While looking in the thesaurus for something else I came across the phrase “cul-de-lampe”. I liked the sound of it,  though I didn’t know what it meant, this “bottom of the lamp”, so I looked it up and found that it has two charming meanings. One is a kind of corbel supporting a vault, which I’m glad to know because I have a fetish for architectural jargon, and the other is a fleuron or printer’s ornament - those pretty little graphics, or, as this page of Quebec sayings puts it better (after explaining why bascule, the French word for see-saw, means to knock your arse against the ground) “an ornamental piece of non-literal type”. I’m mentioning it here because I think it’s a lovely little phrase and I’ve never seen it used, so perhaps someone will see it here and like it and find a spot for it. I shall certainly try. I notice I like three-syllable Frenchisms like this one, and “eau-de-nil” and “nom-de-guerre”, both of which I would have used in TEC if I had known them at the time. It’s a compact but elegant way of phrasing things that English grammar just doesn’t allow. Hooray for looting from other languages.