Today's issue does NOT discuss harm being done to cats. It discusses a hypothetical, imaginary cat.

In 1935, the physicist Erwin Schrödinger imagined a box with a cat inside, who may or may not have been poisoned. We don't know if the cat has survived, and we won't know until we open the box, Schrödinger explained.

So until we open the box, the cat is both alive and dead.

Schrödinger knew this conclusion was ridiculous, and that was his point: he was trying to expose what he saw as bad logic in the work of some other physicists (Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg).

But in popular culture, we've seized on this fascinating idea of the cat being both alive and dead until we investigate. And so, you can refer to something as Schrödinger's cat if it's something that seems to have both or either of two opposite qualities until the true quality is found out.

Part of speech:

Noun, the proper kind, so you capitalize it: "It was a case of Schrödinger's cat."

Other forms: 

Some writers prefer to leave the umlaut off the letter O, making the name look more like it belongs in English: "Schrodinger's cat."

And if you want to turn this phrase into an adjective, how about a hyphen to make that clear? "It was a Schrödinger's-cat situation."

how to use it:

"Schrödinger's cat" is a somewhat rare term. So when you pick it, you might want to gloss it: explain its meaning as you use it, to make sure your audience gets it.

It's great for emphasizing a situation where two opposite outcomes are possible but still unknown. You could say that something is Schrödinger's cat, or is like Schrödinger's cat.

And you could get playful and swap in some other noun for "cat." "This here is Schrödinger's avocado. I won't know until I cut into it whether it's ripe or rotten."

examples:

"In a perfect world, no one would ever have opened that box. It would have been like Schrödinger’s infamous cat. As long as the box stayed closed, there might actually have been water in there." 
   — Neal and Jerrod Shusterman, Dry, 2018

"References to Schrodinger's cat, the thought experiment about the unseen feline in the box, abound: In a messy relationship with Hew, Helen is in 'Schrodinger’s wedlock...' Her own non-ideological ideology was 'Schrodinger’s politics.' Uncertainty is the defining state of affairs at the subatomic level." 
  — Mark Athitakis, quoting Julius Taranto, L. A. Times, 7 September 2023

has this page helped you understand "Schrödinger’s cat"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "Schrödinger's cat" without saying "open question" or "a state of simultaneous potential success and failure."

try it out:

"Schrödinger's cat" can be a fun label for something confusing and ambiguous.

Here's an example from the Guardian:

"Facebook has announced Libra, a currency, an infrastructure, a network – an ambiguous digital entity... It’s the ultimate Schrodinger's cat of the digital economy: a blockchain/non-blockchain, it will serve as money/non-money to save/bury Facebook/all of us."

With this in mind as an example, describe some other confusing thing that you've heard about in the news, and call it "the Schrödinger's cat of (something)." Maybe it'll be the Schrödinger's cat of public health, the Schrödinger's cat of the video game industry, or the Schrödinger's cat of American values.

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Idiom Savant."

Flex your facility with familiar phrases by quickly pairing them off with words closely associated in meaning.

For example, you might pair the idiom "a cat has nine lives" with the word "resilient;" "water under the bridge" with "inconsequential;" and "when it rains, it pours" with "proliferate."

Try these today:

Pair these idioms...

   1. a force to be reckoned with
   2. a man of straw
   3. a matter of time
   4. a snake in the grass
   5. a thorn in your side

With these words...

   A. albatross
   B. inevitable
   C. insidious
   D. nebbish
   E. redoubtable

To see the answers, scroll all the way down. 

review this term:

1. A near opposite of SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT could be

A. a known outcome.
B. an open invitation.
C. a thought experiment.

2. Simon Thompson described TV reunion specials as "the showbiz version of Schrodinger's cat," probably suggesting that the specials _____.

A. are logistical nightmares
B. generate hype and excitement among fans
C. are either spectacular successes or spectacular failures

Answers to the review questions: 1. A 2. C From the game:    1. a force to be reckoned with: redoubtable    2. a man of straw: nebbish    3. a matter of time: inevitable    4. a snake in the grass: insidious    5. a thorn in your side: albatross Are your answers different? No worries, as long as you can explain the connections you see.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.