That elaborate and delicate gallantry was a kind of blague for the whole nation; it made every Frenchman a knight of chivalry.

But there is a joyous quality to the San Francisco blague which sets it apart, even in the West.

From blague comes the verb blaguer, which the same authority says means "dire des blagues; mentir pour le plaisir de mentir."

With this specimen of blague we may leave the caricaturists of France to fight it out with La Censure.