bon mot /ˌbän ˈmō/ noun
: a clever remark
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The term bon mot has appeared in 16 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on July 5 in the theater review “‘The Royal Family of Broadway,’ This Time in Song” by Jesse Green:
The opposite problem confounds Julie (Laura Michelle Kelly) and her daughter, Gwen (Hayley Podschun): They want the stability of marriage without giving up the excitement of the stage. When Julie’s old lover, Gil, now a millionaire, returns from Brazil to scoop her up, and Gwen’s stockbroker fiancé, Perry, lays out his dream of a proper suburban life, both women dither over what to do.
To grande dame Fanny (Harriet Harris), their doubts are ignoble. “Marriage isn’t a career,” she harrumphs. “It’s an incident!”
That sort of bon mot — along with huge dollops of bohemian atmosphere — were enough to make the nonmusical “Royal Family” a success …
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