We (you, dear devoted reader, and I) must team up (just the two of us, not a menage a t r o i s - sorry, auto correct is automatically turning the French for three into trots) in writing a roman a clef about a sauvage (wise or savage?) (man) in a launderette. Of course the setting is in London. In the US it would be called a Laundromat. My spell checker is playing games with laundrette and launderette. I'll leave you to use an old-fashioned dictionary in your country and work out what is currently acceptable.
French - English
clef - key (t r e b l e - not table, clef, is sign for what the right hand plays - there are also bass clef, double base is a musical instrument, bass clef is the sign before notes for the left hand or bass instrument or bass singer) the middle of the other two, not used much might be the alto clef - please look it up if you care or need to know
de - of
eau - water
façade - face or frontage, often false, but can be the only bit which is real when preserved from a previous era when the building behind has been complete updated to make it bigger or more modern or to comply with safety
laundrette - US Laundromat (brand name?)
roman - novel
roman a clef - there was I thinking its was just a 'mystery novel' when wikipedia put me right:
Sausage with a capital letter is brand name of male fragrance) (wasn't fragrance once a French word?) which is an eau de toilette
toilette - toilet, as in toilet water which is not water in your toilet but like a perfume but watered down and cheaper. Toilet water has a second advantage of being less heavy so more suitable for daytime, rather than evening when you want a knockout blow on the senses to seduce anybody standing or sitting beside you. Toilet water is your choice when you are not willing to forego a little help, but hopefully not coming on so strong with overpowering scent that you might attract an ugly and already paired off stranger in the theatre, nor offend a taster at a wine tasting trying to detect the 'nose' or aroma of a glass of wine from a bottle of expensive wine
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
French - English
clef - key (t r e b l e - not table, clef, is sign for what the right hand plays - there are also bass clef, double base is a musical instrument, bass clef is the sign before notes for the left hand or bass instrument or bass singer) the middle of the other two, not used much might be the alto clef - please look it up if you care or need to know
de - of
eau - water
façade - face or frontage, often false, but can be the only bit which is real when preserved from a previous era when the building behind has been complete updated to make it bigger or more modern or to comply with safety
laundrette - US Laundromat (brand name?)
roman - novel
roman a clef - there was I thinking its was just a 'mystery novel' when wikipedia put me right:
Roman à clef - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_à_clef
Sausage with a capital letter is brand name of male fragrance) (wasn't fragrance once a French word?) which is an eau de toilette
toilette - toilet, as in toilet water which is not water in your toilet but like a perfume but watered down and cheaper. Toilet water has a second advantage of being less heavy so more suitable for daytime, rather than evening when you want a knockout blow on the senses to seduce anybody standing or sitting beside you. Toilet water is your choice when you are not willing to forego a little help, but hopefully not coming on so strong with overpowering scent that you might attract an ugly and already paired off stranger in the theatre, nor offend a taster at a wine tasting trying to detect the 'nose' or aroma of a glass of wine from a bottle of expensive wine
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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