Recently, I was driving and happened across this literary furniture store.
I was at a red light, so it was alright for me to take this picture quickly!
The store is called A Room With A Vieux Antiques and it sells French furniture. Obviously this is a play on A Room with a View by E. M. Forster, a book I enjoyed when I read it last summer.
I have two qualms with this literary influenced store.
The first: “With” and “a” are capitalized in the middle of the name!
The second: The book had took place in Italy.
What do you guys think? Or am I missing something and this is just a play on words and not a literary reference after all?
Thanks for reading,
Vieux doesn’t mean ‘view’ as in ‘what you are seeing’. It means Old or Old-fashion and usually in a nostalgic or endearing way. I guess it is a phonetic play on the word but with an applicable literal meaning.
It was just so interesting that I felt we could discuss it a little!
Good to know that it doesn’t mean “view,” though!
It’s possible the owner had heard of the phrase, but didn’t realize it was a book. And the play word – vieux – is too French to ignore! Lol, but I would’ve nitpicked it too. (As a matter of fact, I can visualize it. My husband would be in the car too and he would roll his eyes at me as I tell him about it.)
It is a good catchy store name, but my mind couldn’t stop thinking about the info behind the name, and the capitalization. The store is probably wonderful, I just like to analyze!
Oh me too…I’ll analyze anything trying to remotely connect itself to book stuff!
I would say that it’s just a play on words, and I think it’s a great name for an antique furniture store. I like it!
I think it’s probably just a play on words, too. But I can’t help analyzing!
I have a suggestion, why don’t you stop next time and visit. I think you might find a treasure or perhaps a book inside or maybe, the answer to your question?
Good idea!
I think using “vieux”, the French word for old, is clever for an antique store, although it isn’t quite pronounced like “view” from my limited recollection of high school French. I don’t know which came first, the book from the phrase or the phrase from the book but at least it made it easy for you to remember and think about and publicize the store, store owner did a good job picking a name
I took Spanish, so I have no idea how it is pronounced, but I assumed “view” since they used the play on words. I do think it’s a good choice for a store because it’s so catchy, and my analyzing wouldn’t stop me from checking out the store itself. I just thought it brought up some interesting things to discuss.
I’m gonna agree with Kamla. And I don’t think the capitalization thing would bother me for a store… I don’t know, I’ve never really realized what stores capitalize things or not! Lol. It still looks like a super cool store though! You should check it out and tell us about it
Capitalization doesn’t always bother me for stores. Sometimes the entire thing is in lowercase, which is fine. But I think what bugs me is how it’s all capitalized, which is improper. It’s strange, though, since all lowercase doesn’t bug me and that’s improper, too!
Ugh, that is frustrating!
But I’m learning all about the word “vieux”
i am learning too..hehe
I think it’s both, literary reference and a play on words. Can’t comment on the “with a” because I tend to do that a lot (though I know it’s bad).
It’s okay! But a store should be able to afford someone to check for mistakes, you know? Unless they wanted the mistake, which could happen too.
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