I am so not an oenophile. I know that all three of today’s words are varieties of red wine. The only one of the three I am really well acquainted with is merlot. Once on an Alaska Airlines flight I got bumped into first class and remember being served several glasses of merlot and I did make a point of buying merlot again. That’s definitely not much of a wine story, I’m afraid.
In New Orleans there is a street called Burgundy, but it is pronounced differently than the wine. (burr GUN dee Street) I suppose to be fair I should attempt at least a sentence about claret, although honestly I don’t believe I’ve had any and probably would not recognize it if you handed me a glass of it.
I found myself un-liking a Facebook page this morning. A headline in my screen caught my eye and I clicked through to read the article. But the blog had a very garish design and a boat load of ugly ads. And the article was very poorly written. I got the distinct impression that the writer was not a native English speaker and spent a lot of time and effort reading about ‘how to make money blogging’, and not nearly enough effort at creating real quality content. When I went back to Facebook and found the item had been placed in my stream by some page I had liked, I immediately went over and un-liked the page. (And yes I do see the irony in complaining about crappy content just after quite failing to write a post about the three kinds of wine my friend Harold Gardner suggested. )
I am almost finished writing the new sections for Walking Down The Avenue. I hope in the next couple of days to finish with the first draft. Then it will be time to let it sit, then proofread and edit and the proofread and edit again, then send it off to the copy editor and get ready to publish. It is still sunny like summer here in the Northwest, though the temperature is pleasantly cool. Fall really is a favorite time of the year for me. And there is no mention of what happened on this date a few years back anywhere in this post.
I like your post, interesting way to string things together. Merlot is fine, but being in the NW – Oregon Pinot Noir are also quite good!
Can;t wait to see as published your first draft. !!
oh no. I won’t publish the first draft. I won’t release it publicly until it’s been proof-read and copy edited and then proofread several more times. (Errors inevitably will get through but first draft is a long way from ready to be read
In the spirit of avoiding mention of the unavoidable today, I’ll give three words inspired by other unforgettable events which, if you ask pretty much anyone about today, will probably draw blank stares: Haymarket, Blair, Pullman.
Thanks so much. (I have a feeling I will have to look up all three of those names and have a very high chance of not actually referring to any of the other unforgettable events you’re thinking of
Sort of funny because for me the words are also about color. As a TAMU alumnus, our color is maroon, and I started my list with maroon, burgundy, and Merlot. When claret popped into my bitty brain, it was too funny a double-meaning not to use it.
I also like the way those words sound. I like the irony that Merlot & Claret look like they should sound similarly. Each word similar in meaning whether in wine or pantone.
hmmm. I definitely thought of burgundy as a color (the background image today is the color I associate with ‘burgundy’). I’ve never really thought of claret as a color, and frankly would be a bit surprised if I ever heard anyone using merlot to describe a color. I like maroon. Thanks again for today’s words.
Beef Duck Cheddar (pairings with the wine)
Thank you so much, Vince. Added them to my list.
I am sorry you don’t like wine, one of life’s great pleasures. But of course, it is definitely one of those pleasures that has to be enjoyed in moderation if it is still to be a pleasure.
I had three great-great-aunts like that (yes, I do mean my grandmother’s aunts – they were a great feature of my childhood. They were actually called Aunt Molly, Aunt Laura and Aunt Nancy (the baby – she was only in her eighties). But I think I am now going to think of them as Aunt Burgundy, Aunt Merlot and Aunt Claret.
I don’t know whether the television series ‘Hinge and Bracket’ crossed the Atlantic (probably not) but they were dead ringers for these three aunts:
They each had dead foxes (tippets) swung around their necks, which I thought a fearsome sight, come to think of it the sight of these three in full sail was in itself a fearsome sight…
Some day. Some day Google with perfect speech to text and the “closed captions” (which they are not, really) will work. Between the accents and the laugh track and Google’s extremely inaccurate captions I hadn’t a clue what they were saying, although the laugh track was pretty continuous. /sighs
I can picture your three aunts, Laura. (I am almost tempted to attempt a comic novel about three old ladies named Burgundy, Merlot and Claret, but just thinking about all the research I would have to do to make it good leaves me tired
PS– I do like wine and know enough of the terms not to embarrass myself in public. These days I rarely drink it, partly because no one else in my household really likes it, and partly because it is very bad for my diabetic blood sugars.
moody – complaining – pouty (three types of whine
)
Thank you so much, Allen. I’ve added these three to my list, and will save them for a day they seem appropriate
I heard once ou could speak French if you memorized a wine, cheese and a hockey player. Try I!
From kindergarten to fourth grade I took French lessons. And at age nine I was fairly fluent. Except for retaining the ability to toss expressions like je ne se quois into English conversations, I’ve forgotten pretty much all of it.
I am a lover of red wine, it makes me feel like these three words: mercurial, stoic and nostalgic
Thanks so much! I’ve added those three to my list as well.
Actually by my reading, Burgund is a region of France where wine is made, hence wines form there are Burgundy wines. Claret is an anglicization or ‘clairet’ and refers to red wines from the Bordeaux region, and Merlot is a variety of grape grown in many regions,
Yes, David. I actually did know those facts. As I mentioned to Laura, I actually do enjoy wine. But I am deadset against ever being the sort who goes on and on about oak notes and such. Thinking about it, I kind of like the idea of the words referring to colors rather than vintages. Thanks so much for stopping by today.
just three words from DET
sun, water, shark
Thanks, Det. Added these to my list.
For some reason, when I see or hear the word ‘claret’, I think of the stone ‘garnet’.
The French wine harvest is starting soon, so the word ‘vendage’ comes to mind. Finally, fall is my favorite season, ‘autumnal’ will be my third word.
garnet – vendage – autumnal
Ooooooo. I really like these. Thank you so much, Bevan.
My taste for wine is very limited. I will drink a glass of chamborsin and enjoy it but cannot identify the subtle flavors contained in the wine. My choice is craft beer – belgans, IPAs stouts, porters, you name it. Must be my Pittsburgh roots.
A good beer sounds great to me, Thomas. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Aura, Oreo, Indy
Oreo, in as far as I can determine is a brand name and not a word. And Indy seems mostly to refer to Indianapolis, Indiana. How about if we call this one aura, cookie, hoosier?
Bedlam, Britain, boondoggle
hmmm. I don’t usually like proper names, but I think I will accept Brittain and go with this one. Thanks so much for your comment.
Not a big fan or red wine or even that much of alcohol…i need all the brain cells i can spare.
So, let’s summarize. Merlot is wine, burgundy is a street that’s fine, and claret is just part of a literary line. Or something like that.