Make Your Point > Archived Issues > CAUSE CÉLÈBRE

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explore the archives: A cause célèbre is a celebrated legal case--or anything that gets the entire public all excited or mad. Both things and people can be causes célèbres. And when we celebrate people and treat them like celebrities, we're _io__zing them. make your point with... "CAUSE CÉLÈBRE" French for "celebrated legal case," a cause célèbre is a famous, interesting, or exciting legal case or lawsuit. A cause célèbre can also be any event or person that causes a lot of public interest, excitement, and controversy. Pronunciation: Either "COZ suh LEB" or "COZ suh LEB ruh." (These are the American pronunciations, which I recommend.) Part of speech: Countable noun. (Countable nouns, like "bottle," "piece," and "decision," are words for things that can be broken into exact units. You talk about "a bottle," "three pieces," and "many decisions." Likewise, talk about one cause célèbre or multiple causes célèbres.) Other forms: Just the plural, "causes célèbres," pronounced "COZ suh LEB ruz." How to use it: Talk about an event, an issue, a person, or a group of people being a cause célèbre, becoming a cause célèbre, being turned into or being made into a cause célèbre and so on. We can also adopt, take up, or use something as a cause célèbre. Often we'll mention that something became a cause célèbre when a certain event took place ("He became a cause célèbre when his story was published in the New York Times"), or in a certain place or time period ("It was a cause célèbre in Portland," "It was the cause célèbre of the 1960's), or among a certain group of people ("She was a cause célèbre among millennials"). Add an adjective, if you like: a progressive cause célèbre, a conservative cause célèbre, an international cause célèbre. When you write or type this word, you can choose to leave out the marks and go with "cause celebre" and "causes celebre." Many publications do. And in older texts you'll see the phrase in italics, cause célèbre, signifying that it's foreign, but hardly anyone does that today because the phrase has become common in English. examples: The O. J. Simpson trial was the cause célèbre that filled newspapers when my sister and I were in middle school--our parents had the grim and complex task of putting it in context for us. The plot is a little thin: the villain seems to have no function besides interfering and turning the main character's quest into a cause célèbre, securing its success. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "cause célèbre" means when you can explain it without saying "hot button issue" or "important public struggle." try it out: Fill in the blank: "(Some issue or controversial public figure that the public doesn't really care about anymore) no longer hold(s) (its/her/his/their) status as a cause célèbre." Example: "Tom Green no longer holds his status as a cause célèbre." before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. Our game this month is called "Cousins or Strangers?" Consider two pairs of similar-looking words, and figure out which pair are truly related, like cousins, and which pair are unrelated, like strangers. "Related," of course, is a relative concept (ha ha). We're interested in closeness: "compute" and "computer" are sisters, or variations of the same word; "vision" and "video" are cousins, sharing the same Latin root; but "compute" and "video" are strangers. From our previous issue: Pair A: MALE and FEMALE. These are the strangers. How crazy is this? Though they both come from Latin words, "male" is from masculus, meaning "male" or "worthy of a man," while "female" is from femina, meaning literally "she who nurses (babies)."  Pair B: SEASON (FOR FOOD) and SEASON (OF THE YEAR). These are the cousins. You know how fruit tastes better when it's ripe? An Old French word for "ripen" gave us the word "season" in both senses: a way of making food taste better, as if ripening it; and a way of dividing the year up into appropriate times for planting and harvesting. Ready to check out two more pairs? Remember, one pair will be cousins; the other, strangers. Which is which? Pair A: BOMB and BOMBAST Pair B: POLICE and POLICY review today's word: 1. The opposite of CAUSE CÉLÈBRE could be A. A-LIST CELEBRITY B. PUBLIC OBSESSION C. MINOR LOCAL ISSUE 2. An author who misunderstood the term reported that "'Pi Day' as a cause célèbre dates to the late 1980’s." It would have made more sense to call Pi Day a cause for celebration, as it's not exactly a matter that's _____. A. ancient B. riveting or controversial C. mathematically complex Answers are below. a final word: To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com Disclaimer: Word meanings presented here are expressed in plain language and are limited to common, useful applications only. Readers interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words are encouraged to check a dictionary. Likewise, word meanings, usage, and pronunciations are limited to American English; these elements may vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. C 2. B