Strauss's grandparents, Jules and Coralie, ran a fabric store on the ground floor of the house where he was born. While my ancestor hunkered down up there at the top of the ladder, among the large rolls of new fabric, boxes full of silk ribbons or mother-of-pearl buttons, Coralie, always at her post, carefully surveyed the clientele crammed into the store around the two counters laden with often too tempting goods... If one of these "habitués" seemed to her to be inspired by dubious intentions, she would suddenly stop serving the clientele, raise her head with an abrupt and decisive gesture reminiscent of the movements of her older sister, Ortense, and, turning to her husband still perched on his high perch, shout in Alsatian dialect, "Schüll (Jules), come down from the ladder and bring me the D.L.G. article at once!" The strange acronym, which indicated the item my grandmother so urgently needed, was composed of the initials of a codeword in Judeo-Alsatian dialect known only to the two people concerned. "The article D.L.G." meant "Dèss Lüeder ganèft," meaning "That rascal steals." Despite his age and pinguedine, my ancestor Jules quickly descended the steps of the ladder to put a stop to the thief's plans and enforce the rules of public morality in his store.