out of the question

There are so many ways to say "never" in French. So many impossibilities to contemplate, so many days that will never arrive. The "calendes grecques" (Greek calends) can't be found on any calendar. Debts that come due on the feast day of the imaginary "Saint Glinglin" need never be paid. Children once dreamed of "la semaine des quatre jeudis" (the week with four Thursdays), when school was out Thursday after Thursday.

None of these things ever happened or ever will happen. And yet we keep waiting, always expecting "la venue des coquecigrues," (the coming of the coquecigrues), that long looked-for time when all that is hidden will be revealed and man will be the measure of all things. Even now, perhaps, the coquecigrues are on their way. If you close your eyes, you can almost hear the beating of their wings.