Answer: Why is it spelled 'per se'?
Question: Why is it spelled 'per se'?
It's spelled that way because it's a phrase that comes from Latin. Common misspellings like "per say" or "persay" are not correct, because this phrase doesn't have anything to do with "say"ing anything. Let's take a look at the translation of this phrase to get a better understanding:
per: By, through, by means of
se: itself
The translation for "per se", then, is "by itself" (or "through itself" or "in itself"). In modern English usage, the phrase's meaning has changed a little but not much. The phrase "per se" is often used in legal documents, and its meaning there is a little bit different, but we'll just focus on the usage in general English:
per se: by, of, for, or in itself; intrinsically.
Synonyms: alone, as such, by and of itself, by definition, by its very nature, by itself, fundamentally, in essence, in itself, independently, intrinsically, of itself, singularly, solely, virtually.
Here are a few examples of "per se" used in a sentence:
Hermione's not a mechanic, per se, but she is quite good at fixing Harry's glasses with a spell.
A tea cup cannot fly, per se; it would require an aircraft or a catapult, or, in this case, a levitation Charm gone quite wrong.
In most writing, though, you won't need to use this phrase. Let's try some replacements and see what happens:
Hermione's not a mechanic, as such, but she is quite good at fixing Harry's glasses with a spell.
Hermione's not a mechanic by definition, but...
A tea cup cannot fly, in and of itself; it would require an aircraft or a catapult, or, in this case, a levitation Charm gone quite wrong.
A tea cup cannot fly on its own; it would require...
You can see that in most cases, you can restate what you're saying in plain English and the meaning will be just as clear or clearer than if you'd used "per se". If you have any uncertainty about using the Latin phrase, just restate what you mean in English.
In fiction, however, this phrase might come in handy. Perhaps you're writing a character who thinks he's better educated than he is--maybe he'd use "per se" to make himself look smarter. Maybe he'd even use it wrongly, and that can be one more way you can use his dialogue to characterize him. On the other hand, maybe you have a character who is very intelligent and learned, especially in the legal field. Using "per se" might help to bolster that characterization, but I'd recommend looking up some sample sentences for how the phrase is used in legalese to make sure you get it right--if you're trying to identify someone as genuinely smart and you use "per se" incorrectly, that won't help your story succeed!
Regarding whether to italicize "per se", everything I've seen has indicated that this phrase does NOT need to be italicized. Words that originated in a foreign language but that now have common use in English, and which are accepted by a major English dictionary like Merriam-Webster, are considered to be regular English words and do not need to be typed in italics.
To sum up, "per se" is a phrase that was imported into the English language directly from Latin. It means "by itself". To spell it correctly, try to recall that "per se" isn't about "say"ing anything. Maybe it will help to think that "per se" means "by itself". The phrase "per se" does not need to be italicized because although it originated in Latin, it is commonly used in English. Be aware that the usage is a little bit more specific in legal documents. However, if you're still unsure, in most cases you can just restate what you're saying and avoid using this troublesome phrase.
Sources:
Wikipedia article on "per se"
Wikipedia article on commonly used Latin phrases
Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Yahoo! Answers
Other Resources:
Daily Writing Tips: Italicizing Foreign Words
Wikipedia Manual of Style
If you're interested in using Latin phrases for characterization, see also this excellent little article about inserting random Latin into your prose!
It's spelled that way because it's a phrase that comes from Latin. Common misspellings like "per say" or "persay" are not correct, because this phrase doesn't have anything to do with "say"ing anything. Let's take a look at the translation of this phrase to get a better understanding:
per: By, through, by means of
se: itself
The translation for "per se", then, is "by itself" (or "through itself" or "in itself"). In modern English usage, the phrase's meaning has changed a little but not much. The phrase "per se" is often used in legal documents, and its meaning there is a little bit different, but we'll just focus on the usage in general English:
per se: by, of, for, or in itself; intrinsically.
Synonyms: alone, as such, by and of itself, by definition, by its very nature, by itself, fundamentally, in essence, in itself, independently, intrinsically, of itself, singularly, solely, virtually.
Here are a few examples of "per se" used in a sentence:
Hermione's not a mechanic, per se, but she is quite good at fixing Harry's glasses with a spell.
A tea cup cannot fly, per se; it would require an aircraft or a catapult, or, in this case, a levitation Charm gone quite wrong.
In most writing, though, you won't need to use this phrase. Let's try some replacements and see what happens:
Hermione's not a mechanic, as such, but she is quite good at fixing Harry's glasses with a spell.
Hermione's not a mechanic by definition, but...
A tea cup cannot fly, in and of itself; it would require an aircraft or a catapult, or, in this case, a levitation Charm gone quite wrong.
A tea cup cannot fly on its own; it would require...
You can see that in most cases, you can restate what you're saying in plain English and the meaning will be just as clear or clearer than if you'd used "per se". If you have any uncertainty about using the Latin phrase, just restate what you mean in English.
In fiction, however, this phrase might come in handy. Perhaps you're writing a character who thinks he's better educated than he is--maybe he'd use "per se" to make himself look smarter. Maybe he'd even use it wrongly, and that can be one more way you can use his dialogue to characterize him. On the other hand, maybe you have a character who is very intelligent and learned, especially in the legal field. Using "per se" might help to bolster that characterization, but I'd recommend looking up some sample sentences for how the phrase is used in legalese to make sure you get it right--if you're trying to identify someone as genuinely smart and you use "per se" incorrectly, that won't help your story succeed!
Regarding whether to italicize "per se", everything I've seen has indicated that this phrase does NOT need to be italicized. Words that originated in a foreign language but that now have common use in English, and which are accepted by a major English dictionary like Merriam-Webster, are considered to be regular English words and do not need to be typed in italics.
To sum up, "per se" is a phrase that was imported into the English language directly from Latin. It means "by itself". To spell it correctly, try to recall that "per se" isn't about "say"ing anything. Maybe it will help to think that "per se" means "by itself". The phrase "per se" does not need to be italicized because although it originated in Latin, it is commonly used in English. Be aware that the usage is a little bit more specific in legal documents. However, if you're still unsure, in most cases you can just restate what you're saying and avoid using this troublesome phrase.
Sources:
Wikipedia article on "per se"
Wikipedia article on commonly used Latin phrases
Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Yahoo! Answers
Other Resources:
Daily Writing Tips: Italicizing Foreign Words
Wikipedia Manual of Style
If you're interested in using Latin phrases for characterization, see also this excellent little article about inserting random Latin into your prose!