Word of the Day: flâneur

flâneur (n)

An idler, a dawdler or loafer; an idle man-about-town; a person who strolls about idly. (Originally French)

"But does the flâneur still exist? What is he or she today: a shopper, a denizen of the streets, a surfer of virtual worlds on the Internet? Or, perhaps, a user of the mobile phone, who lives his/her life on the streets and in traffic?"
--Timo Kopomaa, The City in Your Pocket: Birth of the Mobile Information Society

There are times when I'd like to think I could be the person in the dictionary's definition: the idle, peripatetic stroller, appreciating everything around the city in a sort of moving meditation. But when I'm out walking around, I can't help speed-walking -- even if I'm not in a hurry to get somewhere. People who walk slowly two or three abreast down the sidewalk ahead of me drive me crazy, until the concrete widens out enough for me to pass them. Then I feel a bit silly, wondering if they think I'm trying to race them.

I suppose some suburbanites have the same experiences in cars -- slow drivers ahead, so honk, honk, honk. Where's the fire?