PARIS BEFORE THE OFFENSIVE
'But/ said Bonnard, *do you mean to say that
what the restaurant proprietor calls the wing of a
chicken is not a wing?*
Tm sorry/ said Duhamel, 'we're making a
dictionary of usage. The sense a restaurant
proprietor gives a word is part of its usage/
After a long discussion it was agreed to insert a
special remark on the expression *aile de poulet'.
The contrast between the tragedy of events and
this tender care for vocabulary may seem astounding,
but I was glad to see the Academie carrying on with
its business despite everything. If everybody had
done as much things would have been different.
I spent the rest of the month with the Ninth
Army, under General Corap, which was in the
region of Vervins, Fourmies, and Charleville, and
which was destined to meet the onslaught of the
German armoured divisions a few days later. It
hardly appeared to expect them. Lieutenant de
Jumifiiac, who was my guide, said:
'The trouble is that old Corap, though he's a good
enough man and has had a fine career, isn't fond
enough of banging the drum., . . An army needs to
bang its drums, needs reviews and music—a bit of
polish in fact. * . * You'll see it for yourself: the dust
is beginning to settle on us here.'
Jumilhac, who was a horse-lover, had a pictur-
esque vocabulary. Talking about the German
success in Norway, he said:
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