- Eric’s approach to cooking is best described as desultory, because he
a. likes it hot and spicy.
b. prefers bland foods.
c. doesn’t work from a plan. - Last night’s casserole was absolutely fetid — it
a. smelled horrible.
b. was packed with nutrients.
c. was widely praised. - With one dish, Eric proved that, in the kitchen, he is nonpareil. He is a chef without
a. taste.
b. equal.
c. skill.
Answers
- c. doesn’t work from a plan.
- a. smelled horrible.
- b. equal.
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Comments
Kat B: English is rife with adjectives that we’ve also turned into nouns, especially when it comes to superlatives. Consider “the best” and “the greatest.” Nonpareil as a noun, meaning “unequaled person or thing,” picked up at the end of the 16th century, and it was applied to a type of candy about 100 years later, so people have been eating nonpareils for more than 300 years. And it’s not just chocolate: I’ve got a jar of nonpareil capers in my fridge right now.
Back then, Latinate (and therefore French) terms were more venerated than English ones, even more than they are now. If you wanted to sound fancy, or well-educated, or upper-class, you’d use a French word. Early nonpareil candies probably weren’t even chocolate, but chocolate did go through France before it spread to the rest of Europe, and it was considered and upper-class treat (or medicine), so chocolates with French names makes total sense.
One comment and one question:
I did also get all 3 correct; but on the third, I really wanted to answer “d. all of the above”.
My question is: WHY is the word ‘nonpareils’ also applied as a noun to those flat-ish circles of chocolate covered with tiny white sugar beads?? Is it because their delicious taste and meltability on the tongue is unparalleled in the candy world of true chocolate-lovers?!?
(I appreciated Bob’s thoughtful dissection of the words to suss out their meanings — did he take Latin in school? An insightful subject for serious students, lending well to further studies in science, medicine and of course the language arts. My limited French skills don’t provide nearly as robust a background to do quite the same, but I love that one can speak/hear the language in living conversations and enjoy its lovely lilting sound!)
I got all 3 right before looking at the answers. On #1 I took the ‘sult’ part of the word as in consult and applied it to non-consulting or not working from a plan. #2, I knew what fetid meant, and on #3, I mentally changed the word to
‘parallel’ which I equated with equal, or here, without equal.