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Sun 24 Jul, 2011 05:40 am
“Now aren’t you glad I made you take a bath?” Bill asked. “One less bottle of eau de reekette punching holes in l’ozone.”
This is the author showing the character (Bill) trying to sound clever. Bill is asking whomever he is speaking to if he or she isn't glad he made him or her take a bath--rather then just using some cologne, some perfume. Eau de Cologne is a French term which means, roughly, perfume. Cologne is a city in western Germany where perfume was manufactured. When Bill says "eau de reekette," he's trying to be clever--reek in English means to stink, to give off a bad odor. He's suggesting that whomever it is he's talking to, if he or she had not taken a bath, they'd be using some kind of perfume to cover up the body odor. The "l'ozone" reference is another attempt at being clever, trying to "Frenchify" a reference to the ozone layer. There is a layer of ozone in the upper atmosphere which protects us from solar radiation. Most spray containers in the 1960s and 1970s used CFCs, chlorofluorocarbons, as the propellant which may it spray. CFCs migrate to the upper atmostpher, and destroy the ozone.
So, to recap, Bill is saying aren't you glad that i made you bathe rather than just spraying on something to cover the stink and thereby endangering the environment.
(Personally, i don't find Bill to be very clever.)
@Setanta,
Good answer, covering all the points.
@Setanta,
Thank you very much! You are always so patient, and kind to me.
@Nancy88,
Patient? Are you referring to Setanta?
@McTag,
She must have mistaken me for someone else!