gaucherie

gaucherie [ˌgoʊʃəˈri] n.

1.) An awkward or tactless act, manner, or expression.
2.) A lack of tact; awkwardness (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).

Etymology: French, from gauche, awkward, lefthanded, from Old French, from gauchir, to turn aside, walk clumsily. Of Germanic origin.

"The ideas of gaucherie and that of the Primitive are so inseparable that when a modern artist draws with a true naivete, when he paints as he feels, and throws out accepted formulae—which themselves do not imply that he will create beauty—one accuses him of both anarchism and gaucherie" ("De la gaucherie des Primitifs", Maurice Denis, 1904, translation from Cézanne's Bathers: Biography and the Erotics of Paint, Aruna D'Souza, 2008).

(Portret van Giovanni Arnolfini en zijn vrouw, Johannes de Eyck, 1434) _________________________________________________________

It's time to announce the winner of this week's Climbing the Mountain challenge. It's...JayJay! She wrote:

There was something about the way he acted. He had about him an echt sense of his own identity which made me feel relaxed in his presence. Though his conversations dipped into an almost prolix state from time to time it wasn't enough to make me worry. There was, however, the incident where he referred to me as a virago but the sly smile that made its way onto the corner of his mouth, eo ipso, made everything okay. It was never the surfeit of passion that made me leave.

Well done, JayJay. I debated this one for a while, because jos xx and shari also had very strong entries, but ultimately JayJay's use of "eo ipso" won it for her, I think (I will always be partial to the philosophical jargon terms). For next week, let's use (five of) a fond, nascent, ben trovato, languish, minatory, bedizen, and insouciant. Also, as per the excellent suggestion from D4, a bonus point will be awarded if you use any of the rhetorical devices I've defined so far in your entry. But you have to use the device, not mention the term (dear Lord, I've become my old English teacher). Okay, good luck and thanks for reading!