Lexicon:Modern/Ampotae
| Ampotae | |
|---|---|
| Stage | Modern CLT |
| Pronunciation | /am.po.ˈtaɪ/ |
| Part of speech | Noun; Verb |
| Etymology | from Middle ampotātē, from Proto ampotato |
| Related words | potaet, Faellei, craeshwy, taefshei |
Ampotae — a plain admission that a thing lies beyond one’s capacity; to make such an admission.
Notes
Not shame. The philosophy holds that a person must know their own nature, and an Ampotae is that knowledge spoken aloud where others can hear it. A craftsman who declines work he cannot do well, a captain who says the passage is beyond his ship, an officer who refers a matter to one better fitted — each has made an Ampotae, and each is thought better of for it. The word is watched closely. An Ampotae made to avoid difficulty rather than from honest assessment is transparent to everyone present and does more harm than the failure would have. Clearhold, whose examinations are designed to establish exactly where a person’s capacity ends, regards the ability to make a true Ampotae as among the higher accomplishments.