Make Your Point > Archived Issues > CLOACA

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pronounce CLOACA: Say it "klo AY kuh." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: After he accidentally breaks the Professor's ship in a bottle, Zoidberg panics: So it's pretty clear what a cloaca is, yeah? Gross! Gross, too, is our term or____, a somewhat polite term for filth, dirt, anything morally offensive, and yes, literal poop. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) definition: "Cloaca" comes from a Latin verb meaning "to clean" or "to purify." "Cloaca" started out as another word for "bathroom," then "sewer" and "sewer drain." Today, it most often means "a body part, in an animal or in a human embryo, where the waste drains out." In particular, in creatures like birds and reptiles, the cloaca drains out both solid and liquid waste. Gross, I know--but this fact is relevant because when we talk about figurative cloacas (or "cloacae"), we're suggesting that they contain a mixture of icky stuff. So, a figurative cloaca is a place where bad, nasty, or immoral things or people gather or drain out. grammatical bits: Part of speech: noun, the countable kind: "that cloaca of crime." Other forms: The plural is simply "cloacas," or if you prefer a more scholarly one, "cloacae," pronounced "klo AY kee." If you need an adjective, the most common one is "cloacal," pronounced "klo AY kull." Writers have also used "cloacean," "cloacinal," "cloacinean," and "cloacaline." how to use it: Well, folks, "cloaca" is a nasty word, with a negative tone. But because it sounds so Latin, and so scientific, it's a sophisticated option when you need a disgusting metaphor. So, refer to some place, some time, some publication or other creation, or some group of people as a cloaca. Or, refer to something as a cloaca of things: "a cloaca of seedy clubs," "that cloaca of alcohol-soaked memories," "a cloaca of neglect and ignorance." examples: "Through the 70s and 80s, West Indies were not just the greatest cricket team ever but the greatest team ever and perhaps the greatest anything ever, so the subsequent decline of things at the cloaca of capitalism, nepotism and [idiocy], represents significant sporting tragedy."    — Daniel Harris, The Guardian, 13 September 2019 "The wiseacre imagines he is adorning his drivel with the multitude of his quotations. The rest I pass over, lest you should smother in the filth of this vile cloaca."    — Martin Luther, translated by A. T. W. Steinhaeuser, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, 1520 has this page helped you understand "cloaca"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "cloaca" without saying "gutter" or "cesspool." try it out: Blaise Pascal wrote: "What a chimera, then, is man! what a novelty, what a monster, what a chaos, what a subject of contradiction, what a prodigy! A judge of all things, feeble worm of the earth, depositary of the truth, cloaca of uncertainty and error, the glory and the shame of the universe." Talk about what he means. As a species, how are we both a "depositary (or bank) of the truth" and a "cloaca of uncertainty and error"? At the risk of offending whoever you're chatting with, could you give some current examples of people or places that seem like a cloaca of error? 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 "Subject Line Crosswords." We'll revisit some of the email subject lines from 2019 issues, using them as a tool for recall. Each day this month, see if you can complete the mini-crossword with words we studied last year. If you need extra clues, look below the puzzle to view definitions and parts of speech. And I'll share the answers in the following issue. Enjoy! From the previous issue: Extra clues: ACROSS 2. noun meaning "someone who makes a loud, showy display to fool people, often to take their money" 3. noun meaning "bragging that's extremely exaggerated" DOWN 1. verb meaning "to become slower, looser, weaker, or less strict" Answers: If you like, you can review the words mountebank, rodomontade, and slacken. Try this today:  Extra clues: ACROSS 2. adjective meaning "sloppy and careless in a way that reminds you of someone shuffling around awkwardly in loose shoes" 3. adjective meaning "seeming okay (or even good) to the person who's experiencing it" DOWN 1. verb meaning "to stir things up, making them chaotic, confusing, and full of strong emotions" review this word: 1. A near opposite of CLOACA is A. SLUICE (a stream of fluid things). B. TROVE (a collection of valuable things). C. MISCELLANEA (a collection of various things). 2. Not one to phrase things delicately, William Cowper Brann described a particular newspaper: "The _____ of such a paper creeps abroad like the _____ of a cloaca." A. stench .. malodor B. sight .. fever nightmare C. reputation .. corpulent belly 1. B 2. A 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:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. 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.