Thursday, March 19, 2009


pique [PEEK]
n. a feeling of irritation or resentment, as from a wound to pride or self-esteem

[From French pique ("a spear, pikeman") from piquer "to pick, prick, pierce")]

Although pique is often used as a noun, it has much the same meaning as a verb: "to affect with sharp irritation and resentment, esp. by some wound to pride." She was greatly piqued when they refused her invitation. Another definition of the verb is "to excite (interest, curiosity, etc.)." Her curiosity was piqued by the gossip.

Often pique as a noun goes with "a pique of resentment" or "a fit of pique." Normally pique is employed with individuals, but it works well with a country or a large group of people. It is not unreasonable to ascribe pique as the motivation for some of the irrational behavior of nations, leading to wars. When the pride of a country or a large group of people is on the line, restoration of honor after being piqued by the actions of outsiders might drive the offended party to fight. I sense the Palestinian cause is largely driven by a feeling of irritation or resentment, as from a wound to pride or self-esteem: in a word, pique. They don't attack Israelis thinking doing so will win a war. They send rockets into their neighbors' homes because they feel picked on (and in other ways mistreated) by Israel.

Based on its etymology, my guess is that pique came into usage as a noun from people who felt picked on. The words pike, pick, pickaxe and pique all have the same French origins, which likely came from Celtic sources before entering French.

In his review of the movie Phoebe in Wonderland, New York Times film critic Stephen Holden describes why Phoebe, the protagonist, exhibits a fit of pique:
The girl’s mother, Hillary (Felicity Huffman), who is turning her doctoral thesis on “Alice in Wonderland” into a book, worries that Phoebe is resentful of the time she spends on the book. But as Phoebe increasingly gets lost in daydreams in which the people in her life become figures out of “Alice in Wonderland,” her behavior signals deeper problems. She injures herself making a daredevil leap from a catwalk above the stage; in a fit of pique she spits at a fellow student.

Here Julia Klein in today's New York Times uses pique as a verb, meaning to excite:
At the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul, Bruce Shapiro has been an artist in residence. He specializes in “motion control” installations whose aim, he said, is to pique curiosity and inspire a sense of wonder.

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