jeunesse doree

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The Word of the Day for July 27 is:

jeunesse doree   \zheuh-ness-dor-RAY\   noun 
     : young people of wealth and fashion 

Example sentence:
     "On any sunny afternoon in Dublin, you will see the jeunesse doree taking 
their ease under the awnings of pavement cafes." (Bruce Anderson, _The 
Spectator_, July 2001)

Did you know? 
     French revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre and his allies, the 
Jacobins, gained many enemies for their role in the Reign of Terror. One of 
their fiercest opponents was Louis Freron, a former Jacobin who played a key 
role in overthrowing their government. On July 27, 1794, 
counter-revolutionaries toppled the Jacobin regime and had Robespierre arrested 
and executed. In the midst of the chaos that followed, Louis Freron organized 
gangs of fashionably dressed young toughs to terrorize the remaining Jacobins. 
French speakers called those stylish young thugs the "jeunesse doree" -- 
literally, the "gilded youth." By the time the term "jeunesse doree" was 
adopted into English in the 1830s, it had lost its association with violent 
street gangs and simply referred to any wealthy young socialites. 





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