Coup de Grâce

WORD OF THE DAY

coup de grâce /noun / koo-duh-GRAHSS

Definition
1: a deathblow or death shot administered to end the suffering of one mortally wounded
2: a decisive finishing blow, act, or event

Examples
"Quarterback Jake Luton completed 18 of 26 passes for 285 yards and five TDs. He added the coup de grace in the fourth quarter with a 19-yard bootleg scamper for OSU's final score." 
— Ken Goe, The Oregonian, 7 Oct. 2019

"The Bahama nuthatch was already thought to be extinct before Dorian hit, and the hurricane nailed Grand Bahama, where one or two nuthatches may have still been alive. 'This could have been the coup de grâce for the nuthatch,' Dr. Steadman said."
— James Gorman, The New York Times, 17 Sept. 2019

Did You Know?
Borrowed directly from French and first appearing in English at the end of the 17th century, coup de grâce (also sometimes styled without the circumflex as coup de grace) translates literally as "stroke of grace" or "blow of mercy," and originally referred to a mercy killing, or to the act of putting to death a person or animal who was severely injured and unlikely to recover. (In some contexts the term is used to refer to the final act of executing a convicted criminal.)
Later, coup de grâce had come to mean "an act or event that puts a definite end to something." Other coup terms that have made the jump from French to English include coup de main, for a sudden, forceful attack, and coup d’état for a violent overthrow of a government usually by a small group.

Ersatz

WORD OF THE DAY

ersatz / adjective / AIR-sahts

Definition
: being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation

Examples
"If you want to keep your drinks cold without constantly running to the ice machine, using the laundry bag as an ersatz ice chest is a great option…."
— Melissa Locker, Time, 7 Oct. 2019

"Painting a cow to look something like a zebra has been found to reduce fly bites by 50%.... Only 55 flies were observed on the zebra cows, compared with 111 on the black-painted cows and 128 on the control cows. The ersatz zebras were observed to demonstrate only 40 fly-repelling behaviours (such as flicking their tails and shaking their heads) every 30 minutes, compared with 53 and 54 fly-repelling behaviours in the others.
— Naaman Zhou, The Guardian (London), 11 Oct. 2019

Did You Know?
Ersatz can be traced back in English to the 1870s, but it really came into prominence during World War I.
Borrowed from German, where Ersatz is a noun meaning "substitute," the word was frequently applied as an adjective in English to modify terms like coffee (made from acorns) and flour (made from potatoes)—ersatz products resulting from the privations of war.
By the time World War II came around, bringing with it a resurgence of the word along with more substitute products, ersatz was wholly entrenched in the language.
Today, ersatz can be applied to almost anything that seems like an artificial imitation.

Bon Vivant

WORD OF THE DAY

bon vivant / noun / bahn-vee-VAHNT

Definition

: a sociable person who has cultivated and refined tastes especially with respect to food and drink

Examples

"The Major was somewhat of a bon vivant, and his wine was excellent." 

— Sir Walter Scott, Waverley, 1814

"The Swiss-born chef and bon vivant saw life through rose-colored beer glasses, preferring to keep negativity at bay by drinking, eating, laughing, loving and yodeling." 

— Mike Hale, The Monterey (California) County Herald, 4 Sept. 2019

Did You Know?

Fans of fine French wine and cuisine won't be surprised to hear that the French language gave us a number of words for those who enjoy good living and good eating. 

Gourmet, gourmand, and gastronome come from French, as does bon vivant. In the late 17th century, English-speakers borrowed this French phrase, which literally means "good liver." No, we don't mean liver, as in the organ. 

We mean liver, as in "one who lives (in a specified way)"—in this case, "one who lives well."