The Learning Network Blog: Word of the Day | nicety

1. conformity with some aesthetic standard of correctness or propriety
2. a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude

The word nicety has appeared in two New York Times articles in the past year, including on Sunday in the Book Review “Don’t Be Disgusting” by Judith Martin:

In Renaissance Europe, Italy was Etiquette Central, attracting all the fascination and ridicule that go with that honor.

English readers in the early 17th century assumed Tom Coryate, a professional jester turned travel writer, was joking when he reported that Italians did not attack their food with hands and hunting knives as did normal people, even normal royalty. Those finicky Italians wielded forks, a nicety that did not become common in the rest of Europe for another two centuries.

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