After I got back home, there was a prolonged silence from France. I could not raise a soul. Later, I was told this is what happened.
At about 6 p.m. on a Sunday evening, the day after I left France, Monsieur had an argument with a young man who lost an arm to farm machinery, a quarrel about how much was owed to the bar by the young man. Both were, and had been, drinking, as was their custom. The young man picked up a glass ashtray and slammed it down on the bar as he emphasized a point. In so doing, he broke the ashtray and cut his hand.
He went across the street to wash off the blood, shaking his bloody fist in the air as he went out and indicating that he would be back to do serious damage to Monsieur and his va-te-faire-foutre bar.
Monsieur went upstairs, got his hunting rifle, walked back down and thru the bar, which was full of people, including the mayor of the village, and out the front door. When the young man came back around the corner, Monsieur let him have one at point-blank range. Killed him deader'n hell, which is considered bad form in rural France.
My "little place in France" disappeared in the blink of an eyelash, a coup de foudre, as it were.
At about 6 p.m. on a Sunday evening, the day after I left France, Monsieur had an argument with a young man who lost an arm to farm machinery, a quarrel about how much was owed to the bar by the young man. Both were, and had been, drinking, as was their custom. The young man picked up a glass ashtray and slammed it down on the bar as he emphasized a point. In so doing, he broke the ashtray and cut his hand.
He went across the street to wash off the blood, shaking his bloody fist in the air as he went out and indicating that he would be back to do serious damage to Monsieur and his va-te-faire-foutre bar.
Monsieur went upstairs, got his hunting rifle, walked back down and thru the bar, which was full of people, including the mayor of the village, and out the front door. When the young man came back around the corner, Monsieur let him have one at point-blank range. Killed him deader'n hell, which is considered bad form in rural France.
My "little place in France" disappeared in the blink of an eyelash, a coup de foudre, as it were.
~~~
Coup de foudre = thunderbolt, lightning strike; idiomatic, love at first sight.
Is "as it were" subjunctive? Absolutely, but not appropriate as used below, which merely states facts.
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Myers, Marshall <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I wonder what a construction like “as it were” is in the following sentence:
He knows a good deal about grammar. It is something, as it were, that many strive for.
The construction seems to be inflected for the plural with “were” that doesn’t agree with the singular subject. Does the subjunctive have anything to do with the construction?