The word dégagé is possibly my new favorite word-- at the very least, it's my favorite word until I get distracted by something shiny, such as the new banking app that lets me deposit checks from my living room. I love the future. Where was I?
Oh, yes. Dégagé is defined by the Big Book of choice as
1 : free of mental engagement and constraint of manner : carefree and indifferent to decorum : EASYGOING <I adopted a dégagé pose on the arm of a Morris chair -- S.J.Perelman> <rather dégagé after the nervousness he had shown at dinner -- Edmund Wilson>
2 : marked by a free and easy show of unconcern for strict conventions <the famous slouch hat with the nonchalant dégagé air -- A.J.Liebling> <a model of crushed pink velvet dipped low over one eye and soaring in a dégagé movement on the opposite side -- Hats>
It's like being nonchalant, or easygoing, only with less implications of slack and more class. Because it's French. I like to think that it describes me, actually. But then, I suppose I would. Also, I would like a slouch hat, even if it isn't necessarily famous. I don't really need one made of pink velvet, though, no matter how Mad my Hatterdom. That's a little bit too dégagé.
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