THEn the last Cannes film festival, an Italian approached a French film distributor: ” So that’s it ? Do you like us? “ With his eyes, he pointed to the anti-Covid-19 mask that the Frenchman had hung on his arm, the two rubber bands wrapped around the elbow. You really have to be an elbow mask wearer to think that your compatriots invented this gesture. Among those who wear the mask under the chin or dangling behind the ear, no one would claim to have launched any fashion.
Rather than an Italian import, wearers of elbow masks have multiplied under the combined effect of the beautiful days (less clothes with pockets, less thickness of jacket on the arm) and the end of wearing the compulsory mask in outside. Like presbyopes who keep their glasses in their hair until they need to read, wearers of elbow masks have found at the bend of the arm a convenient place to store it between two outings, a bit like getting stuck a cigarette on the ear to smoke it when the time comes. They have their conscience on their side: on the panels summarizing the good and bad uses of the mask, the elbow is never mentioned.
To say that only a year ago, doctors in white coats would run the TV sets to show, by pinching two fingers, how to put on or take off your mask without touching it (after washing your hands so as not to soil elastic). At the same time, people could stop you in the street to let you know that you were wearing your mask on the wrong side. Now, the masks hanging from the elbow sweep tables, counters and everything that lies around without anyone finding fault.
How do we recognize them?
They have the mark of the two rubber bands on their tan. They have a little more chic masks, black, for example. They find rednecks or old people wearing masks hanging from one ear or under the chin and feel they have nothing to do with them. Putting their masks on their elbows, they have the impression of rolling up their sleeves. They also sometimes hold their jackets over their shoulders. Their elbow masks do not wear out more than the elbow pads of their tweed jackets in the fall.
How they talk
“I hate those who wear it under the chin. “ “It is the least of the good manners not to let it catch on your face when you are not wearing it. “ “Under the nose, it’s booming. “” It’s less dirty there than in the back of my pocket. “ “If I put it on my canteen tray, I’m afraid I’ll forget it. “ “I do not understand that the Italians have not yet had the idea of folding it to wear it as a pocket in their jacket. “” It’s quite civic. It becomes an armband, a rallying sign, a way of showing that it’s not because I’m not wearing it now that I’m anti-mask. “
You have 12.66% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.