The prettier, and much more French, “ennew,” was last seen in 1573, and even then it had to be defined.)Īs a special treat, below the jump is an example of nuance from the world of sports, and the mind of Laurence Holmes, probably Chicago’s smartest sports-radio personality. (Note that the route through French was necessary to discover the verb nuer, “to shade.” Unfortunately, English has drawn “obnubilated” straight out of Latin, for pretty much the same meaning. Distinguishing the partial alterations of what is more and less obnubilated is to distinguish nuances, or shades. “Nuance” comes, via French, from the Latin nubes, or “cloud.” A cloud, especially a cloud of fog, slightly changes the color of things that it obscures. To lean, as I always do, on etymology, one finds a beautiful metaphor for logical nuance. This is why I often suggest to writers that they begin a difficult argument with something like a glossary, to define each of the important elements alone before showing each in its place in the whole. To explain the nuances, one must isolate the variables, explain each individually, and then delicately describe the interaction of each with the others. To attempt another axiom, this time for the mathematically minded: There is nuance when there are multiple variables. One could give nearly infinite examples of the complicated interrelations of the things in the world with their effects and their values.
Your papers will be graded as mediocre–despite all success in style and form–if you do not begin to do analysis, which means going beyond the apparent simplicity of things and breaking down your subject. It’s very simple: When something is not “black and white,” it’s “nuanced,” i.e., shaded.Īs a student of the world, you should of course be aware of the possibility that not all of the things in the world are easily distinguished as simply good or simply bad, or simply useful or simply harmful. You might be told, in an English class, to give a “nuanced argument,” but it might not be perfectly clear what this means. Featuring a special appearance by the words of Laurence Holmes!
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