Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2009 > February > 17 > Entry
Are you an Austin flâneur?
In his immensely entertaining “The Lost Art of Walking,” Los Angeles-based British writer Geoff Nicholson noodles through the synonyms for “walking” in various languages, and what they mean about those cultures, before he shares this gem:The French have really hit the conceptual jackpot with the word “flâner,” a truly wonderful word in that it means simultaneously to walk and not to walk. It can indeed mean to stroll, but it can also mean the act of simply hanging around, staying right where you are and not walking at all. There is something gloriously perverse about this, and it is, of course, the root of “flâneur.”
Are you an Austin flâneur? I believe I am. Let me know how you walk and not-walk.


Comments
Click here to report comment abuse.
By Linda Ball
February 18, 2009 5:35 PM | Link to this
I am an everywhere flâneur. I have the journals, photos and ephemera to prove it. I even collect books about flanerie. Don't have this one, though.
Let's stroll soon.