Thursday 28 April 2005

The pithy French

I have already given an example of the economical way in which the French use their beautiful language, and from what I heard on the news yesterday they can be just as concise when they use ours.

The A380 Airbus was about to take off for the first time and an urbane Englishman whose name and role I didn’t catch gave a pessimistic view of its prospects, expressing himself beautifully, at length and with that polished confidence which is the hallmark of an expensive education.

The response from Noel Forgeard, Airbus’s chief executive, was admirably succinct:
"Thass complete boulsheet! "

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Of course, I’m sure you are aware that a ‘boulsheet’ is a small ( sometimes oiled ) cloth used to wrap the metallic 'boules' in the game of the same name.

It is, I admit, hard to fathom why Forgeard used it in connection with the A380.

Tony said...

Of course I knew that! Doesn't everybody?

Anonymous, please reveal yourself, unless there is something you are ashamed of.