Word: argent
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...elaborate escutcheon of heraldry, one must be a herald. The author, director of the German General Roll of Arms, explains the code of identification that was already fiendishly complex in the 12th century. It is no use. Even introductory definitions flutter toward mystification ("Fountain. A roundel barry wavy argent and azure"). Fortunately, the book's 1,700 illustrations fill this simple information gap with a tournament of griffins rampant and bends sinister. They may be best perused couchant (lying down but with head erect...
However, for the record: "gules argent" and "bars sinister" are heraldic impossibilities; Nixon is called many other things in the book apart from "controversial"; there are at least twelve Kings in the book (see the "Royal Descents" in the appendices) apart from President Ford's father, so that joke is not so clever; and, above all, our books are scholarly records of social history, not "snob's bibles." If you do not believe this, try reading one-without prejudice. You will be surprised. Indeed, your flabber will never have been so gasted...
Jeeves, another gin stengah. A treasure, Jeeves is. Been with the club since the flood. Where was I? Ah, yes. Books. Haven't read but one since Oxbridge. Burke's Peerage. Breeders' guide to British nobility. Smashing heraldry: gules argent, lions rampant, bars sinister, all that drill. Snob's bible, they call it-the envious ones. For those of us who can trace our lineage back to Ethelred the Unready, it's-well, it's sort of a-er -bible. Meaning no disrespect, padre. Since the Empire's gone to the demnition bowwows...
What makes and sustains a restaurant like La Tour d'Argent? In an interview with TIME Correspondent Paul Ress, Terrail, the Gielgud of gastronomy, explained: "La Tour d'Argent is like a theater. I am the author of the play, an actor in it and the director. The words and gestures of every actor are carefully rehearsed. Every employee knows exactly how to walk, stop, bow. There is no obsequiousness. Nor is anyone allowed to take a fat tip from a guest in exchange for a 'good' table. I'd fire anyone who accepted...
...Tour d'Argent is one of only four Parisian restaurants that consistently earn three stars-the highest rating-from the Guide Michelin, France's arbiter of gastronomy. The others: Maxim's, Las-serre and Le Grand Vefour...