Why this word is great
POURPARLER — [Noun] An informal, preliminary diplomatic parley held before the formal machinery of negotiation is engaged. Borrowed from French pourparler, a compound of pour ("for") and parler ("to talk"), literally meaning "for talking." Unlike "negotiation," which implies a structured process of bargaining toward a binding accord, or "discussion," a broad and unmarked term for any exchange of views, a pourparler is the delicate, exploratory reconnaissance of terrain. It is the hushed exchange in a palace antechamber, the careful question posed over brandy, or the strategic leak to a journalist to gauge a reaction—the essential, fragile architecture of what might be possible, built entirely from air and implication. It is diplomacy’s way of keeping one foot out the door.