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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I was just listening to an NPR radio broadcast that was discussing Ulysses and James Joyce. They were interviewing residents of Dublin and one woman said that Joyce wrote about the life of a flâneur (I'm paraphrasing since the interview was long.)
What surprised me was her use of the French word flâneur - one who walks about without hurry, with no specific destination.
Is this common? This is the first time I've ever heard an English person use the word.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Interesting, bel. You gotta remember, though, that calling a Dubliner an Engish person is like calling an USn a Yank  . I heard the same interview, btw (and totally missed the flaneur bit; I was impressed by the way she pronounced "Ulysses."
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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calling an USn a Yank
Nuh-unh. It's more like calling a Quebecois a Yank.
I heard it, too, and would have spelled it flannor. Din't hear no eu.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Flaneur is one of those words I'm vaguely aware of, and I associate it with the Edwardians. Perhaps Joyce himself used the word and that's where she got it.
Bingley
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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"In Paris, in London I have been a happy flâneur;
I have flâné-d in New York and Washington and most
of the great cities of Europe."
- H. G. Wells, Apropos of Delores, 1938
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Can't say I've ever heard the word spoken over here, although I've read it occasionally (but not for a long time, I have to say!)
I've never looked it up, but have assumed from context that it refers to an elegant idler - one who is idle because he can afford not to work and chooses to idle, rather than someone who should work but doesn't.
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old hand
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old hand
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Zigackly. P G Wodehouse writes about them. And I'd definitely go with the idea of a languid man-about-town.
So Bel, it has a long precedent of use in English, but is probably archaic these days (and hence confined to halls of acedeme)!
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Carpal Tunnel
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>>>and hence confined to halls of acedeme...and wwftd I have to admit that I am rather surprised that so many of you had heard/read the word. The eu in the word makes it difficult to pronounce in English so I would have thought it wouldn't have been used at all. Mind you, that may be exactly the reason for its fall out of use.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I don't think it will fall out of use, bel, until after it has fallen into use, which I would guess it never has done over here. As shanks rightly says, it is only people like Wodehouse (which is almost certaianly where I last read it, come to think! Gold Star to shanks.) who have used it. As to the "eur" ending, most Brits are fairly used ot this because of "fleur", as in Fleur-de-lys, which is an common armorial device in English heraldry, therefore seen all over the place over here (even by them what knows knothing of 'eralds and the like!). As to the 'alls of hacademe using such words, I fear that British academia has gone the way of most other cultural institutions and has dummed down - you don't hear erudite conversation in the Senior Common Rooms any more - not least because none of us have time to spend there 
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I want to become a flaneur. Is there a course you can take? Is there a polite word for the feminine equivalent? I'm tired of the whole proffessional, responsible adult malarky.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Sorry Zed, I'm afraid you can't be a flâneuse (a female flâneur.) It's one of those things that are innate, if you don't got it, you can't learn it...so back to work missy!
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Aw, you do talk a lot of flannel. I bet I could learn it if I had th dosh. (I was watching Last of the Summer Wine on the weekend.) I do like our spell check. "th dosh" came out as Thai dossier which would be Mission Impossible not Summer Wine 
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Carpal Tunnel
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They went into the inner office. Psmith removed his hat and coat.
"And now once more to work," he said. "Psmith the flaneur of Fifth Avenue ceases to exist. In his place we find Psmith the hard-headed sub-editor. Be so good as to indicate a job of work for me, Comrade Windsor. I am champing at my bit."
~from "Psmith, Journalist" by P.G. Wodehouse
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Carpal Tunnel
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I want to become a flaneur. Is there a course you can take? ... flâneuse
Oh, I'm with you Zed, but I fear it's not for the young exept in fiction - whereas old ones - as I am - can take it up!
MAde me think of the old term "remittance man" (a person who is supported by money sent from home.) Now I have always thought the term is not a nice one. Brought thoughts of a sort of sleazy person who was paid not to return home!
Then my mind went zinging off into the connection (?) to the Witness Protection Program.
It's one of those days.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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It's the saunter I can't get. I have either the health care speed walk or the exhausted health care plod.
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Carpal Tunnel
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"Rather than attending classes to learn to reduce stress and resolve conflict, maybe we could all learn how to amble. The amble is the ambulatory equivalent of a deep breathing exercise." http://egypalao.notlong.com
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Great essay. I realized that I do amble but oddly enough only on my bike. Riding to work takes about 25 minutes. Riding home can take an hour or more. Sometimes I race for the physical joy of it but often I amble. Coasting instead of working or doubling back to stop and see a flower better. Sometimes I will sidetrack for blocks just because I like the look of the yards on that street or, if there are no cars, ride in sine waves like a six year old pretending I don't care if someone happens to see me.
cyclamble? amblycle?
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Carpal Tunnel
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I love this, Father Steve: The mosey is a magnificent walk, more like a dance. It fairly screams with the revels of the journey ... Very evocative!
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