14 February 2013

en règle

[ahn RE-gluh], adjective:

In order; according to the rules; correct.

Example sentences:

This was all done en règle, and in our work we shall be en règle too. We shall not go so early that the policemen who have then little to think of, shall deem it strange.
— Bram Stoker, Dracula

I told her it was not quite en règle to bring one so far out of our own set; but she said, ‘Genius itself is not en règle; it comes into the world to make new rules.’
— George Eliot, Daniel Deronda

En règle snuck into the English language in the 1810s. It came directly from the French phrase of the same spelling which meant literally ‘in rule’.

Today’s aphorism

‘The best way to predict your future is to create it’.

– Abraham Lincoln.

On this day

14 February – Valentine’s Day

14 February 1779 – death of Captain James Cook, British explorer. Made three major voyages in which he discovered many of the islands of the south pacific, including the east coast of Australia. Cooktown, North Queensland, is named after him. The house he grew up in was relocated from Yorkshire, England, to Melbourne, Australia and is open to visits (now known as Captain Cook’s Cottage and is situated in Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne). Died 14 February 1779 after being stabbed by Hawaiians who credited their Chief Kalanimanokahoowaha (Kanaina) with the kill. Captain Cook’s body was then subjected to a funeral ritual that was normally reserved for a Chief. Born 27 October 1728.

14 February 1929 – St Valentine’s Day massacre when Chicago gangster, Al Capone’s Italian gang killed seven of Bugs Moran’s Irish gang.