"finesse", the adjective

[Ben Zimmer]

On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 4:50 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> An article in the Boston Globe today about the forthcoming US-Japan
> soccer gold medal match says "In a tournament that has featured
> extreme physicality, sucker punches and even head stomping, Wambach
> doesn't expect a similar strategy by the finesse Japanese squad ...".

Here's a Language Log post I wrote in 2005 about the attributive use
of "finesse" in football and baseball:

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002677.html

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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