Thesaurus

balcony: ( n) verandah, veranda,

deserted, uncrowded, loose.

decorate, deck, embellish, adorn; ( n,

loggia, gallery, porch, arch, terrace,

embankment: ( n) dam, bank, bulwark, v) garnish, dress. ANTONYM: ( v) construction, eaves, portico,

weir, wall, jetty, rampart, mound,

strip.

structure.

pier, pond, fortification.

ottoman: ( n) hassock, footstool,

brocade: ( n) brocatelle, cloth, fabric,

lofty: ( adj, v) high, elevated; ( adj)

footrest, fauteuil, Osmanli, settle,

fringe, galloon, lace, trapping,

exalted, eminent, arrogant, grand,

Turk, Ottomite, woolsack, fag, pouf.

edging, embroidery.

tall, haughty, great, distinguished,

pretension: ( n) ostentation, pretence,

chintz: ( n) fabric.

majestic. ANTONYMS: ( adj) short,

affectation, pretense, claim, assertion,

crowded: ( adj) compact, congested,

lowly, base, modest, deferential,

title, pretentiousness, feint, pride,

full, packed, busy, dense, populous,

humble.

requirement. ANTONYMS: ( n)

jammed, cramped, tight; ( adj, n)

ornament: ( n) decoration, adornment, modesty, humility, honesty.

thronged. ANTONYMS: ( adj) sparse, embellishment, decor; ( v) beautify, 62

Pygmalion

[In the corner diagonally opposite the door MRS. HIGGINS, now over sixty and long past taking the trouble to dress out of the fashion, sits writing at an elegantly simple writing-table with a bell button within reach of her hand.

There is a Chippendale chair further back in the room between her and the window nearest her side. At the other side of the room, further forward, is an Elizabethan chair roughly carved in the taste of Inigo Jones. On the same side a piano in a decorated case. The corner between the fireplace and the window is occupied by a divan cushioned in Morris chintz.]

[It is between four and five in the afternoon.]

[The door is opened violently; and HIGGINS enters with his hat on.]

MRS. HIGGINS

[dismayed] Henry [scolding him]! What are you doing here to-day? It is my at home day: you promised not to come. [As he bends to kiss her, she takes his hat off, and presents it to him].%

HIGGINS.

Oh bother! [He throws the hat down on the table].

MRS. HIGGINS.

Go home at once.

HIGGINS

[kissing her] I know, mother. I came on purpose.

MRS. HIGGINS.

But you mustn't. I'm serious, Henry. You offend all my friends: they stop coming whenever they meet you.

HIGGINS.

Nonsense! I know I have no small talk; but people don't mind. [He sits on the settee].

MRS. HIGGINS.

Oh! don't they? Small talk indeed! What about your large talk? Really, dear, you mustn't stay.

Thesaurus

bends: ( n) caisson disease,

ornamented, brocaded.

handsomely, finely, stylishly,

aeroembolism, air embolism, bend,

diagonally: ( adv) obliquely, slantingly, refinedly, polishedly, beautifully.

gas embolism, compressed air

crossways, transversely, slopingly,

ANTONYMS: ( adv) coarsely,

sickness.

aslantly, biasly, slantedly, slantways, clumsily, tastelessly, untidily, carved: ( adj) cut, incised, sculptured;

cornerwise, bias. ANTONYM: ( adv)

awkwardly, vigorously.

( v) graven, engraved, stamped, fixed, square.

offend: ( v) irritate, affront, insult,

imprinted. ANTONYM: ( adj)

divan: ( n) anthology, settee, sofa,

contravene, injure, disgust, infringe,

uncarved.

diwan, directory, Chamber of

displease, abuse, wound, anger.

cushioned: ( adj) spongy, cushiony.

Deputies, chair, Cortes, sanhedrim,

ANTONYMS: ( v) please, delight,

decorated: ( adj) ornate, fancy, frilled,

woolsack, chesterfield.

praise, attract.

beautiful, bejeweled, ornamental,

elegantly: ( adv) exquisitely, tastefully,

embellished, decked, bedecked,

genteelly, neatly, delicately,

George Bernard Shaw

63

HIGGINS.

I must. I've a job for you. A phonetic job.%

MRS. HIGGINS.

No use, dear. I'm sorry; but I can't get round your vowels; and though I like to get pretty postcards in your patent shorthand, I always have to read the copies in ordinary writing you so thoughtfully send me.

HIGGINS.

Well, this isn't a phonetic job.

MRS. HIGGINS.

You said it was.

HIGGINS.

Not your part of it. I've picked up a girl.

MRS. HIGGINS.

Does that mean that some girl has picked you up?

HIGGINS.

Not at all. I don't mean a love affair.

MRS. HIGGINS.

What a pity!

HIGGINS.

Why?

MRS. HIGGINS.

Well, you never fall in love with anyone under forty-five. When will you discover that there are some rather nice-looking young women about?

HIGGINS.

Oh, I can't be bothered with young women. My idea of a loveable woman is something as like you as possible. I shall never get into the way of seriously liking young women: some habits lie too deep to be changed. [Rising abruptly and walking about, jingling his money and his keys in his trouser pockets] Besides, they're all idiots.