There we were — us — sitting in that very English tea room in Paris. Two of us were in a mood of resentment, as the third had an ulterior motive for the meeting. They mouthed "Get on with it" and I did.
"How much are the tickets for a Three Tenors concert?" I asked.
They shrugged.
"$30"
They cringed.
"And how much for a Ten Tenors concert?"
They feigned deafness.
"$100!"
Though I thought the deftly executed exclamation would make it funnier, they looked far from amused, and eventually they concentrated their annoyed glares until I stopped searching for approval.
By this time I had run out of tenor groups with numbers in their names, so I knuckled down and finished my Camomile. As I reached the dregs, I noticed, with an absent turn of my head, my muse running off down the street with a plate of truffles and a yeast bun.
Duck, Duck, Cockatiel
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The move is officially complete, though I'm still living with a few islands
of stuff—the main one located in what agents like to call the "meals area".
Rea...
7 years ago
9 comments:
I admire and envy your unmatchable talent for richly meaningful and highly significant nonsense. Such wit. I had tried that for a few years after reading a lot of Boris Vian and Laurence Sterne, but I unfortunately never was half as good as you are.
Hmm. I'll check out those authors you mention, me thinks. Anyway, this is a two-way street; you have a natural flair for writing which I envy — I always find a lot of my own work clunky, whereas yours and, indeed, Ben's, seem more skillfully crafted — they have an effortless flow to them which I seldom (if ever) achieve. Anyway, me very flattered — though I won't stoop to adding a blushing smiley.
Why? A blushing smiley followed by a carefully chosen "lol" would definitely add some msn high school freshness. (Actually Boris Vian was french, so I do not know what translations are worth, but Sterne was british, and his Tristram Shandy is definitely one of the most amazing, inspiring book I've ever red.)
Thanks, I'll check out that book.
By the way, i do not find any of your work clunky. This might be an impression you get while you do it. But to me, it is not clunky. As for "effortless flow" my non-english reedit-that-post-a-thousand-times addict self and his endless piles of dictionaries and thesaurus will tell you it is otherwise. Blablabla.
Whatever sweat and tears go into it, one thing is for sure: it comes out splendidly on the other end.
I know I should shut up, and ket you finish on that compliment to my glorious self, but: Whatever clunkybess and uneasyness go into it, one thing is for sure: it comes out splendidly on the other end. Hm. This is a good digestion metaphore...
How apt in my case. But yeah, I have finally faltered and brought in outside word verification help. Sigh.
I agree, Ben, he certainly has succinctness on his side.
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