Show words debonair quality among some that have passed along with oil the word debonair was once very debonair sixty years ago or so it was made to do heavy duty properly and otherwise but styles change and words change with them and today we hesitate to say debonair even when that is the 0 only word observes a writer in the washington post in the late and early a 0 few old gentlemen who had been debonair in their younger days still wore blue swallowtail swallow tail tall coats with large silver buttons and adorned their necks with stocks that style had been debo debonair pair once in the sixties it was in use only by age dignity and quality and heres another excellent word that has gone into the dl discard quality the quality meant those of entrenched social position socialite Is not quite the same thing it Is something ligh lighter tei nul and Is not at always fler fier more e evanescent vane scent quite debonair about the time gentlemen wore swallow tails in daylight and sometimes sported ted flowered waistcoats they also used oil on their hair and parted it in the back as well as in the front so that when they wore white chokers it was difficult tor for a nearsighted near sighted person to tell whether they were coming or going the young men of that period were quite debonair they affected more modern raiment and perfumed the themselves selves with eau de cologne bay rum and florida water As far as nature permitted they cultivated curly hair flowing locks t f the byronic type and burnsi burnsick cj but whether they were young or old oil was frequently present and always suspected now oil even a touch of it would soil upholstery and while gentlemen were not supposed to tell loll or lounge in the presence of ladles ladies they did laugh and sometimes threw their heads back touch ing the back of the chair or sofa and thereupon arose the necessity for the antimacassar anti antl which was a device for protecting the fine damask satin or sm silk rep with which the furniture was upholstered this antimacassar anti or to speak ak plainly tidy was a bit of crocheted work always white pinned to the chair or sofa at a point where the head would most likely touch but it has gone |