“Dear Derb—I am going to take one for the team here. Please explain the
Evelyn Waugh, FLORID, hat story. I cannot be the only one out there who
didn’t get it.
“I know it probably won’t be funny once you take the time to patiently explain it. On the other hand you can take comfort in the fact that one less person will be wandering the streets in confusion continually muttering the word ‘florid’.
“Thank you for your continuing support of adult basic education.”

No prob, Sir. That flunky, when he saw a gent on his way out of the club, needed some fast & foolproof way to locate the gent’s hat, to have it ready to hand to him. He therefore put the hat in a pigeonhole tagged with some obvious visible characteristic of the gent. An obvious visible characteristic of EW was, he was florid of face. Names would have course worked just as well; but if you don’t have a good memory for names, the flunky’s method is superior.

It’s amusing (very, very mildly amusing) to wonder what tag oneself or one’s friends & colleagues might have got. I tried out a few for my NR colleagues, but alas, every one I came up with was even less flattering than FLORID.