“is that a flounder?” he asked, pointing to one of my three necklaces.

a friend of shaun’s and an acquaintance of mine, james had been sitting three rows behind us in the movie.  we’d seen him sit down in the darkened theatre, but he hadn’t seen us until now, standing as we were in an awkward circle just outside the theatre exit, not sure what to do next.  he came over to say hello, and we talked for a few minutes about school (it was pretty bad) and the movie (it was pretty good) before he asked about my necklace.

“yes, actually, it is a flounder,” i said, trying to read the words knitted into his stocking cap newcastle brown ale.  “i’m not sure why, though.”

“well,” he said, “better the noun than the verb.”

“that’s awesome!” i exclaimed.  “i’m going to write that down!”  and i did, right there in my notebook underneath one of the subtitles from amÈlie, which i’d written down during the movie.

i’m in exile in a world of dreary khaki.
flounder: better the noun than the verb.