FORTE

One of the first words I learned as young piano student was FORTE. FORTE is an Italian word (pronounced fore- tay) and it means loud.

I loved seeing that little word FORTE printed on my music. Kick it in! Pound that keyboard! Permission to be loud? WooHoo!

I soon began mimicing the adults in my life by using FORTE in everyday speech. As in , “Of course I got a D on that test. Math is not my FORTE” (pronounced fore-tay, of course).

A few years ago, I discovered that I’d been misusing the word FORTE. When I said that math wasn’t my fore-tay, I was saying that math wasn’t my loud.

What I intended to say was, “Math isn’t my strength,” and the word for strength  is the French word FORTE, but here’s the kicker. When you say FORTE, meaning strength, you don’t pronounce that last syllable. (You know, the old French silent e.) It’s pronounced fort. Yep, like our word fort. Same thing.

Crumb. Wrong my whole life!

So keep your ears open and see how many people say fore-tay when they mean strength . You also might notice that when you say FORTE correctly almost everyone around assumes you’re an idiot.

So there you have it, the great human dilemma – perceived idiocy or correctness.

It’s hard to make up your mind,  isn’t it? What’s your choice?

Blessings,

Sue