to Chattanooga, Tennessee:
Well, we're off on our travels, Jeeves. Blasted tricky business what they call "hunting" in these parts; they do it without horses. Managed to wing a forest ranger the other day, however. Show is a sellout everywhere. My log cabin marked with an X.


Tallahassee, Florida:
Westward, ever westward, Jeeves. We're all having a whale of a time, especially Cyril Bassington-Bassington. My sleeping-car marked with an X.


Palestine, Texas:
Show doing famously, Jeeves. I must say, the horses out here are rather excitable. The local lads are rather excitable too. I've had to buy a few new clothes, I'm afraid, but I'm sure you'll approve. My bunkhouse marked with an X.


Nevada, Missouri to Rapid City, South Dakota:
This card shows a picture of the Rockies, Jeeves. They're mountains, as you can see. Dashed rocky they are, too. My rock marked with an X.


Crazy Mountains, Montana:
This is the life, Jeeves. Not a fish in sight and boots slowly filling with iced water. I did catch a couple of trout the other day. One of them looked exactly like Oofy Prosser. You don't suppose the Oofys hail from Montana, do you? My teepee marked with an X.


Walla Walla, Washington:
I've now seen 'Ask Dad' six billion and blasted two times, Jeeves (or is it six billion and blasted three?) and still no blasted sign of a blasted Broadway theater. My seat in the blasted orchestra stall marked with a blasted X.

PS, I really think I might leave the show and totter home soon.



*Information for this post were derived from Jeeves and Wooster (Series 3, Episode 3) * 

3A, Berkeley Mansions

An English Gentleman's Lifestyle

Residence: Mansfield Street, Marylebone, London.

Personal Services: Valet

Membership: Drones Club, Dover Street, Mayfair, London.

Mode of Transport: Aston Martin

Attire (pressed, clean and mended at all times):
Evening wear, formal. Evening wear, informal.
Simple brown Harris Tweed suit for train travel.
Grey flannel trousers and a checked sports coat for fishing or golfing in the countryside.
Hounds tooth check suit.
Heliotrope pyjamas.
Silk socks.

Accessories:
Whangee Umbrella.

Barber and Perfumer: Geo F. Trumper

Umbrella Shop: James Smith and Sons

Bespoke Suits and Tailoring: Norton and Sons

Ties: Bookers in the Burlington Arcade

Dining: Quaglino's

Entertainment: The Buck's Club; The Mottled Oyster, The Blue Havoc.

Tea: Darjeeling in the morning; Earl Grey in the afternoon.

Refreshment for guests: Bollinger 1927 and Turkish cigarettes.


* Inspired by fictional character Bertie Wooster *

Never Judge A Book By Its Cover...

...but the opening sentence of certain books reeled me in straight away; hook, line and sinker. 

Classic example:


“Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French" - (The Luck of the Bodkins by P.G. Wodehouse).