Several months ago my friend Fast Eddie declined to meet for lunch because he was playing tennis with Yann. At the time I neither knew that he played tennis, nor that he had a friend called Yann. Amongst my group of friends the phrase "playing tennis with Yann" became a sort of modern equivalent to "I can't come, I'm washing my hair" replacing any fabricated excuse.
I went on a date last week, it was disasterous and ended up with me getting shouted at for not giving her my full attention, and for dominating the conversation. However, before I got told off, we had been talking about going out again (clearly I didn't realize how badly it was going), she was unavailable next weekend because she was speaking at a conference in Copenhagen.
Disappointed though I am with the whole experience, I'm glad to say that it's added a certain richness to the lexicon. "I'll be at a conference in Copenhagen" is already starting to displace "playing tennis with Yann" as the favourite obviously fabricated prior arrangement.
Richard "Unexplained Drinking Injury" B