Pace

[shane]

A student in class today told me that she read in her textbook that the word 'pace' means 'sorry'.

She showed me her little electronic dictionary, and sure enough, there it was: 'Pace'; a preposition meaning sorry (my translation; it was all in Chinese).

Another boy whipped out his electronic dictionary and checked. His said the exact same thing.

I can imagine the conversation now; boy accidentally bumps into girl:

Girl: Hey! Watch where you're going!
Boy: Pace.
*confused stares all round*

So has anyone ever heard the word 'pace' used in this way? Where could the dictionary makers (and the textbook writer) have got this explanation from??

[RonBee]

I checked my Funk & Wagnalls, then I checked a couple of on-line sources. The closest I could come was this:

• pace2
  prep.
  
  With the permission of; with deference to. Used to express polite or ironically polite disagreement: I have not, pace my detractors, entered into any secret negotiations. (AHD)

It seems rather quaint, and it does not mean sorry. As you can imagine, I have never heard the word used to mean sorry. Sorry.

:wink: