Setting: A restaurant
Characters: A couple of friends, my husband and I
Action: The server approaches the table while we are chatting and starts opening our wine
Me: “Ah, I hear the romantic sound of a screw cap.”
Server: “No, it’s a Stelzner Enclosure.”
Me: “Huh?” (or something equally elegant – it’s a paraphrase)
Server: “Yes, that’s its professional name.”
Action: My friends and I try to use the name “Stelzner Enclosure” as many times as we can during the evening so that we can imprint the term in our brains and never be caught saying ‘screw cap’ again.
Reaction: I don’t know much about Stelzner, but the word ‘enclosure’ to describe a bottle cap just seemed weird to me, so I noodled around on Google when I got home and discovered that the perky server had it only almost right.
Climax: What you’re looking at is a STELVIN CLOSURE. And, if the fact that the last four bottles of wine that I ordered in restaurants came with Stelvin Closures not corks is any guide, my guess is you’ll be looking at them a lot more.
Stelvin Closure? Who knew? Did you?