impolitic

Pronounced: im-PAH-luh-tik, adj

Notes: I knew enough about word to realize that this word is made up of “in-” (not) — mutated to “im-” before the ‘p’ — and “politic”; thus, “not politic”, but that didn’t really help me, and I didn’t know what “politic” means.

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Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase Shrewsbury clock means “something precise or exact”

First usage

Our phrase came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

Shrewsbury is a town in the west UK. Our phrase may have come about because of Shakespeare: in Henry IV, Part 1, one character claimed that he and another had “fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock”. In those days, people did not have personal timekeepers, so town clocks were essential to keep the time. Our phrase is sometimes used with a bit of exaggeration or irony.