This week I heard the phrase 'Cherchez la femme' and it's not new to me, but I never bothered looking up a translation before. I guess I felt stupid because after four (or five?) years of French, I still didn't know what it meant. What grabbed me was that it was coined by Alexandre Dumas! I just about fell out of my chair. I'm reading Dumas right now. I've never come across it in one of his works before, but he wrote like forty books and I've only read five.
Literally it is 'look to the woman' or 'look for the woman'. In context it means that if a man finds himself in trouble, the matter is probably connected in some way to a woman. Not that she's directly involved but that the man was trying to impress her or gain her favor when he did something stupid, or illegal, or both. She's the motive, so if you find her, everything will fall into place.
Now as a woman, I figured I should be insulted by that, but curiously I'm not. I'm thinking about my 2009 NaNo story where Jack keeps telling Sam that Lis is not involved in the matter but Sam's investigative 'Spidey Sense' tells him that she is. And he's right.
I also keep thinking about Gov. Sanford and Tiger Woods. When their stories broke, neither one made logical sense. Sanford said he was on the App Trail but he wouldn't answer phone calls. Tiger hit a tree at the end of his street at some ungodly hour in the morning but he wasn't drunk. Investigators just 'looked for the woman' and suddenly both situations were perfectly clear.
I giggle when I think about this phrase coming from Alexandre Dumas. Being known as a bon vivant, I'm sure it's a lesson learned from his own experience. It could have been something his friends said of him, to him, while sitting in some cafe that he thought was clever and decided to use. I wouldn't be surprised.
Showing posts with label learned a new thing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learned a new thing. Show all posts
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Sunday, October 4, 2009
10.4.2009
Today was the last performance of Titanic. I know D enjoyed his time with the production but I also know he's glad it's over. Such a long drive.
I've mostly spent the weekend doing NaNoWriMo research. I found a psychology major on the forums who agreed to answer a whole phonebook of questions for me. Can't wait to get that return email! I've decided to move my lead female's birthplace to the west coast - Los Angeles. More research to do.
I also finished reading the book on Jack Unterweger, the Austrian serial killer. Jack admitted to the murder he was convicted of and blamed his illegitimate birth, his unfortunate childhood and his youth. He wrote plays and novels in prison and so charmed the citizens of Vienna that he was allowed to give public readings in the prison cafeteria. With such dramatic public support, 15 years were knocked off his sentence and upon being paroled, this celebrity killed 11 more women. Then at the behest of his 18-year-old girlfriend, they became fugitives in Miami and she danced in strip clubs to support him. Women adored this man. He had no fewer than two or three girlfriends at one time. He kept detailed records of his sexual encounters, bedding over forty in an 18-month period. And most of them knew he was a convicted murderer, a sadist! As a woman, that just boggles my mind. His trial was an absolute circus. OJ had nothing on Jack. As a narcissist, Jack was so confident he would be found innocent. When the guilty verdict came in the FBI profiler told the warden to put him on a suicide watch but they didn't take the advice. And before they could even transfer him, Jack hung himself. After all his claims of innocence and his theory of a police frame-up, he used the same ligature knot on himself that he had used in all 11 murders. But I must say the most amazing thing I read was that he committed his first (known) murder on the very day of my birth! I had chill bumps all the way down to my toes. Jack definitely has a place in my novel.
I've mostly spent the weekend doing NaNoWriMo research. I found a psychology major on the forums who agreed to answer a whole phonebook of questions for me. Can't wait to get that return email! I've decided to move my lead female's birthplace to the west coast - Los Angeles. More research to do.
I also finished reading the book on Jack Unterweger, the Austrian serial killer. Jack admitted to the murder he was convicted of and blamed his illegitimate birth, his unfortunate childhood and his youth. He wrote plays and novels in prison and so charmed the citizens of Vienna that he was allowed to give public readings in the prison cafeteria. With such dramatic public support, 15 years were knocked off his sentence and upon being paroled, this celebrity killed 11 more women. Then at the behest of his 18-year-old girlfriend, they became fugitives in Miami and she danced in strip clubs to support him. Women adored this man. He had no fewer than two or three girlfriends at one time. He kept detailed records of his sexual encounters, bedding over forty in an 18-month period. And most of them knew he was a convicted murderer, a sadist! As a woman, that just boggles my mind. His trial was an absolute circus. OJ had nothing on Jack. As a narcissist, Jack was so confident he would be found innocent. When the guilty verdict came in the FBI profiler told the warden to put him on a suicide watch but they didn't take the advice. And before they could even transfer him, Jack hung himself. After all his claims of innocence and his theory of a police frame-up, he used the same ligature knot on himself that he had used in all 11 murders. But I must say the most amazing thing I read was that he committed his first (known) murder on the very day of my birth! I had chill bumps all the way down to my toes. Jack definitely has a place in my novel.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
