word for the day 08.23.05 "soi-disant"
soi-disant \swah-dee-ZAHNG (the final "NG" isn't pronounced, but the vowel is nasalized)\ adjective :
self-proclaimed, so-called
Example sentence: He is a soi-disant post-modernist, but his writing doesn't approach the quality demonstrated by the writers he is so quick to criticize.
"Soi-disant," in French means literally "saying oneself," & is one of hundreds of French terms that entered English in the 17th and 18th centuries, during The Enlightenment. Even as political antipathies between France and England were being played out on battlefields in Europe and America, English speakers like Lord Chesterfield were peppering their correspondence with French. "Soi-disant" first began appearing in English texts in 1752 as a disparaging term for someone who styles or fancies him- or herself in some role (for example, a "soi-disant expert"). "Crepe," "vis-a-vis,""etiquette," and "sang-froid" are a few of the other French terms that became naturalized in English at that time.
[from dictionary.com]
self-proclaimed, so-called
Example sentence: He is a soi-disant post-modernist, but his writing doesn't approach the quality demonstrated by the writers he is so quick to criticize.
"Soi-disant," in French means literally "saying oneself," & is one of hundreds of French terms that entered English in the 17th and 18th centuries, during The Enlightenment. Even as political antipathies between France and England were being played out on battlefields in Europe and America, English speakers like Lord Chesterfield were peppering their correspondence with French. "Soi-disant" first began appearing in English texts in 1752 as a disparaging term for someone who styles or fancies him- or herself in some role (for example, a "soi-disant expert"). "Crepe," "vis-a-vis,""etiquette," and "sang-froid" are a few of the other French terms that became naturalized in English at that time.
[from dictionary.com]
posted by hellkittennyc at 10:18 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home