GR 215: Milliards of francs

[Jochen Stremmel]

First the Bond:

James Bond idled through the pretty approaches to Royale, through the young
beeches and the heavy-scented pines, looking forward to the evening and
remembering his other annual pilgrimages to this place and, particularly,
the great battle across the baize he had had with Le Chiffre so many years
ago. He had come a long way since then, dodged many bullets and much death
and loved many girls, but there had been a drama and a poignancy about that
particular adventure that every year drew him back to Royale and its casino
and to the small granite cross in the little churchyard that simply said
'Vesper Lynd. RIP.'

And now what was the place holding for him on this beautiful September
evening? A big win? A painful loss? A beautiful girl - that beautiful girl?

To think first of the game. This was the week-end of the 'clôture
annuelle'. Tonight, this very Saturday night, the Casino Royale was holding
its last night of the season. It was always a big event and there would be
pilgrims even from Belgium and Holland, as well as the rich regulars from
Paris and Lille. In addition, the ' Syndicat d'lnitiative et des Bains de
Mer de Royale' traditionally threw open its doors to all its local
contractors and suppliers, and there was free champagne and a great
groaning buffet to reward the town people for their work during the season.
It was a tremendous carouse that rarely finished before breakfast time. The
tables would be packed and there would be a very high game indeed.

Bond had one million francs of private capital - Old Francs, of course -
about seven hundred pounds' worth. He always reckoned his private funds in
Old Francs. It made him feel so rich. On the other hand, he made out his
official expenses in New Francs because that made them look smaller - but
probably not to the Chief Accountant at Headquarters! One million francs!
For that evening he was a millionaire! Alight he so remain by tomorrow
morning!

And now he was coming into the Promenade des Anglais and there was the
bastard Empire frontage of the Hotel Splendide. And there, by God, on the
gravel sweep alongside its steps, stood the little white Lancia and, at
this moment a bagagiste, in a striped waistcoat and green apron, was
carrying two Vuitton suitcases up the steps to the entrance!

So!

James Bond slid his car into the million-pound line of cars in the car
park, told the same bagagiste, who was now taking rich, small stuff out of
the Lancia, to bring up his bags, and went in to the reception-desk. The
manager impressively took over from the clerk and greeted Bond with
golden-toothed effusion, while making a mental note to earn a good mark
with the Chef de Police by reporting Bond's arrival, so that the Chef
could, in his turn, make a good mark with the Deuxieme and the SDT by
putting the news on the teleprinter to Paris.

Bond said, 'By the way, Monsieur Maurice. Who is the lady who has just
driven up in the white Lancia? She is staying here?'

You were right, Paul, it's from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the second
chapter "Gran Turismo".

And Mark was right, too. The last use listed in the OED (my edition is from
1991) is DEUTSCH (Literary Remains of the late ...), published 1874 (where
he, Emanuel Deutsch, speaks of "the untold milliards of human beings [that]
go to hell"). Quite the ironist, Deutsch.

But it was used a lot even much later than 1874 as searching for it in the
www can tell you.


Am So., 29. März 2020 um 00:44 Uhr schrieb Paul Cray <pmcray at gmail.com>:
>
> Thanks, Mark!
>
> Which OED edition do you have access to? I would be surprised if there
were
> no uses of the word in C20th. I wonder where Pynchon came from across the
> word. The passage suggests it might be directly from the French, but, of
> course he could easily have come across it somewhere else. It's the kind
of
> word that might crop up in early/mid-century scientific world or sf.
>
> Recall, natch, the old franc.
>
> "In 1960, the new franc (*nouveau franc*) was introduced,[22]
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_franc#cite_note-24> worth 100 old
> francs."
>
> There is a James Bond novel I recall reading (probably "On Her Majesty's
> Secret Service") in which Bond is at a casino and thinks for tonight I
will
> think in old francs and be a millionaire. A million old francs is 10,000
> new ones or ~£1000, which would be ~$2500 in the early 1960s. A milliard
> old francs would then be $2.5M roughly.
>
> Paul
>
> On Sat, 28 Mar 2020 at 21:06, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > At your service.
> >
> > French root as we know....defined in the OED as a thousand million.
> >
> > Earliest citation in English is 1793,,,,in which 'regal and
> > ecclesiastical plunder"is said
> > to be four milliards.
> >
> > Byron used it in 1803 and last use is DEUTSCH...1879...