Why You Should Read Every Dang Day of Your Life

I learned the word etui today and am now obsessed with it. I came across this doozy reading one of Stephen King’s books, Billy Summers.

Sometimes it takes me ages to read a book because if I find a word or phrase, I’m unfamiliar with, I put the book down and look up the unknown word.

Some might (and probably do) say that I’m not the brightest crayon in the box, so needless to say, I’m looking up words all the time.

Here enters etui: a small ornamental case for holding needles, cosmetics, and other articles. (Definition from Oxford Languages via Google Boxes)

I’m going to use this word EVERYWHERE I go!

I think of the bevy of drug addicts down the street from my house. I imagine myself looking at their 90s style fluorescent fanny pack housing recently acquired needles for later use and saying, “Ahhh, what a handy etui you’ve got there.”

And they will reply, “Thank you so much for noticing!”

There’s the woman who invariably ends up in front of me in line at the grocery store, counting out a nickel at a time from her pink and yellow swirled coin purse as she tries to wrangle up $1.50 for 2 figs.

Rather than silently screaming into the echo chamber of my brain, “WHO THE FUCK EVEN EATS FIGS NOWADAYS?” instead, I will kindly offer to count her money in a timelier fashion. Then I’ll compliment her on her lovely etui.

Oh, the possibilities of this new word of mine!

I may even start randomly saying it to people as it’s pronounced “et-wee,” which is super fun to say.

“Etui!” I’ll say to passersby while I smoke a very long and thin cigarette, and people might think I’m an exotic French lady.

“Etui.” I’ll say when the server asks me how my dessert was.

“Come again,” he will reply.

Then I’ll answer straight-faced and sober, “The fig pudding was lovely. Thank you.” The server will think he’s going crazy because he heard something completely different the first time.

All in all, today was a real win for ol’ Lindbae.

And that, Kids, is why you should keep reading — you never know what hidden gems will jump off the page and forever lodge into your everyday vernacular.

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This post was previously published on it’s just foam.

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