Say Brush
Here’s something I picked up from Nancy Mitford’s comic masterpiece, Love In A Cold Climate. The secret of flashing a brilliant smile is to say “brush”. “It’s a thing I got out of an old book on deportment and it fixes at once this very gay smile on one’s face,” says a very gay character, although at the time “gay” meant “happy”. Ige and I tried it today, and it works. Right after you say “brush” the corners of your mouth turn up in a rictus. It’s much more effective than saying “cheese”. So if you want to conceal your true feelings, or if you have a meeting with someone you loathe, say “brush” just before you enter the room. They’ll think you love them, or that you’re on drugs.
Afterwards we discussed the vital question: Who are your movie parents? Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes (though technically it was Satan) in Rosemary’s Baby? Catherine Deneuve and whatsisname in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg? I decided on Woody Allen and Diane Keaton in Sleeper or Love and Death. Ige claimed Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung in In The Mood For Love. For the absent Chus, I picked Marcello Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale in 8 1/2. Ricky refused to acknowledge Madonna and Sean Penn in Shanghai Surprise as his parents, preferring Sue Lyon and James Mason in Lolita.
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June 22nd, 2007 at 11:09
Doesnt work for me. Must be my accent. I’ll have to try that again with an upper class Londoner’s accent.
We were just lamenting at lunch yesterday the fact that we can’t use ‘gay’ anymore to mean happy. Entire generations of children are growing up and thinking that Deck the Halls is a Christmas song for homosexuals.
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:26
Somebody told me to say “eight”. When you say that your tongue pushes against the back of your teeth and you’ve got a picture perfect smile.