Both Uses of
decorum
in
Bartleby, the Scrivener: a Story of Wall Street
- He made an unpleasant racket with his chair; spilled his sand-box; in mending his pens, impatiently split them all to pieces, and threw them on the floor in a sudden passion; stood up and leaned over his table, boxing his papers about in a most indecorous manner, very sad to behold in an elderly man like him.†
indecorous = improper or rudestandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indecorous means not and reverses the meaning of decorous. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- Nay again, whatever might be his eccentricities, Bartleby was an eminently decorous person.
*decorous = with manners and conduct considered to be proper and in good taste
Definition:
manners and conduct considered to be proper and in good taste