![]() See also L & S entry for tango, tetigi, tactum - there are multiple literal and figurative uses meaning to touch, to strike and to affect, among others. Is made between literal and figurative meaning.Īcu rem tangere, to touch the thing with a needle, English, to hit the nail on the head See Lewis and Short entry for acus, -us f. “‘Rem acu once again,’ said Sir Piercie.”-The Monastery, chap. You have hit the mark you have hit the nail on the head. See Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Tetigisti is implied, but left out of theĪcu tactus is a more direct way of saying touché using the Here, the person is not "touched", but the matter is "touched by the point of a needle", Rem acu is a way of rendering the idea "point made". The Latin expression used by Plautus and then picked up by Erasmus ( Adagia II, iv, 93), rem acu tetigisti, immediately came to mind as potentially useful in answering your question. For it has been made clear to us that in no case is it just to harm anyone." And using a loanword, especially one which contains a non-native sound ("y"), gives it that slightly pretentious touch.Įxample: Plato's "Republic" 1.335e (translation based on Shorey 1969): The first singular present indicative was used often in Plato, usually by people trying to argue against Socrates. But in rhetoric or debate, it means to concede or grant a point to your opponent. ![]() However, the term has many meanings in French. It's a verb with many different meanings depending on context it can mean "combine, meet with" or "get out of the way of, withdraw from". Touch is the past participle of the verb toucher, which literally translates to to touch in English. This is (a transliteration of) the first singular present indicative active of Greek συγχωρέω. With that in mind, I would suggest synchōrō. It can also sound a bit pretentious to use the French loanword instead of plain English "granted". I hope I’m not alone in that."Touché", to me, indicates that one is gracefully conceding a point in argument. In any case, I’d much prefer using words to make such a point than a sword. It’s not always used to acknowledge the point-maker has won the argument, mind you, but merely that they’ve made a very good point that would be at least difficult to top. Today, touché is regarded as “used to admit that someone has made a clever or effective point in an argument.” In this meaning, which is believed to have entered English in about 1904, it is simply an acknowledgement of the hit and is based on the French past participle of toucher, “to hit.”įrom there, it came to be regarded as a good response to verbal “jousts” as well. Popularity spread across Europe, from Spain into Italy and into France, where the word touché came to be the response one player called out when hit by an opponent’s foil. As duels fell out of favor, the sporting appeal of fencing remained. Fencing originally served two purposes: as a sport and as preparation of a duel. The ancestor of modern fencing originated in Spain, where the book Treatise on Arms, written by Diego de Valera between 14 and is one of the oldest surviving manuals on western fencing. It’s pronounced “too-SHAY,” and as you may have guessed, it comes to us from French. That single word, when the responder agrees with the argument or feels he or she can’t mount a more effective counter-argument will simply say, “Touché.” ![]() Sometimes, a well-crafted argument says so much that only a single word is necessary in response. Here’s why we use the word and where it comes from. The word Touché is commonly used as a response to a good point.
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