Vocabulary Attribute: New to Me

This was part of a col­lec­tion prints from the 1880s depict­ing let­ters of the alpha­bet, with a pro­fes­sion start­ing with said let­ter. A was for Artist, R is for Rob­ber, X is for xylo­g­ra­ph­er. O, of course, is for Ostler.… Read the rest

Accord­ing to Slate, ear­ly twen­ti­eth-cen­tu­ry fash­ion design­er Paul Poiret wrote, «The taste for the refine­ments of the eigh­teenth cen­tu­ry had led all women into a sort of del­i­ques­cence.» Even hav­ing looked up the word, I have no idea what he was talk­ing about. (arti­cle orig­i­nal­ly seen at moleskinerie.com)… Read the rest

Sim­i­lar to *refute*, but with stronger con­no­ta­tion. A refu­ta­tion is an asser­tion; confu­ta­tion is sub­stan­ti­at­ed and proven.

Found in one of the foot­notes of *The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire*.

> He rep­re­sents with can­dour and con­futes with sub­tle­ty, the opin­ions of the philosophers.… Read the rest

Found this in Chap­ter 76 of the Tao Te Ching, Stephen Addiss & Stan­ley Lom­bar­do translation:

The ten thou­sand plants and trees Are born soft and ten­der And die with­ered and sere.

Con­text tells a lot, but I don’t recall ever encoun­ter­ing this word before. So I looked it up and lucky you get to read about it.… Read the rest