Yay, a holiday week is coming up. I'll be visiting my erstwhile haunts in the upper reaches of the Empire State, where I'll have time to work on -- and maybe finish -- my loony lexicon. Meanwhile, here's a little excerpt.
piste (noun) [pronounced "peest"]
A beaten track or trail
"A 'lost' track recorded by the band in 1967 and performed only once in public could finally be released, Paul McCartney told the BBC in an interview.... 'I like it because it's The Beatles free, going off piste.'"
--The Observer (UK), November 16, 2008
(McCartney was talking about this, which I hope to live to hear.)
When I was growing up in the wilds of upstate New York, there was a woods and a river behind my house. (There still is.) Through the woods along the river was a narrow trail, about a foot and a half wide and a half-mile long, with dense foliage on either side. People -- kids and teenagers mostly -- used this foot path to go from the town park to a certain point in the river where they used to skinny-dip. I don't think any of this happens anymore, and I suspect the "piste" has disappeared by now. It's probably a "lost track". (I should find out the next time I'm up there.) Anyway, as a kid I used to have dreams about this trail, nightmares sometimes, about walking along it at night or being chased by someone -- or some thing. I think I still do, but I don't often remember dreams anymore.
It's strange the byways of memory that stumbling across a certain word or phrase will take you down.
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piste: specifically a ski-trail, mostly alpine, but nowadays fairly universal, slang u.k, for going out visiting many pubs, "on the piss, getting pissed," "Where are you?- we're on-piste"
ReplyDeleteOff piste? a detour to the kebab shop for the food which is a revolting thought at all times other than after a few beers.
I can't recall ever hearing 'piste' as referring to any trail or path, other than a ski-one.
Interesting. Perhaps I'm stretching the definition a bit. The Free Online Dictionary defines it as:
ReplyDelete1. A ski trail densely packed with snow.
2. An unpaved trail or path, especially in mountainous terrain.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/piste