Thursday, October 23, 2014

Word of the Day

tutoyer
 \too-twah-YEY; Fr. ty-twa-YEY\, verb;  
1.to address (someone), especially in French, using the familiar forms of the pronoun “you” rather than the more formal forms; address familiarly.

Quotes:
An officer doesn't tutoyer a subordinate, unless they work closely in the same unit.
-- Kevin G. Karpiak, edited by William Garriott, "La Police," Policing and Contemporary Governance, 2013

People will sometimes formally admit somebody into their friendship circle by saying, “You may tutoyer me.”
-- Gerard Van Herk, What Is Sociolinguistics, 2012

Origin:
Tutoyer entered English in the late 1600s from the French word of the same spelling. In French tu is the informal form of address, and so to use it with someone is to display familiarity rather than deference.

Dictionary.com