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| Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt |
CARTE BLANCHE
Foreign. Noun phrase. Plural cartes blanches. Late 17th century.
[French = blank paper.]
1 A blank sheet of paper to be filled in as a person wishes;
figurative full discretionary power granted (now the usual sense). L17
2 CARDS. In piquet and bezique, a hand containing no court-cards as dealt, and attracting a compensatory score. E19
No one's ever told me I've got carte blanche on something.
Why not?
Just once I want someone to say to me "You've got carte blanche on this project / expense account / hit-list / whatever."
Really, is that too much to ask?
Really, is that too much to ask?
A blank white comment box awaits you below.
(though I'm not going to tell you you've got carte blanche, because ... well I'm just not)
You had carte blanche when you started the Lexi project. Sometimes you don't have to wait around for other people to give it to you. You can just grab it yourself. That's what I'm thinking, at least.
ReplyDeleteBAM! Bibi tells it like it is!
DeleteWell said, Bibi. I love it.
I love it too, Bibi ... love it, love it, love it ...
DeleteExcept ...
a) I do not have carte blanche with Lexicolatry, because I am rigidly bound by the alphabetical ordering of both the English language and the dictionary. Thus, although I would really, really, really, like to examine the word 'dropsical' tomorrow, I can't Bibi - I just can't. And if I did, it would be a universe gone mad.
b) Although I may have had carte blanche at the beginning of the Lexi project (to work through alphabetically or not, to be a blog on my complicated, conflicted and contradictory political views or not, etc, etc), this was still a self-awarded carte blanche. I want an external carte blanche; I want someone other than me to say to me "Ed, on this, you've got carte blanche ..."
There.
a) Then you'll never have carte blanche. Because everything is bounded by some rules. When's the last time you've been completely free of any rule or boundary?
Deleteb) I give you carte blanche on tomorrow's word. Within the rules that you yourself have set. So no real carte blanche according to your definition.
See, it's you. You are the only one standing in the way of your carte blanche.
Ed no one in their right mind should offer you carte blanche on anything now because you'd clearly have no idea what to do with it.
DeleteThe stress might kill you.
Bibi what's 'boundaries' in French? Give him a carte {that}.
-c.
Une carte limitée, I'd suggest.
DeleteWhether I'd know what to do with it is irrelevant - the important thing I want is that someone says "Ed ... you've got carte blanche on this ..."
DeleteAnd it's gotta be something real - not carte blanche on my own blog. It has to involve ... I don't know ... missile codes, or the NSA's secret files, or KFC's combination of secret spices ... something like that.
That's all I want. Nothing more. Honestly, I really can't see why it seems that's too much to ask.
Ed, how do I fix my side of the bed before my wife sees it? Hey, go nuts - you've got carte blanche all over this baby.
Delete-c. (Was that ok?)
I had carte blanche this morning until I spilt coffee over it liberally.
ReplyDeleteThere's currently a whole bunch of things on my side of the bed that can no longer be described as blanche.
-c.
Although you may have spared us the explicit details, C, the mental details of what on earth you're on about will persist in my mind for a long, long time.
DeleteMy mind, C, is not your carte to de-blanche.
Are you on C's side of the bed? o.O
Delete''White!'' Saruman sneered. ''It serves as a beginning. White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten; and the white light can be broken.''
Delete''In which case it is no longer white,'' said Gandalf. ''And he that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.''
THAT, ed, is what on earth I am on about.
DeleteThank you Sally. Gandalf and I seem to have had comparable breakfast coffee experiences. He, though, has the words with what to describe it proper.
-c.
That wasn't what you were on about! I don't even know what you were on about - but now you've thrown Gandalf into the beddy mix. It just gets worse ...
DeleteIn all honesty, today's post has given me cause to wonder if I fully get what carte blanche actually is.
Delete-c.