An American, an Englishman, and a Russian were sitting at a Parisian cafe, arguing about the meaning of the French expression,
savoire faire:
The American: "
Savoire faire is what you have if you come home from the office, find your wife in bed with another man, and simply say 'Excuse me' -- then turn around and walk out."
The Englishman: "Not, quite, old chap.
Savoire faire is what you have if you come home from the office, find your wife in bed with another man, and simply say 'Excuse me; please continue' -- then turn around and walk out."
The Russian: "Let's ask one of these Frenchmen. After all, they invented the phrase."
A Frenchman at an adjacent table piped up: "I've been listening to your entire conversation, and you have it all wrong. You come home from the office, find your wife in bed with another man, and simply say 'Excuse me; please continue' -- then turn around and walk out. And if HE can continue, then HE has
savoire faire!"
A test of my own
savoire faire: a couple months ago, I tried to set up my first appointment with a lady who'd piqued my interest. In one of her PMs, she informed me,
Quote:
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Will not have phone by tomorrow. However, I will be here at 1:00...
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Adding directions to her place, and a description of her front door, she concluded,
"WTF?" I thought to myself. "No 'phone? I rationalized: All right, maybe no "business" phone, and she doesn't want to give out her personal number.
Even though she had not opened subsequent PMs that I'd sent from late morning until ~12:30 PM on "Appointment Day," I pressed ahead, following her directions to the letter. I did send one last PM, informing her that I was on my way, adding:
Quote:
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If, for any reason, you need to cancel, call me on my cell 'phone,...
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No call en route. "Good," I thought to myself. Arriving at her front door -- which appeared exactly as she'd described -- and wanting to get a laugh out of her, I turned the knob, not bothering to knock, and called out in a sing-song voice, "Oh, honey, I'm ho-ome!"
I found myself face-to-face with a bare-chested man, salt-and-pepper hair and brushy eyebrows, wearing nothing but a tan pair of cargo shorts. (As I later learned, it was the SO, who'd decided to pay a surprise visit.)
"I'm sorry, I obviously have the wrong address," I said, quickly exiting.
Did I have
savoire faire? Doubt it. I don't know which went limp faster: My cock, or the bouquet of fresh tulips I was holding.
So, what was YOUR toughest test of
savoire faire?
(Oh, and guys ... don't ask me who she is. The last thing I need is another hard vocabulary lesson, this one on the meaning of "
discretion.")
Savoire Faire: What Was YOUR Ultimate Test?
