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Here are some words in Lydia Davis’ new collection of stories, “Our Strangers,” that she finds particularly interesting: “bibelot,” “egg,” “acknowledgment,” “fun,” “obnoxious,” “crepey,” “irregardless.”

Gewgaw, a shiny trinket Bon Voyage A trinket or a knickknack, an ornament, a kickshaw, a frippery, a gimcrack, a bibelot, a gewgaw .

He finds it painful to see this memento of colonialism and bondage turned into an amusing bibelot, but he also loves the woman in whose household it is displayed.

He’s married but he wants her for his own nibbling, as a sexual bibelot.

A recent consultant’s report recommended creating programs to serve the “broader community,” even though it is packed with bibelot shops and satellite galleries.