Technical phraseology, useful in this
connection, includes "unearthly creature," "stray leopard" or,
simply, "that person."
Your two magical formulas--the Russian "w" and the sad story
about Rachmaninoff's daughter--may, of course, be held in
reserve--but the chances are that you will be unable to use them,
for during an evening at the opera there will probably be no
mention of music.
CHAPTER FIVE: ETIQUETTE FOR DRY AGENTS
SOME BROADER ASPECTS OF PROHIBITION
In spite of the great pride and joy which we Americans feel over
the success of National Prohibition; in spite of the universal
popularity of the act and the method of its enforcement; in spite
of the fact that it is now almost impossible to obtain in any of
our ex-saloons anything in the least resembling whiskey or
gin,--there still remains the distressing suspicion that quite
possibly, at some of the dinner parties and dances of our more
socially prominent people, liquor--or its equivalent--is openly
being served. Dry agents have, of course, tried on several
occasions to verify this suspicion; their praiseworthy efforts
have met, for the most part, with scant success.
The main difficulty has been, I believe, that the average dry
agent is too little versed in the customs and manners of polite
society. It is lamentably true that, too often, has a carefully
planned society dry raid been spoiled because the host noticed
that one of his guests was wearing white socks with a black tie,
or that the intruder was using his dessert spoon on the hors
d'oeuvres.
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