En Passant

I've posted on this blog before about the ubiquitous orange-and-white traffic barrels and cones, like these deflecting cars from the HOV lane on the Gowanus Expressway. And while there's nothing wrong with good old fashioned Anglo-Saxon words like "cone" and "barrel," I do think we could give commuting a bit more elan if we adopted the term chicane from the French. As a noun, it connotes "a movable barrier used in motor racing, sometimes before a dangerous corner to reduce speed as cars pass in a single file." Perfect, non? It has the same root as chicanery, how clutch is that?

Ayrton Senna, 1991

That's Brazilian Formula 1 superstar Ayrton Senna roaring through the chicane at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix. In the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, of course, Senna and rival Alain Prost had been entangled (literally) in controversy when Senna recovered from a crash with Prost and came back to win the race. But he was disqualified for returning to the race through the chicane rather than from where he went off the course. This is all told well in the documentary Senna. (Senna died in a crash in 1994.)

I can already hear some of you saying, along with Cynthia in Metropolitan, "Is our language so impoverished that we have to use acronyms* of French phrases to make ourselves understood?" Well, yes and no. The point here is that when a foreign word or phrase offers a term that is more exact--and, let's face it, fun to say--why should we resist? Try it out: "Oh, honey, look out for the chicane..." See what I mean?

(*The acronym Charlie has proposed is, of course, UHP, for Urban Haute Bourgeoise. Nick responds, the "term is brilliant, and long overdue." You can see the relevant clip from Whit Stillman's first film below.)