Scented Quote of the Day, from Arthur Minton:
Minton writes bout Gallicized perfume names in America as of 1946 (a method applied sometimes quite erratically if you read the rest of Minton's article, which is at times hilarious, especially when he gives long lists of perfume names with funny mistakes in them.) Some of my favorites are: Charme d'France, La Joye, Le Secrét Discret, Mon Spi, De Sir De Toi, Ne Moub Liez Pas, Puré Paris, Mon Ajour, Ro Mantique, La Plus Des Fleurs, Violette Verdue, Rafraichu....I am laughing so much it hurts!!):......
"A useful kind of word for selling perfumes is the cognates that have close resemblance in the two languages. A few French words -- e.g., parfum and odeur -- are frequently used without warning or italics, to liven up plain English expression. And for reasons to be searched out by social pathologists a woman is more likely to buy a perfume called Porcelaine than one lacking the mute e; Mystère is more mysterious to her than Mystery or even Mysterie. Frivolités churns her up more than Frivolities. Sycamore is that deadly English; o makes the difference to her in Sycomore (1930). The effect she requires to decipher Moment Suprême is compensated for by the solvent effects the French form has on her sales resistance. She bought The Dandy in 1889, but as civilization spread she required Le Dandy from 1926 on. A New York firm is called The Dawn Cosmetique Manufacturing Company."
(in American Speech, 1946)
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Scented Quote of the Day, from Sean Combs:
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