錦 (silk) 衣 (apparel) 玉 (jade) 食 (food)The Golden Gate Bridge constantly attracts quite a few show-offs. Sailing the San Francisco Bay last Saturday, among far less outrageously extravagant boats, was Tom Perkins' Maltese Falcon, "the longest privately owned sailboat in the world", while the blue sky was graced by a fleet of nine Canadian Snowbirds effortlessly zipping around, followed by the Blue Angels.
What do Snowbirds and Blue Angels have to do with 錦衣玉食? I am afraid I sneaked in a couple of potential MacGuffins, like Dashiell Hammett's jewel-encrusted statuette, out of a certain reluctance to head to boring minutiae of luxury apparel and food.
Let's just say 玉 (王 is king; add a dot, it's jade) in 玉食 refers to round beads, which might resemble glossy, plump, jewel-like grains.
Swathed in silk (rather, fancy synthetic fabric) this clipper yacht is born with several silver spoons in its mouth. Make that carbon fiber masts.
What's its gastronomic pleasure? It gulps huge amounts of air, but of course it does not run entirely by sails. It is a drinker, but let's be nice and call it a sipper, rather than a guzzler.
Now, the plot thickens. Will this falcon fly?
"We are known by what we find important."
ReplyDeleteFrom the "Washington Diarist" section of The New Republic, Oct. 22 issue, commenting on a New Yorker story, appearing the week of the economic collapse, on the millions Leona Helmsley bequeathed to her dog