i also like artsy fartsy. it has a hhhhmmm, what is that french phrase again?
Je ne sais quois.
No…I really don’t know.
I pronounce it “TaTerToTS”, Chronos. 
Starbucks?!
The name Cafe Society was selected only after long and arduous debate which also yielded the perfected recipe for the Ultimate Margarita, that poor damned goat…umm… and the bail bondsman…never mind the details right now.
The name harkens back to twonky, decadent French cafe society. You know, passionate folks sipping vin rouge or cafe noir in atmospheric dives, venues so gritty and bohemian where Art found a true home. Gertrude Stein. Hemingway. Sartre. Simone de Beauvoir. Jospehine Baker. Eisenstadt. Picasso.
Hell, descendents of this crowd argued hammer and tongs for Jerry Lewis as a genius. What better tradition could we invoke for intelligent, crosswise, opinionated give-and-take on contemporary culture? The arts are still thriving, damnitall. Plastic corporate inanities haven’t totally usurped the cafe tradition.
Put DOWN your tall cinnamon Sumatran decaf latte (no foam). We’ve lighted the way.
Absently batting beret sliding over one eye,
Veb
P.S. Donations for the bail bondsman…oh, heck. We’ll cover it. And the goat is recovering nicely.
P.P.S. The Perfect Margarita does not include absinthe.
And then there was the Cafe Society in the Village, as described here
Maybe this is the place after all…
I think we should let that poor goat rest in piece, after all it’s been through. I don’t know what we’re gonna use now when we add new moderators.
I hear that ferrets are in fashion.
“Cafe Society”, no. I suggest we call it “Land of Foobyspit and Trufflebumps”.
[hijack] Just reading The Thieves’ Opera about 17thC London, and it mentions that coffee houses were often places where one could enjoy some <shem> “female companionship”. In particular, it says that coffeehouses sporting “The Sign of the Star” were home to “every lewd practice”.
Something to consider the next time you order a tall skinny mocha…[/hijack]
Why don’t you just call it It? Everybody has to figure out what belongs in It from the context, but eventually they’ll get It.
thanks, fireunderpantsboobs.
Actually curious, I have a Websters dictionary & it has such an entry:
"Main Entry:cafe society Function:noun Date:1937 : society of persons who are regular patrons of fashionable cafes
Only thing is, is that the board doesn’t put that silly little slanted mark-accent above ‘e’ to give it the proper written look.
handy My M-W Collegiate says that it is ok to write it either way. What does you dic say?
sam, it doesn’t give a choice. However, it gives it with the mark when you find it in the dictionary. It’s not even an english word, right?
Cafe Sociéty. Happy now, handy? And what language is “Sociéty” if it isn’t English?
samclem:
That’s a highly personal question.
I too am puzzled as to why an elite star-chamber of mods chose this name in the rarefied air of a hidden forum, without consulting the lumpy proletariat who will actually be using the forum.
“Cafe Society” is an inferior name. I second the notion of TTTS, to be referred to as “Tater Tots.”
I’m sorry, Fiver, I cannot support you in your quest to rename “Cafe Society”. Even though tater tots are the food of the gods, someone might just get a swelled head.
Jeez, if that was the goal why not just call it Drunk Deviants Discuss Art or something?
Gotta admit, I ain’t wild about it either. I’d have preferred something with a lighter sensibility. Maybe a little geeky, too. We’ve already got MPSIMS and IMHO, those are both sorta board-speak. We could come up with something like that?
How about DAIBISP?
It could stand for: Dressed All In Black I Speak Pretentiously
How wide spread is this term? And what does it mean?
Someone said this way up there and I think I may have just got a Pratchett joke.
I will explain after I get an answer.
–John
I’ve seen it as “coffee klatsch,” and it just means a casual get-together for drinking coffee and talking. I think this term may have been more widely used, say, twenty years ago than it is now.