Parlez-vous Francais? Je m’appelle Michele. Yes, I took two years of French in high school and this is pretty much the extent of my fluency. I do enjoy ordering water, you say good bye and I say de l’eau, is my memory technique. Do you want it sparkling, l’eau minerale gazeuse, or flat, eau plat. I can order red wine and seek the bathroom. Guardez l’eau, literally “watch out for the water”. Actually it sounds like the British term loo, is borrowed from the French l’eau. Avant-garde is a French term meaning advance guard and refers to people or works that are experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art , culture, or society. Those people push the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo. Let me introduce you to Zaila Avant-Garde.
Zaila is a 14 year old African American girl from New Orleans. She is multi-talented, having already earned three Guinness Book world records for her dribbling skills in basketball, she is now the 2021 Scripps Spelling Champion. She also has the distinction of being the first African American girl to win the national competition in its 96 year history. There was no contest in 2020 due to the Covid outbreak but in 2019 Zaila finished 370th. Sounds like her schedule to practice 13,000 words a day paid off. The final word was murraya, a genus of Australian or Asiatic trees. Zaila asked the judges if the name contained the English word Murray as in the comedian. The judges laughed and she proceeded to correctly spell the winning word. Subsequently, she appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel show with guest host Phoebe Robinson, demonstrated her magnetic personality, dribbling skills, and got to meet Bill Murray who asked her to spell portmanteau while balancing on a foam roller and dribbling three basketballs. No problem for Zaila, and she asked Bill what the word meant, it is a suitcase or valise. This girl is amazing, she plans to attend Harvard, play professional basketball, and work for NASA. Anyone want to bet against her reaching her dreams?
Zaila and her generation are the future of our country and our world. Her father changed her name from Heard to Avant-garde in honor of jazz legend John Coltrane. A force of nature like this young woman will lead us out of the darkness we face today, regardless of her name or skin color.
One competitor in the finals missed on the word gewgaw. I was taken with the word because it is unusual and speaks to issues of our day. “A showy thing, especially one that is useless or worthless.” I can think of so many of our political figures who are well defined by this noun.
I guess you need to learn to enjoy the heat. Take good care. Mike