A person or thing one particularly dislikes or is strongly detested. Webster
“The abuse of women was a bête noire for Lincoln.” from the book “Abe: Abraham Lincoln in his Times”.
Bête noire is a French noun that is pronounced about like this: “betn war” The “n” is pretty silent. To hear it pronounced correctly:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/b%C3%AAte%20noire
When first reading this word in “Abe” I was somewhat doubtful as to its inclusion into our fabulous “Word of the Week”. As you may know I have been picking out words that I have recently read that I think will make you appear intelligent but not pretentious. Admittedly this one is borderline.
But the more I thought about it, the more I began to see how perfect bête noire could be in certain sentences. It describes what one would dislike or find awful, bad, etc., and there is no shortage of adjectives that accomplish this. However I could not think of a single noun. Even better, as a noun it can be plural. There’s no reason you couldn’t have a whole bunch of bête noires.
Webster lists synonyms as: black beast, bogey, bugaboo, bugbear, dread, hobgoblin, ogre. That’s it. That’s all of the ones they list and none seem to work. See what I mean? Can you think of one?
I requested from you, my grandsons, anything that you particularly dislike.
Kyle responded that, as an engineer, he had just about finished a massive project when a last minute change required him to go back and re-do a large portion. The re-do of a large project then would be his bête noire.
Ryan’s bête noire is virtual classes at the U. of Illinois.
Luke was a little more poetic. His bête noire is cold days without snow. I liked that. Perhaps we have a blossoming Walt Whitman in our family.
You may be seeing words from the book “Abe” for years to come. It is over 1,000 pages, and I am reading just a few pages daily, usually accompanied by a few ounces of bourbon at about 6 pm. I do however find the book terribly interesting. For instance, did you know that Abe, as a young man, was challenged to a duel to the death….and reluctantly, as a matter of honor, accepted. Abe, as the one challenged, had his pick of weapons. Looking to use his size to an advantage he chose the broad sword. Unbeknownst to him was that his much shorter opponent had spent years learning the art of fencing and was considered an expert. Thankfully the seconds intervened, and the duel never took place.
“Broccoli is my personal bête noire“. I made that one up.
This is a great word to have in your growing vocabulary…. to be used judicially of course. If used properly, you may appear not only intelligent but also clever. Beware….you may also be perceived as a pretentious dip-shit. As I said….it’s borderline.
A previous “Word of the Week” revisited:
rhetorical question – a question not intended to require an answer. “Is this a beautiful day or what?”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhetorical%20question
Quote of the Week:
Last night we went to an Eagles re-do concert that was great and brought back a lot of memories. In this era of just awful divisiveness, where friendships and even family relationships can become strained, the following gave me a degree of peace:
“We may win or we may lose, but we will never be here again, so open up and let me in and take it easy, take it easy. Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy“. From the classic song “Take it Easy”…one of the Eagles first.
Now go forth, see a sunset and take it easy. Oh, and don’t forget to laugh.
Until next Saturday,
Gramps
Fifty-three weeks of great words:
1 – exacerbate – to make worse “Your input just exacerbates an already difficult situation.”
2- assuage – to make a situation or feeling less intense. “I pray our Heavenly Father may assuage you of the anguish of your grief.”
3 – force majeure’ – unforeseeable circumstance that prevents someone from fulfilling a contract. “The tenant will not be required to pay rent due to the force majeure’ clause.
4 – sanguine – optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation. “I’m trying to be sanguine about this, but I see a major roadblock”
5 – segue – (seg way) proceed to what follows without pause. “She has the skill to easily segue from political conversations into subjects less controversial.”
6 – bifurcate – to cause to divide into two branches or parts. “We have decided to bifurcate this large project.”
7 – indolent – habitually lazy – “His failure in life may stem from his indolent ways as a youth”.
8 – ameliorate – to make better or more tolerable – “this drug should ameliorate your pain”
9 – truncate – to shorten by or as if by cutting off – “A truncated version of this report is on the web.”
10 – nascent – coming or having recently come into existence “His nascent idea for a business turned into a goldmine.”
11 – béchamel – a rich white sauce – “He made a lump-free béchamel for her, and, in return, she gave him her love.”
12 – anarchy – absence of government – “The revolution began when anarchy took root in just one city”.
13 – rhetorical question – a question not intended to require an answer. “Is this a beautiful day or what?”
14 – milieu – the physical or social setting in which something occurs or develops.- “His discipline is a result of growing up as part of the military milieu”
15 – nadir – the lowest point – “The stock market reached its current nadir in March”
16 – black swan event – comes as a surprise and has a major effect. “This pandemic is considered by many to be a black swan event.”
17 – myopic – narrow in perspective and without concern for broader implications. “Your myopic view of this project is disturbing”.
18 – quixotic – foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals – “His quixotic pursuit for her affection was, quite simply, foolish.”
19 – prescience – human anticipation of the course of events – foresight. “His intuitive prescience helped to make him a success”
20 – laconic and laconic riposte – use of a minimum of words, and a short clever response to an insult or challenge. In response to a demand to immediately surrender he sent back the following: “Nuts”.
21 – protean – ability to change, versatile. “The coronavirus is protean in its ability to either make you sick or not.”
22 – ephemeral – lasting a very short time or perhaps only one day. “Custer was chasing an ephemeral Indian city.”
23 – catch-22 – a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions. From the novel “Catch-22”.
24 – arrogate – to take or claim something without justification. “In order to accomplish his dream he arrogated to himself controversial powers”.
25 – obtuse – difficult to understand, lacking intellect. “The responses to his remarks this week were even more obtuse.”
26 – purloin – to appropriate wrongfully (steal), often pertaining to a theft that is a breach of trust. “When she opened her new office she purloined one of my listings”.
27 – salience – the quality of being particularly noticeable or important. “It is not clear that raising the electoral salience of the Supreme Court will work to the president’s advantage.
28 – confabulate – to talk normally or to hold a discussion. “He likes to confabulate.”
29 – animus – a usually prejudiced and often spiteful or malevolent ill will. “I have no animus or agenda for the Affordable Care Act.”
30 – puerile – to act or communicate in a juvenile, silly or childish manner. “His puerile ways are giving a poor impression at his job interviews”.
31 – regnant – having the greatest influence – “The regnant belief”.
32 – roil – to be agitated or chaotic – “the politics of slavery was roiling the United States.”
33 – sonder – (perhaps a non-word, but a good word.) The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.
34 – inculcate – To instill or teach someone an attitude, idea, or habit by persistent instruction. “They will try to inculcate you with a respect for their political party.”
35 – mendacity – untruthfulness, lying. “He blew the whistle on the mendacity of the politician.”
36 – pejorative – Expressing contempt or disapproval. Having negative connotations. “Permissiveness is often used as a pejorative term.”
37 – dystopian – A world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized fearful lives, often associated with a totalitarian government or an environmentally degraded world. “The dystopian future of a society bereft of reason”.
38 – Occam’s razor – The simplest answer may be the preferred answer.
39 – execrate or execrable – very bad – “The execrable hotel food.”
40 – immutable – unchangeable – Do not make the mistake of assuming that public opinion is immutable.
41 – prurient – having or encouraging an excessive or unwholesome interest in matters of sex.
“She’d been the subject of much prurient curiosity”.
42 – obsequious – exhibiting fawning attentiveness. Exaggerated deference of manner. “Waiters who are obsequious in the presence of celebrities.”
43 – iconoclast – a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions “He was a prolific writer with a reputation for iconoclastic insight and irreverent prose.”
44 – oblique – something not parallel nor at a right angle to a specified or implied line – slanting.
“We sat on the settee oblique to the fireplace. Or something not done in a direct way such as “He issued an oblique attack on his opponent”.
45 – profligate – wasteful – wildly extravagant. “He has always been a profligate spender, which is why he is broke.”
46 – raconteur – a good teller of stories. “We always invite her to dinner because she is a fine raconteur”.
47 – taciturn – a person who is reserved or uncommunicative in speech…saying little. It usually connotes unsociability. “Nothing bothered the taciturn Hogan more that excessive praise.”
48 – fungible – capable of mutual substitution: interchangeable. Also non-fungible tokens (NFTs) “The court’s postulate is that male and female jurors must be regarded as fungible.”
49 – filibuster – The use of tactics in an attempt to delay or prevent action especially in a legislative assembly. This currently requires a 60 vote Senate majority. “They stopped the bill from coming to a vote by the use of a filibuster”.
50 – hegemony – preponderant influence or authority over others: Domination. “They battled for hegemony in Asia.”
51 – de facto – being such in effect though not formally recognized or contrary to established law “a de facto state of war” for a war that has not been officially declared.
52 – blockchain – an open, distributed leger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way.
53 – bête noire – A person or thing one particularly dislikes or is strongly detested. “The abuse of women was a bête noire for Lincoln.”
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