Forte (fencing) Forte (fencing) In fencing, forte (from the Romance root meaning "strong") is "the strong part" of the blade—the one third-closest to the hilt. The "strength" refers to the control established over the opponent's weapon upon contact of one's forte with the opponent's foible (a situation of favourable leverage). (See also parry (fencing).) Fencer Ridolfo Capo Ferro defined the forte as the blade from the hilt to the middle. From the middle to the top is known as the debole. The debole is the part of the sword, especially a rapier, that is used for offensive actions. Italian fencing master Ridolfo
The World Is What It Is The World Is What It Is The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul is a biography of the Nobel Prize-winning author V. S. Naipaul by Patrick French. It was published in 2008 (by Picador in the UK and Knopf in the USA). The title is a quotation from Naipaul's book "A Bend in the River". "The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it." French deals with Naipaul's family background and his life from his birth in 1932 until his second marriage