Why this word is great
PARLOIR — [Noun] A room in a monastery or convent designated for visitors to converse with residents. From the French parloir ("parlor"), derived from Old French parler ("to speak"), ultimately from Latin parabolare ("to speak, talk"). Unlike "parlor" (which conjures domestic ease, a place for tea and idle chatter) or "auditorium" (a cavern of collective spectacle), the parloir is a space of measured intimacy, where words are weighed like sacraments. It is the hushed murmur through iron grilles, the scent of beeswax candles mingling with damp wool, the way sunlight slants across a stone floor—an architecture of restraint, where every word is measured against silence. The parloir reminds us that some conversations require walls.