Monday, April 25, 2011

soupcon

soupcon [supˈsɔ, ˈsupsɔ] n.



1.) A suspicion; a suggestion; hence, a very small portion; a taste; as, coffee with a soupcon of brandy; a soupcon of coquetry (GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English).

Etymology: French, from Old French sospeçon, suspicion, from Latin suspectio, suspection-, fear, from suspectus, past participle of suspicere, to suspect.

"— Miles: Let me show you how this is done. First thing, hold the glass up and examine the wine against the light. You're looking for color and clarity. Just get a sense of it, okay?
— Jack: Okay.
— Miles: Thick, thin, watery, syrupy? Okay?
— Jack: Okay.
— Miles: All right. Now, tip it. What you're doing here is checking for color density as it thins out towards the rim. That's going to tell you how old it is, among other things. It's usually more important with reds. Okay?
— Jack: Okay.
— Miles: Stick your nose in it.
— Jack: [smells wine] Okay.
— Miles: Don't be shy. Really get your nose right in there, really. [smells wine deeply] Mm, a little citrus, maybe some strawberry. Passion fruit, and oh there's just like the faintest soupcon of like asparagus and there's just a flutter of like a nutty Edam cheese.
— Jack: Wow. [smells again] Strawberries, yeah...strawberries. Not the cheese" (Sideways, Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne, 2004).

21 comments:

JayPower said...

Awesome word, never even heard it in conversation before ;D

Solsby Kid said...

Never heard this one before!

Anonymous said...

After years of French, I am familiar with this word but didn't have any idea how to use it in context. I'm still not sure I'd be able to, but if it ever came up, I'd at least be able to point people in your direction. :)

Bart said...

soupcon artists are the worst...

Razor said...

Huh, and I thought it was a way of greeting your fellow inmate. As in "'sup, con?"

Joking aside, I love etymology. I could have studied this as a minor.

Joel C Anatoli said...

I love having my irish coffee with a soupcon of brandy

Kicking Rocks said...

soupcon cheese is good

Alexandra said...

lol nice, never heard it nor do i think ill be using it ;-)

A Beer for the Shower said...

Egads, I do love Sideways.

Anonymous said...

a word useful next time I play Scrabble.

A Beer for the Shower said...

I just want to say this with a very thick French accent and sound pretentious saying it to someone.

123 said...

I feel fancy saying it, lol

Danny Murphy said...

What a great word, I'll try use it more

-E- said...

@Jen well i wouldn't use it in conversation for fear of getting beaten up.

@Alexandra i challenge you to use it on your blog. i'll give you massive props on here if you do.

@A Beer for the Shower egads lol.

The Old Master said...

i heard of this!

Blk Jesus said...

another new one for me!

Lydia Kang said...

Great idea for a blog. Glad I found you!

Anonymous said...

This will be a good word for tasting wine haha :D

zepdragon said...

Lol, great as always my friend

Speedy Ed said...

ill start slipping this in to everyday convo ;)

Mike Litoris said...

nice!

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