Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Mealy-Mouthed

Mealy-Mouthed:
ADJECTIVE: Unwilling to state facts or opinions simply and directly.
As in, when your boss writes a cryptic memo directed and distributed to everyone that begins with the statement "For those of you who keep your bench and work area clean, you can stop reading now...."
WORD HISTORY: It seems fitting that Martin Luther, a man noted for the forthright expression of his ideas, may have had a hand in giving us the contemptuous term we apply to those unwilling to state facts or opinions directly.

It seems fitting that the founder of the second most autocratic sect of Christianity coins a term that divulges a fear of the consequences of what one says.

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