Word of the Day for Thursday August 12, 2004

flaneur \flah-NUR\, noun:
One who strolls about aimlessly; a lounger; a loafer.

Burrows and Wallace show how New York embraced the idea of
the flaneur -- of the disinterested, artistically inclined
wanderer in the city, of what they call "city watching."
--Jed Perl, "The Adolescent City," [1]New Republic, January
22, 2001

The restricted hotel lobby has replaced the square or
piazza as a public meeting place, and our boulevards, such
as they are, are not avenues for the parade and observation
of personality, or for perusal by the flaneur, but conveyor
belts to the stores, where we can buy everything but human
understanding.
--Anatole Broyard, "In Praise of Contact," [2]New York
Times, June 27, 1982

Baudelaire saw the writer as a detached flaneur, a mocking
dandy in the big-city crowd, alienated, isolated,
anonymous, aristocratic, melancholic.
--Ian Buruma, "The Romance of Exile," [3]New Republic,
February 12, 2001
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Flaneur comes from French, from flâner, "to saunter; to
stroll; to lounge about."

References

1. http://www.thenewrepublic.com/index.html
2. http://www.nytimes.com/
3. http://www.thenewrepublic.com/

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation

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