plutarchy

Pronounced: PLOO-tar-kee, noun

Notes: You may know this word; it was somewhat familiar to me, but I was incorrect as to the origin

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Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase tu quoque is “a retort charging an adversary with being or doing what he criticizes in others”

First usage

Our phrase came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

One of the childish arguments is “You too!” and that is what the Latin phrase tu quoque literally means. Using our phrase sounds much more high-class instead of childish. A tu quoque, for all that it sounds erudite, is really evading the accusation instead of answering the point (or points) raised. Note that our word, thought it is a noun, can function as an adjective, such as in the phrase “a tu quoque argument”.