Brian Boyd: “I checked what I had at this point on AdaOnline, Jansy, and something peculiar happened: the first time I clicked on the hyperlink at 106.02, French mustard, only the first and last of the two notes below appeared in the lower left-hand annotations frame; when I clicked on “the yellow index was a trouvaille,” all four appeared; I can’t think why this would happen.”

Jansy Mello: It works fine whenever I use it. Could it have been a momentary “glitch”?

While I checked it right now I read the next paragraph again*. The importance of strong grown nails is stressed in connection to the mosquito itch, confirming what I had in mind and you suggested at the end of your post about Ada’s sinful soft fingertips.

You wrote that “Yes, the “lapse into delicious sin” seems to me no more than Ada’s once again biting her fingernails [ ] The itch, in other words, seems to be sexual [ ] Does Ada’s biting her fingernails in Christmas 1884 suggest masturbation to itch the red rash kept alive at Brownhill by Vanda?” .

Short fingernails are popularly recommended for hetero and homosexual masturbation of women and I was surprised at how many explicit entries about this matter are available at present (search entry: “masturbation short fingernails”). What I found particularly entertaining, but not necessarily informative about the importance of short nails, were the very modern choices of different colors to signal sexual preferences. Lesbian Mlle Larivière must have been prescient! ***

Brian Boyd: “The first note simply means that the mustard Mlle Larivière chose was French because, as a Québecoise, she is proud of French culture and dismissive of any other kind.”

Jansy: Google information can be so profuse that it’s often misleading. Take this entry: MENTION the phrase “French mustard” to the average Briton and they will think of the mild, dark brown kind that was popularised by the Norwich-based firm Colman's./ However to most French people this is a mystery - one French blogger described it as “that sweet English stuff they have the nerve to call ‘French Mustard’.” **

Was VN writing “Ada, or Ardor” as a Briton, an American, a Quebecois, a Frenchman, a Swiss?

...........................................................

*106.05	Soon after the birthday picnic, when kissing the hands of his
	little sweetheart had become a tender obsession with Van, her
	nails, although still on the squarish side, became strong enough
	to deal with the excruciating itch that local children experienced
	in midsummer.

** MENTION the phrase “French mustard” to the average Briton and they will think of the mild, dark brown kind that was popularised by the Norwich-based firm Colman's./ However to most French people this is a mystery - one French blogger described it as “that sweet English stuff they have the nerve to call ‘French Mustard’.” [ ] Dijon is a dark yellow, with a milder taste than English mustard, but still with more bite and a more classic mustard taste than the sweetish, savoury, “French mustard”. In fact, Colman’s French Mustard is now unobtainable, since they stopped the line after 65 years, following an EU competition law ruling in 2001 after parent firm Unilever also acquired Amora Maille. It was told to sell the brand or stop making it. Even so, “French Mustard” can still be found in Britain - for example, Waitrose do an own-label one. Real French mustards should also not be confused with “French’s mustard” - a classic hot-dog style condiment that is the best-known brand in the USA. This, as its makers insisted during the Iraq war, has strictly nothing to do with France, but is a family name. As for real French mustards, there is controversy at Amora Maille after it announced it was closing its headquarters and factory in Dijon - though it will retain a mustard shop there. Production will continue at its factory to the east of the city at Chévigny, which Unilever points out is still part of “Greater Dijon.” The company cited economic difficulties with running a town-centre site. http://www.connexionfrance.com/expatriate-news-article.php?art=297

*** Femme-flagging manicures first came to internet-fame through -– what else — a Tumblr. Primarily, what I've seen has been ladies painting all their nails one color, and then painting their ring fingernails, or ring and middle fingernails (fucking fingers!), a different color (their "flagging" color). A pink manicure with a glitter ring finger, for example, could mean "femme for femme" (i.e. I am a femme lesbian who prefers to date other femme lesbians). Meanings can also parallel traditional hanky code colors –- i.e. grey for bondage, black for S&M, light blue for oral (hooray!), and so on.// I've also seen women bandying about the idea that each finger could represent something different, each color conveying a specific finger-based meaning. That's a bit too complicated for me -– firstly, ten different meanings is a lot to keep track of. Secondly, and not least importantly, there's no way in hell I'm painting each nail a different color, unless it's 1997 and I'm 12./ I have two requirements for a femme-flagging manicure: It should be pretty, and it should clearly convey the message ("I like girls!"). A simple way to do this would be to paint all your nails one color, and then one or two fingers a different color. Individual color meanings be damned. We have better things to do than sit around scrutinizing each other's phalanges, trying to decipher layers of meaning through the sheer power of the color wheel. http://jezebel.com/5947301/the-finger-flagging-manicure-for-ladies-who-are-into-ladies