Ol’ George #23: Everybody Plays the Fool
Notes on #22:
1. George wants to play an April Fool’s Day joke on Irma and pretend that he’s given up beer for wine, and along the way make fun of the way wine people anthropomorphize wine with their descriptions. The style known as pèt nat, or petillant naturel (naturally petulant) is one example of this. In fact, I found that expanded on in this precocious piece I just found online. “ By nature, pét-nats are casual. They’re easygoing. They didn’t brush their hair when they got up, and they threw on yesterday’s jeans because, really, who cares?”
It’s also done a lot in descriptions. I recall someone (a friend? Someone from TV/ movies?) making fun of this by saying/quoting something like “it has an impudent nose” or some such. And I wondered where I had heard this and googled the phrase “impudent wine”. The first hits were for a French wine called L’Impudent.
It dawned on that we can mock such language, but it won’t change anything. I wrote this one and I chose not to check and see if there are any Insolent, Sassy, or Obsequious wineries out there.
Does beer do this? A little, but maybe it’s more of a French thing.
2. This is the second strip without any beer in it. The first was #2, for George hadn’t ordered yet. Balonious would be having a beer, if George wasn’t taking up Irma’s time with his smart assery.