The Sense of genealogy

In discussing heredity, Christopher Jones used the words "plaidoyer" and "blood". This troubled Daryl DeBell: "Christopher Jones has stumped me. From the context I assumed that "pladoyer" meant apologist, or something like it, but I thought I should check, so out came Webster's College Dictionary, no luck, so then Webster's unabridged, also without success. 'It has a vaguely French appearance, so let's try Larousse' - also a blank. Undaunted, I retreated to the Oxford, also unsuccessfully. Japanese, Swedish, German, Spanish, Latin, Russian, Italian, exhausted my resources, so I am beaten. However, I will retreat to the real world. and point out that American culture does not seem to me to be the ultimate, or to approach the ideal, and German culture in the 30s was not immune to Hitler, so let me suggest that with a mixture of cultures it might be possible to winnow out the best features of each, and come up with something better. Not likely, but worth a try. Freud was appalled at American democracy, but then what did he know? Blood is indeed thicker than water, but does that make it better? Mr. Jones, from the evidence of his numerous postings appears to be an intelligent man, but this touching faith in "blood" makes one wonder if faith in some mysterious element may influence him unduly". RH: "Plaidoyer" is a good French word. It is in my Larousse Classique. It is a legal term referring to the speech of a defense lawyer. [Tom Grey]