People 'in society' know this index by heart, they are gifted in such matters with an erudition from which they have extracted a sort of taste, of tact, so automatic in its operation that Swann, for example, without needing to draw upon his knowledge of the world, if he read in a newspaper the names of the people who had been guests at a dinner, could tell at once how fashionable the dinner had been, just as a man of letters, merely by reading a phrase, can estimate exactly the literary merit of its author.
Mundu-giroko jendeek oroimenean atxikitzen dute errepertorio hori, eta gai horiei buruz badute halako erudizio bat, dastamen eta ukimen jakin batez hornitzen dituena, eta horregatik Swannek, adibidez, bere mundu-jakinduriaz baliatu beharrik gabe, berehala esan zezakeen, afari batean bilduak zirenen izen-zerrenda egunkarian irakurri orduko, zenbaterainoko chic-maila erdietsia zuen afari horrek, hala nola letra-aditu batek aintzat har dezakeen zehazki, esaldi bakarra irakurri eta beste gabe, beronen egilearen literatur kalitatea.