Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
DECENCY
decency
(noun) the quality of being polite and respectable
decency
(noun) the quality of conforming to standards of propriety and morality
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
decency (countable and uncountable, plural decencies)
The quality of being decent; propriety.
That which is proper or becoming.
Source: Wiktionary
De"cen*cy, n.; pl. Decencies. Etym: [L. decentia, fr. decens: cf. F. décence. See Decent.]
1. The quality or state of being decent, suitable, or becoming, in words or behavior; propriety of form in social intercourse, in actions, or in discourse; proper formality; becoming ceremony; seemliness; hence, freedom from obscenity or indecorum; modesty. Observances of time, place, and of decency in general. Burke. Immodest words admit of no defense, For want of decency is want of sense. Roscommon.
2. That which is proper or becoming. The external decencies of worship. Atterbury. Those thousand decencies, that daily flow From all her words and actions. Milton.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
19 April 2025
CATCH
(verb) grasp with the mind or develop an understanding of; “did you catch that allusion?”; “We caught something of his theory in the lecture”; “don’t catch your meaning”; “did you get it?”; “She didn’t get the joke”; “I just don’t get him”
Coffee Trivia
