51吃瓜 of the Day
esprit de l'escalier
noun
French.
a perfect comeback or witty remark that one frustratingly comes up with only when the moment for doing so has passed: Writers, by nature, tend to be people in whom l' esprit de l'escalier is a recurrent experience.
More about esprit de l'escalier
The still very foreign phrase esprit de l’escalier first appears in English in one of the remarkable, not to say idiosyncratic, let alone cranky books by the Fowler brothers, F.W. (Francis George) and H.W. (Henry George), The King鈥檚 English (1906): 鈥淣o one will know what spirit of the staircase is who is not already familiar with esprit d’escalier.鈥� The French phrase was coined by the French philosopher and encyclopedist Denis Diderot in his Paradoxe sur le com茅dien (1773鈥�77), a dramatic essay or dialogue between two actors: “l鈥檋omme sensible, comme moi, tout entier 脿 ce qu鈥檕n lui objecte, perd la t锚te et ne se retrouve qu鈥檃u bas de l鈥檈scalier” (a sensitive man like me, entirely overcome by the objection made against him, loses his head and can only recover his wits at the bottom of the staircase), that is, after he has left the gathering.
how is esprit de l'escalier used?
驰辞耻谤听esprit de l鈥檈scalier聽doesn鈥檛 kick in until you鈥檙e well out the door.
Later, l’esprit de l’escalier provided Mercia with: Glad you’re in agreement/I haven’t yet spoken/Is that a greeting/Yes indeed鈥攂ut at the time, affronted, she grabbed at a couple of garments and announced, I’ll try these.
nebulated
adjective
having dim or indistinct markings, as a bird or other animal.
More about nebulated
The adjective nebulated comes from Late Latin 苍别产耻濒腻迟耻蝉, past participle of 苍别产耻濒腻谤别 鈥渢o cloud, obscure,鈥� a derivative of the noun nebula 鈥渕ist, cloud.鈥� Nebula is the Latin result of the Proto-Indo-European root nebh– (with many variants) 鈥渃loud.鈥� The neuter noun nebhos yields Greek 苍茅辫丑辞蝉 鈥渃loud, clouds,鈥� Slavic (Polish) niebo 鈥渟ky, heaven,鈥� Hittite nebis 鈥渉eaven.鈥� The root nebh– and the suffix –el yield Middle Welsh nyfel 鈥渃loud鈥� and Greek 苍别辫丑茅濒脓 鈥渃loud, clouds,鈥� corresponding to Latin nebula. The Germanic form of the root, neb-, and the suffix –l– form German Nebel 鈥渇og, mist鈥� and Old Norse niflheim 鈥渢he world of darkness,鈥� ruled over by the goddess Hel. Nebulated entered English in the late 15th century.
how is nebulated used?
Immature birds are smaller, with central tail-feathers not, or scarcely, projecting, and have chiefly nebulated plumage below, with admixture of pale cinnamon, especially on under tail-coverts …
I fear that the intellectual gloom of the age is too great and nebulated by prejudice to duly appreciate your sentiments and devotion.
Delphic
adjective
oracular; obscure; ambiguous: She was known for her Delphic pronouncements.
More about Delphic
English Delphic comes via Latin Delphicus from the Greek adjective 顿别濒辫丑颈办贸蝉, a derivative of the plural noun 顿别濒辫丑辞铆, the name of the inhabitants of Delphi and of the historic city itself. The many dialect forms of the name, especially Aeolic 叠茅濒辫丑辞颈, point to a form gwelphoi with an original labiovelar (a sound combining a velar, such as k or g, and a bilabial, such as w), as in Latin quis, quid 鈥渨ho, what鈥� and English quick and Gwendolyn. Gwelphoi is a Greek derivative of the Proto-Indo-European root gwelbh– 鈥渨omb鈥� (the city was so named from its shape). Gwelbh– is also the source of the Greek noun 补诲别濒辫丑别贸蝉 (Attic 补诲别濒辫丑贸蝉) 鈥渂rother,鈥� whose first letter a– is a much-reduced form of sem– 鈥渙ne,鈥� related to Greek 丑辞尘贸蝉 鈥渟ame鈥� and English 鈥渟ame.鈥� 础诲别濒辫丑(别)贸蝉 therefore means 鈥渂orn of the same womb.鈥� Delphic entered English at the end of the 16th century.
how is Delphic used?
The poems of his mature career were often Delphic, haunted, and bleak.
… he would certainly make a few Delphic pronouncements that next to nobody would understand, such as: “You can get many kinds of balance toward any seemingly grinding postulate of life.”