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Gems from a Dominique Strauss-Kahn Story

The former IMF Chief’s latest saga yields some impressive turns of phrase

by
Adam Chandler
February 26, 2013
Dominique Strauss-Kahn(Getty)
Dominique Strauss-Kahn(Getty)

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is seeking an injunction against his former lover Marcela Iacub, who is writing a tell-all memoir about her seven-month affair with the disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund. He wants the book to be shelved and some damages and his estranged wife is entering the fray to protest the book.

The news itself is not that exciting, but the language of the story is. With that in mind, I present the 10 best phrases from the Guardian story about the scandal:

10. DSK has suffered a “true manipulation … and a real trap”.

9. tantamount to “shooting a man who is already on the ground”.

8. a vice ring involving a network of prostitutes in northern France

7. as if we were still living in a society under the ancien régime

6. she and her husband – because I remind you that they have still not divorced – are part of a caste of masters of the world.

5. “behaviour of a woman who seduces in order to write a book, and who boasts about her amorous feelings in order to exploit them financially”

4. it “troubled” her conscience that she “had to make believe I was in love with you, mad about you”

3. a kiss-and-tell book by a former lover who described him as “half man, half pig”.

2. given credit to the manoeuvres of a perverse and dishonest women driven by her fascination for the sensational and the lure of money”

1. “There’s nothing wrong in getting a blow job from the cleaning woman.”

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.