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Terms from French This week's words passe-partout tranche beau monde bien-pensant pas de deux May I make a link? Yes. You don't need anyone's permission to make a link to a site. Linking is what makes the Web work... more Discuss Feedback RSS/XML A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargbien-pensant
PRONUNCIATION:
(bee-aN poN-saN [the last three syllables are nasal])
MEANING:
adjective:1. Right-thinking; conservative; conformist. 2. Self-righteous. noun: 1. A right-thinking person. 2. A self-righteous person. ETYMOLOGY:
From French, literally well thinking, from bien (well), + penser (to think).
USAGE:
"But the problem is that one man's superstition is another man's religion,
and vice versa. Many Protestants today still see Catholicism as being rife
with superstition, ... while atheists and agnostics would see bien-pensant
Protestants as worshiping an equally absurd form of the supernatural."David Gibson; Is One Man's Faith Another's Superstition?; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Mar 27, 2009. "We North London bien pensant types do our best, we really do." Peter York; How to Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is; The Independent (London, UK); Sep 17, 2006. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived. -Oscar Wilde, writer (1854-1900)
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