Urbane

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Dr. Goodword
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Urbane

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Aug 15, 2014 11:15 am

• urbane •

Pronunciation: êr-baynHear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Suave, polite, sophisticated, refined in manner and manners.

Notes: This is a straight-forward word with no pitfalls to look out for, so long as you do not confuse it with urban [êr-bên], an adjective meaning "related to the city or cities". These two are historically related (see the Word History); however, all that is urban is not urbane. (Even though much of what is suburban is sub-urbane.) This word has a strong family: urbanely is the adverb and urbaneness, the noun; however, a more urbane noun for this adjective is urbanity.

In Play: Today's Good Word is a good word for distinguishing the manners and tastes that come with education, travel, and subscribing to the right daily word service: "Strom Bowley's travels have made him an urbane commentator on Italian cuisine." Of course, urbanity has its limits: "Portia Radclyffe avoids fast-food restaurants, where her urbane mannerisms impress no one."

Word History: Today's word came to us from Latin urbanus "pertaining to the city". Already in Latin it was associated with wealth and education and also meant "refined, polished, elegant". The Latin adjective comes from urbs "city", about which we know precious little. However, as you can see, the idea behind the English slang words, citified and city-slicker, has an ancient history. The association of cities with sophistication is not unrelated to the association of farmers, who live in the country, with the lack of sophistication.
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LukeJavan8
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Re: Urbane

Postby LukeJavan8 » Fri Aug 15, 2014 11:48 am

"subscribing to the right daily word service".
I hope everyone caught that. Doc, is there
another??
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

misterdoe
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Re: Urbane

Postby misterdoe » Fri Aug 15, 2014 11:05 pm

I remember seeing another form of this word, urbanity, in a legal-oriented quote. In a New York City courtroom a lawyer asked the jury not to be swayed by the "Chesterfieldian urbanity" of his opponent. Not to be outdone, the opponent asked the jury not to let the other lawyer's "Westchesterfieldian suburbanity" sway them either.

Native Westchester-ite here. Not sure how to take that remark. :)

Perry Lassiter
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Re: Urbane

Postby Perry Lassiter » Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:49 pm

Then there is the town, Urbana. What's that about? Is it urban or urbane?
pl


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