Word to the Wise: Genteel

Genteel (jen-TEEL) – from the French – means refined; well-bred and perhaps overly concerned with being polite. The word initially came into the English language as “gentle,” as in gentleman. 

Example (as used by Paul Boutin in Wired): “Here in Silicon Valley, the recession has a different face than in Manhattan or Detroit. Our panic is more genteel, softened by balmy California weather, a laid-back attitude, and, OK, the fact that we haven’t had a local industry completely implode.”

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