Thursday's Word

Each Thursday afternoon my art student is over-the-top smitten with the sound of a new word or phrase. Two weeks ago the word was "trespassing". Last week the phrase was "Venn berrygram". Today...

May I have the envelope, please.

The Oscar goes to "Ton Foyage". This is the first award for a mangled expression wishing your friends a nice spring break vacation. Thank heaven it has nothing to do with goose liver or cheese. After listening to the phrase chanted for over an hour, it did bring up long lost memories of a 1962 Disney movie.

pate (2)
"paste," 1706, from Fr. pâté, from O.Fr. paste, earlier pastée, from paste (see paste (n.)). Pâté de foie gras (1827) is lit. "pie of fat liver;" originally served in a pastry (as still in Alsace), the phrase now chiefly in Eng. with ref. to the filling.

Degustation] Quel Fromage!
Posted on Monday, January 16, 2006. From “Adapting a Lexicon for the Flavor Description of French Cheeses,” by Annlyse Rétiveau, Delores H. Chambers, and Emilien Esteve, in Food Quality and Preference. Originally from Harper's Magazine, July 2005.
Sources
Sweaty: sour, stale, somewhat cheesy aromatics reminiscent of perspiration-generated foot odor, found in unwashed gym socks and shoes
Goaty: pungent, musty, and somewhat sour, reminiscent of wet animal hair (fur)
Animalic: a combination of aromatics associated with farm animals and the inside of a barn
Musty/earthy: a slight musty aromatic associated with raw potatoes and damp humus
Musty/dry: aromatics associated with closed air spaces, such as attics and closets
Ashy/sooty: bark-like lingering aromatics associated with a cold campfire
Fermented: combination of sour aromatics associated with green vegetation, sauerkraut, soured hay, or composted grass
Green/herbaceous: fresh, green, slightly sour aromatics associated with green vegetables, newly cut vines, snap peas
Chemical: an aromatic associated with a broad range of compounds, which may or may not include chlorine, ammonia, aldehydes, etc.
Biting: a slight burning, prickling, and/or numbness of the tongue and/or mouth surface
Butyric: an aromatic that is sour and cheesy, reminiscent of baby vomit


We saw the Disney movie "Bon Voyage" as a family at the drive-in back in the Camelot era. It probably colored my ideas about world travel for the next forty-plus years without my ever realizing it--Fred MacMurray, Jane Wyman, and Tommy Kirk, man-hole covers, the Eiffel Tower, and a special voice pronouncing "guillotine!"

Whenever your spring break begins, and wherever you are headed, ton foyage to you.