The word for today is…
brusque (adjective) –
1 : markedly short and abrupt a brusque reply
2 : blunt in manner or speech often to the point of ungracious harshnes

Source : Merriam -Webster

Etymology : We borrowed “brusque” from French in the 1600s. The French, in turn, had borrowed it from Italian, where it was spelled “brusco” and meant “tart.” And the Italian term came from “bruscus,” the Medieval Latin name for butcher’s-broom, a shrub whose bristly leaf-like twigs have long been used for making brooms. English speakers initially used “brusque” to refer to a tartness in wine, but the word soon came to denote a harsh and stiff manner – which is just what you might expect of a word bristling with associations to stiff, scratchy brooms.

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David is a retired surgeon originally from London who came to New Zealand twenty-seven years ago after being delayed in Singapore for thirteen years on leaving the UK. He was coerced into studying Latin...