Background

Thursday, February 4, 2016

PROPRIETY

A reader of my BLOG left a comment that I had used the word "propriety" incorrectly in my article titled WHY IS IT YOU WANT TO KNOW?  The sentence in question:  "I was more offended by her lack of propriety in asking in such a public place."

I asked, "What word do you think would have been correct usage?"  He answered, "Proprietary."

I replied, "Perhaps you are confusing PROPRIETARY with PROPRIETY."  I learned that he wasn't aware that there was the word "propriety".

PROPRIETY:  "the state or quality of conforming to conventionally accepted standards of behavior or morals."

PROPRIETARY:  "of or relating to an owner or ownership."

No, Dear Reader, the woman showed NO propriety when asking embarrassing questions!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

He obviously has NO propriety! ML