Unlike their effeminate northeastern shadows, country boys rarely fade. The origin of the word effect is a bit unexpected. From the Latin effetus “of the past,” effete meant “exhausted, consummated,” long before it took on the meaning of morally exhausted and too refined. This is the main use of the word today. Have you ever wondered why some effeminate party girls are considered celebrities? Star athletes run the risk of losing their edge and becoming headliners for their sport. When I went to basketball camp, the guys from the real West Virginia laughed at us, the effeminate kids of Morgantown. The terms had taken over the culture of humanity, they no longer needed their effeminate indigenous customs. Many chemicals can be combined with water to cleanse these skin effect productions. The crocodile of America, superior in every detail to the crocodile of the effeminate monarchies of the Old World. Would these stupid men, these submissive voters of happiness, these effeminate courtiers have said so a week ago? He sees test results as effective and irrelevant, like the older privileges of childbirth. Effete is derived from the Latin effetus, meaning “more fertile”, and for a short time it was used in English to describe an animal that was no longer able to produce offspring. For most of its existence in English, however, the use of “effect” was purely figurative. For many years, the usual figurative meaning of the word was “exhausted” or “worn out,” but today, “effect” indicates more excessive refinement, weakness of character, snobbery, and effemination.
“Effete” first showed signs of adopting these nuances of meaning in the 1920s, but it wasn`t until the 1940s that the new “effect” clearly established itself in serious writing. An example can be found in John Steinbeck`s 1945 novel Cannery Row: “From time to time, an effeminate customer would order a prick or anise.” The courtiers were an efficient and, in some cases, epicene crew. Effect is a disapproving term that means decadent and complacent, even useless. The stereotype of the robust Westerner is as false as that of the effeminate East Coast liberal. Tarantino says, “The days are over” when Diego “pretends to be effeminate.” Some critics have made the same arguments about the distant and effeminate president. The Macedonians, on the other hand, regarded their southern neighbors as effecty and mild. The stain was too ingrained to be eradicated; the disease was incurable; Rome was already effeminate and doomed. There, a young research student, Helen Lyle, encounters graffiti warning of the Candyman, digs into the tradition surrounding it, and discovers a sophisticated and effeminate serial killer. Find out which words work together and create more natural English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app. Music theme by Joshua Stamper 2006©New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP Join our community to access the latest language learning and assessment tips from Oxford University Press! Find the answers online with Practical English Usage, your go-to guide to problems in English. Latin effetus, from ex- + fertile fetus to more in women.
