W. Smith
This month let’s take a look at a few words that start with the letter C.
The first, “comity,” means mutual courtesy or civility. That leads us to the second of our C words: “civility.” But first, one more comment about comity. The term “comity of nations” refers to courtesy among nations, including respect for another country’s institutions, laws, culture, etc.
Five hundred years ago civility was used in the sense of good breeding. Perhaps some of our fascination with Downton Abbey is because of the changing times during the post-Great War period. The sense of civility born of high standing was still in vogue, but the newer meaning of exhibiting common courtesy was emerging.
The adjective form, “civil,” means relating to the commonwealth, state, or nation, as in civil affairs, civil liberty, civil union. It marks a distinction between ordinary life and either military or ecclesiastical affairs.
Our third C word is the verb “cavil,” which means to find fault unnecessarily or to raise annoying and trivial objections. Here is one example: “She began to cavil about my proposal before I was half way through presenting it.”
I could tie cavil to a fourth C word, “curmudgeon,” but as annoying as curmudgeons can be, they sometimes have an endearing side, too. I rather like some curmudgeons even though the dictionary defines them as bad-tempered or surly. On the other hand, I try to avoid those who make a habit of caviling; I don’t need the aggravation.
How about you? Reply to [email protected]; or send along your own special word with some comments that shed light on it.