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Facile

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October 29, 2002, 15:37
Kalleh
Facile
Facile
Sounds like too easy of a word to post on a word site, right? Well, here is how I heard it used today:

A fabulous and very famous speaker spoke to us this morning at a conference of deans of schools of nursing. Just yesterday there was a shooting in a nursing school, and 2 faculty members and a staff person were killed. The conference planners wanted the speaker to change the focus of his speech to how the deans will handle questions about safety when they returned. He said he got a message saying to make a "facile" change. He joked that he had to call his secretary because he didn't know the word. The understanding was that he was to make a "quick" change in his speech.

Quick??? I think of "facile" as "easy", not "quick". I looked it up in AHD, and "easy", or similar terms, were used to describe it; never "quick". In fact, it had terms like "lack of depth" or "insincerity" that no one would want in a speech. Then I checked "dictionary.com" which had the following from their 1999 word of the day As you can see, one of the definitions there is, " Ready; quick; expert; as, 'he is facile in expedients'; 'he wields a facile pen'". Still, isn't that pushing the envelope?
October 30, 2002, 13:59
BobHale
I think that's using quick in the sense of 'quick witted' - i.e. using his wits readily, easily or quickly rather than actually implying a short time frame.

I can see how you might define facile as quick in that sense but not in any other.

Quid quid latine dictum sit, altum viditur

Read all about my travels around the world here.
October 30, 2002, 23:01
<Asa Lovejoy>
Assuming that it comes from the Latin facere, meaning "to do" or "to Make," it seems to make sense as meaning easily done, and by extension, I suppose, quick, but it does seem to be stretching it etymologically, which is not a facile change, now is it? razz
October 31, 2002, 07:52
arnie
Facile comes from the Latin facilis, which means "easy".

The English word, whilst it means "easy", has overtones of what is described being too easy, or childishly easy. A facile excuse for not turning up for work might be saying that your grandmother had died, for example, and a facile solution to a problem might be one that was arrived at without much thought.
October 31, 2002, 08:59
Kalleh
Exactly, Arnie, and for that reason I felt it was a poor choice of words. Certainly, when one is speaking to a roomful of deans about the serious decisions that they will be making, one does not want to speak "without giving it much thought".
And, Asa, I did consider your idea that it might be an easy change. However, indeed, it was not easy. He already had many videotapes of speakers planned, had to scratch all of that, and in about 12 hours redesign an hour and a half speech. Now, he does speak about giving interviews, and he is an expert in communications. Therefore, it should be easier for him, than for someone else, to change the speech. However, I couldn't agree that it was an easy change.