Make Your Point > Archived Issues > BÊTISE

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explore the archives: Even if you've never heard it before, I bet you can find a use right away for bêtise, meaning a dumb mistake or a foolish comment. French supplies bêtise and many other words that help us talk about social awkwardness and ineptitude, including these: 1. Someone sullen and shy with poor social skills is far_____. 2. Behavior that's awkward, tactless, or crude is called gau______. 3. Something with a lower social status than it used to have is de______. make your point with... "BÊTISE" French for "stupidity," a bêtise is a stupid mistake or a foolish comment. Pronunciation: bay TEASE Part of speech: Countable noun. (Countable nouns, like "bottle," "piece," and "decision," are words for things that can be broken into exact units. You talk about "a bottle," "three pieces," and "many decisions." Likewise, talk about one bêtise or multiple bêtises.) Other forms: Just the plural: bêtises. How to use it: Compared to the related term bete noir--bête is French for both "beast" and "stupid"--bêtise hasn't seen as much use in English, so you still have to write it with the italics and the little mark over the first "e." Call an action or comment a bêtise when it's foolish, stupid, or very poorly timed. Someone might say a bêtise (or say bêtises), write a bêtise (or write bêtises), make a bêtise (or make bêtises), or commit a bêtise (or commit bêtises). You can talk about her bêtise, his bêtise, their bêtise, and so on: "his bêtise about dogs wearing sweaters."  Or, call something "such a bêtise" or "a bêtise of a certain thing," as in "a bêtise of a war" or "a bêtise of a policy." examples: His novel opened with a bêtise of an analogy that made me cringe. When I'm trying to fall asleep, my brain likes to remind me of whichever bêtise I committed most recently. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "bêtise" means when you can explain it without saying "cringeworthy comment" or "dumb choice." try it out: Think of someone intelligent you know, or an intelligent public figure, who occasionally says or does stupid things. Fill in the blanks: "(Person) (said or did something dumb)? How could (he/she) commit such a bêtise?" Example: "She plagiarized her entire literature review? How could she commit such a bêtise?" before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. Language Techniques: When language sounds beautiful or memorable, often there’s some particular technique responsible for that effect. Each day this month, I’ll give you a specific stylistic technique or quality, and I’d like you to recreate (as closely as you can) the quote that I’ve botched by removing it. We’ll work our way from the easiest to the hardest techniques. Enjoy! From yesterday: Check out these lyrics from "Glad You Came" by The Wanted: "Turn the lights out now, now I'll take you by the hand, hand you another drink, drink it if you can." And here's Lord Byron: "The mountains look on Marathon – And Marathon looks on the sea." These are examples of anadiplosis: starting a new statement with the word you just used to close your previous statement. Yoda didn't say, exactly, that fear leads to anger, then hate, then suffering. Add the anadiplosis. What were his exact words? Answer: "Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering." Try this last one today: Whether a phrase exhibits parallelism, or epistrophe, or isocolon, or any other technique we've looked at this month is rarely open to interpretation--it either does or doesn't, as long as we're clear on definitions. But consider the atticism. It's any refined, elegant, well-turned phrase...which is a pretty subjective definition. Here's Samuel Johnson: "What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure." Can we agree to call that one an atticism? How about this one, from the book of Romans? "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Ralph Waldo Emerson didn't say, "Being angry is a waste of time and makes you sad." Arguably, his real words constitute an atticism. What are they? review today's word: 1. The opposite of BÊTISE is A. PLANNED STATEMENT B. SLY MOTION C. WISE MOVE 2. The academic essay is an oddity. Otherwise _____ students _____ into them, generating bêtises left and right. A. bold .. hurry B. articulate .. bumble C. original .. hack Answers are below. a final word: To be a sponsor and send your own message to readers of this list, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: Word meanings presented here are expressed in plain language and are limited to common, useful applications only. Readers interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words are encouraged to check a dictionary. Likewise, word meanings, usage, and pronunciations are limited to American English; these elements may vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. C 2. B