Word: canards
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...sniffer-planes affair leaped into public attention last month with an article in the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine. The Mitterrand government, under fire for its management of the limp French economy, suddenly found itself in a position to lambaste the previous administration, led by Valery Giscard d'Estaing. But even before Mitterrand could capitalize on the disclosure, Giscard went on national television to deny any wrongdoing. He implied that others, notably his Premier, Raymond Barre, were more directly involved. Barre, in response, insisted that the affair had to remain shrouded in secrecy "for defense reasons...
Nothing irks Edwin Colbert more than the widespread notion that dinosaurs were lumbering dimwits too big and clumsy to cope with their environment. "A canard," snaps Colbert. "Dinosaurs were not failures. They were enormously successful. They dominated the planet for 135 million years." By contrast, man is only a few million years old. Declares Colbert: "I doubt if we'll be around as long as the dinosaurs...
...meals, whipped up in a space hardly bigger than most apartment kitchens, include dinner and a next-day brunch. They would probably earn the rolling restaurant one toque in the Gault-Millau Guide. After dinner, Chef Ranvier gives one impressed guest his recipe for le foie gras de canard cuit naturellement. At brunch, rocketing through the broad plains of northern Italy, there is an exceptional dish of small chickens with Albufera sauce. The wine cellar on wheels is more than adequate. The train pulls into Venice...
...afternoon progresses, the visitor is overwhelmed by a cacophony of sounds and a bouquet of smells. A peek into the larder is enough to tickle even the most jaded palate. Fresh foie gras de canard and turbot flown in from France, mallard ducks and wild morel mushrooms newly arrived from Washington State, plump pheasant and succulent little grouse shot in Scotland, live crayfish shipped up twice a week from New Orleans...
Indifference is an impressive but somewhat risky ploy. Rarely do public figures command the easy Gallic disdain of French President Valéry Discard d'Estaing. When Le Canard Enchaîné reported that Giscard had accepted $250,000 worth of diamonds as gifts from the Central African Republic's butcherous Emperor Bokassa, Giscard's reaction was roughly, "So what?" Of course, the French have a tradition of Non, je ne regrette rien. Across the channel, the Duke of Wellington once displayed something of that spirit when an old mistress (a Frenchwoman) threatened to publish...