Wednesday, March 19, 2008

 

Dictionary Corner #15

It’s interesting to see where words originate from and what they mean. I was surprised to see that the origins/early senses of the word ‘nice’ aren’t really that nice at all!

Nice – adjective

Pleasant, agreeable or attractive.
Good natured; kind.
Fine or subtle – a nice distinction.

- DERIVATIVES nicely adverb niceness noun.
- ORIGIN early senses included ‘stupid’ and ‘coy’: from Latin nescius ‘ignorant’

# posted by Betty the Sheep
Comments:
That is weird.
I've heard people say never to use nice, but I didn't think this would be the reason.
# posted by Blogger Robbie : March 20, 2008 8:02 a.m.
 
I know, it puts the word in a whole new light for me.
# posted by Blogger Betty the Sheep : March 21, 2008 3:37 p.m.
 
I suspect it was originally used when referring to blondes... what... what... in all fairness, what did I say that was so bad???
# posted by Blogger Pure Cork Boy : March 27, 2008 8:04 p.m.
 
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