Strictly speaking

For no reason in particular, both Eric and I woke up Sunday feeling a little lethargic and mildly grumpy.

"Are we suffering from malaise?" I joked with Eric.

Then later, over lunch, as I flipped through the economist, I read about a medical condition the symptoms of which included chills, fever and malaise.

"Ha," I said. "Did you know 'malaise' can actually be a symptom of a disease?"

Being a virologist with extensive medical training, Eric did know this.

"I always thought malaise was more of a philosophical condition," I admitted*. "But maybe that's just a different type - so there's medical Malaise and then there's French malaise."

Eric laughed through his nose with a sneer. I briefly had the impression that he had a pencil mustache and was smoking a cigarette through a long elegant cigarette holder.

"Yes, I think you've got the French malaise," I concluded.


*When not overwhelmed with malaise, it is moments like this when Eric brings up the wisdom of my Brown University undergraduate education which, due to the absence of a core curriculum, largely lacked the more science-y offerings.