Esquire Lacking Eloquence

Perhaps this is cruel of me, (but if I gave in to that thought every time I had it, I wouldn't have a blog, now, would I?) but I feel the need to criticize a co-worker of mine. She is a highly intelligent woman who was, at one time, a successful lawyer in Washington, DC. She is very well-spoken and distinguished-sounding and is gifted with a wonderful talent for turn-of-phrase. She understands French, but I would not venture to say that she speaks French. She does try, but the results are disappointing, considering her beautiful way of producing sentences in English.

Yesterday, she was talking to a customer who was buying tickets for a local movie premiere, whose after-party is to be held at the Déjà Vu Lounge. In trying to keep with her 'enlightened' aura, she told the customer that the party would be held at the Déjà View Lounge. I much prefer the Déjà Vew Lounge, as most people would pronounce it, over the offensive "view"; the same pronunciation mistake found time and time again in Debussy. You wouldn't tell someone you were making a "rendezview," now, would you? I think not.

This same poor woman also says genre as if it has two distinct syllables, reminiscent of David Sedaris' criticism of a fellow American in Paris' pronunciation of Louvre in his story "Picka Pocketoni". The unreleased R in a stand-alone word is a beautiful thing--allow that lack of 'e caduc' to resonate! Give my ears a rest for a change.