Encore

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7407
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Encore

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Jul 19, 2022 6:42 pm

• encore •


Pronunciation: ahn-kor • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, interjection

Meaning: 1. (Noun) A piece played after the end of a concert at the shouted request of an audience in the midst of a standing ovation. 2. (Interjection) More! The word shouted by a delighted audience at the end of a musical performance when it wants to hear an additional piece.

Notes: When applause isn't enough, even a standing ovation, the audience at a concert may shout, "Encore!", in order to get the musicians to play another piece beyond the pieces in the program. If the musicians agree, the piece they play is called an encore, too. It may still be used as a verb meaning "to call for an encore".

In Play: The noun refers to an additional piece of music played for an enthusiastic audience after the end of the regular program: "After two encores the audience was left wanting more." The same noun is used as an interjection: "Once everyone departed, Louise was the only one in the audience left shouting, 'Encore! Encore!'"

Word History: Today's Good Word was wrenched from French encore "again", probably a reduction of some Vulgar (street) Latin phrase like 'hinc ad horam' "from that to this hour", made up of hinc "from here" (hic "this") + ad "(up) to" horam, the accusative case of hora "hour". Old French inherited hora, refashioning it into hore before English jiggled it into hour. Latin borrowed its word from Greek hora, a word referring to a period of time smaller than a year. Greek inherited its word form PIE yer-/yor- "year, season", source also of English year, German Jahr, Dutch jaar, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish år—all meaning "year". Among the Slavic languages we find Czech jaro "spring" and Serbian regional jarni "spring (planting)" from the same PIE source. (Now an "Encore!" to Barbara Beeton, a superactive Agoran, for all her excellent suggestions like today's remarkable Good Word.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

David Myer
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1134
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:21 am
Location: Melbourne

Re: Encore

Postby David Myer » Wed Jul 20, 2022 7:52 am

I attended a Keith Jarrett impromptu concert in Melbourne in about 1978. He thumped away at his piano for an hour or so. Then he stopped and left the stage and lo, it was intermission. Then he came back and played for a further thirty minutes or so. A lovely musical evening.

But while he was taking his bow at the end in front of a super-enthusiastic audience, a young man in a box behind and above me in the stalls, stood and, perhaps to impress the young women who were with him in the box, shouted loudly "Encore. Encore."

Keith Jarrett stopped bowing and looked up at the fellow and said witheringly "Can't you hear? I have finished."

Great show. Great man. Great pianist. And wonderful put-down.


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot], Google [Bot] and 20 guests