captious

May. 25th, 2022 07:10 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
captious (KAP-shuhs) - adj., having a disposition to find and point out trivial faults and raise piddling objections; intended to entrap or confuse, as in an argument.


The second sense is the original one, something designed to capture -- in the original Latin captiƍsus, no less. The sort of person who deploys captious arguments, however, tends to other annoying traits and the main sense has shifted over time. The base root, btw, is Latin carpe, seize, as in what to do with the diem.

---L.

Date: 2022-05-25 06:28 pm (UTC)
minoanmiss: A detail of the Ladies in Blue fresco (Default)
From: [personal profile] minoanmiss
very useful word.

Date: 2022-05-26 02:33 pm (UTC)
minoanmiss: A detail of the Ladies in Blue fresco (Default)
From: [personal profile] minoanmiss

Oh I would. I used to be on a mailing list full of captious people who would dismiss political arguments for the most picayune reasons. Vv annoying.

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