She had long ago taken up Fru Kaas--entertained her first and
foremost. Angelika Nagel used in conversation modern Christiania
slang which is the latest development of the language. In the
choice of expressions, words such as hideous were applied to what
was the very opposite of hideous, such as "hideously amusing,"
"hideously handsome." "Snapping" to anything that was liquid, as
"snapping good punch." One did not say "PRETTY" but "quite too
pretty" or "hugely pretty." On the other hand, one did not say
"bad" for anything serious, but with comical moderation "baddish."
Anything that there was much of went by miles; for instance,
"miles of virtue." This slipshod style of talk, which the idlers
of large towns affect, had just become the fashion in Christiania.
All this seemed new and characteristic to the careless emancipated
party which had arisen as a protest against the prudery which Fru
Kaas, in her time, had combated. The type therefore amused her:--
she studied it.
Angelika Nagel relieved her of all her business cares, which were
only play to her. It was the same thing with the question of the
cement undertaking.
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