politesse

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The Word of the Day for September 7 is:

politesse   \pah-lih-TESS\   noun 
     formal politeness : decorousness

Example sentence:
     "We rely more and more on technologies such as cell phones and the 
Internet, where the rules for politesse are still evolving." (_Glamour_, 
February 2001)

Did you know?
     Nowadays, no one refers to a "polite looking glass" or "houses polite and 
in good repair," but "polite" (or "polit" or "polyt," as it was spelled in 
Middle English) originally meant simply "polished" or "clean." By the early 
1700s, "polite" was being used of polished and refined people, and "politeness" 
had been penned to name the shining quality of such people. "Politesse" (a 
French borrowing) debuted in 1713 in the lines of an English comedy discussing 
how a man of high society loses all his "politesse with his liberty" when he 
marries. All three words stem from Latin "polire," meaning "to polish." Today 
we tend to use "politeness" for everyday good manners and reserve "politesse" 
for more formal courtesies.