Bay Keramik (l. to r.) 1210, 1111-30, 1010-10, all “Reims” decor

I love language, especially idioms — expressions whose meaning cannot be derived from the words used. Sadly, they seem to be disappearing in today’s all literal, nanosecond attention-span, homogenized communications. Many US-based idioms are being erased due to political correctness (try telling a new co-worker he is now the “low man on the totem pole”), but in both replacing and banning idioms we remove much of what makes a language identifiable with a specific culture. We aren’t robots (yet) and we shouldn’t have to speak like them… which is why the vases in this post are so much fun to me. Made in Germany by Bay Keramik starting in 1960, the vases are example of the “Reims” decor. Reims, the so-called “Coronation City” of France (due to having crowned 33 monarchs from 751 to 1825), has been known since the 13th century for its’ Rose Window. As the colors of the vases in this line are evocative of the colors in the Rose Window, the decor name makes sense. Ah, but what of the title of this post, you ask? Well, the French idiom “lécher les vitrines” (literally, “to lick the windows”) is their expression for window shopping — something which holds a delightful double meaning for this post. The first meaning is obvious: “Reims” and the Reims window. The second is easy, but slightly hidden. You see, in the days prior to the internet you physically went from one town to the next, one shop to the next, looking through dusty windows to see if there was anything interesting inside. Today the window is virtual — and isn’t zooming on an image just a different way of getting a closer look at your object of desire? I argue it is, which means “lécher les vitrines” — an expression from an older, but more vibrant linguistic period — might just survive to see the next century.