a quaint turn of phrase.

on saturday night, i was interrogating ethan about orologio, an italian restaurant down in alphabet city. we were with his french friends and, by his own admittance, ethan had taken on somewhat of a french affect for the evening. (i didn't know he spent a semester abroad in france! did you?) anyways, he kissed his fingertips, gestured in the air, and said something i thought was french for "delicious."

"is that french for delicious?" i asked, repeating both the phrase and the gesture. "caz zaz?"

"no, it's the cat's ass!" ethan shouted above the din, "it means 'cool, amazing!' you've never heard of it?"

"what!?!" i shrieked. "friend, you are mistaken. the phrase is the cat's pajamas. or the dog's tuxedo."

interestingly enough, ethan had never heard of "the cat's pajamas" so i smugly assumed that he did not know what he talking about. "you must have heard it wrong!" though i did wonder how a three syllable word for night clothes could have been mistaken for a one syllable word for the derriere (how's that for some french?). but, it turns out, i'm the one who was mistaken. the "cat's ass" is, indeed, a colorful colloquialism in use today.