Make Your Point > Archived Issues > DISCURSIVE

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connect today's word to others: Discourse is speech or conversation, often the formal, highly detailed kind, and discursive things ramble: they move from topic to topic, talking about this and that and this again. So if you're a discursive speaker, that means you discur a lot, right? Kind of, yeah! The verb discur does mean "to wander around," but it's fallen out of fashion: according to the OED, it was last seen in 1682 in a text about insects:    "This [bee]..did Discurre every where." Discursive, discourse, and discur all come from a Latin word meaning "a running about," which means they're related to all kinds of words about literal and figurative running, like course, current, cursive, currency, curriculum, incur, recur, occur, concur, corral, cursor, and precursor. Can you also call something discoursive? Yup, but it's a rare word. So let's stick with discursive, and while we're at it, let's recall these synonyms for it: di__use, me_____ing, and de___ting. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) make your point with... "DISCURSIVE" Originally, "discursive" meant "logical, reasoned"--the opposite of "intuitive." You might still use that meaning today if you talk about discursive thought, a discursive process, someone's discursive intellect, etc. But today, most often, "discursive" means "rambling from topic to topic, often in a very detailed way." Pronunciation: diss KUR siv Part of speech: Adjective: "a discursive response," "the lecture was discursive." Other forms: Discursively, discursiveness. ("Discursivity" sounds better as a noun, but that one has a specific meaning in philosophy.) How to use it: This word is a bit formal. It's not really a compliment or an insult to call someone or something discursive--it's more like a neutral, descriptive kind of word.  Talk about discursive people and minds, discursive thoughts and thinking, discursive speeches and conversations, discursive articles and other publications, discursive poems and stories, discursive episodes and seasons of shows, etc. examples: While the interviewer struggles to keep him focused, his responses wander discursively. "The tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and the drummer Chad Taylor both improvise in a way that runs rampant and discursive, but their music stays firmly centered in their bodies."    — The New York Times, 5 April 2018 study it: Explain the meaning of "discursive" without saying "digressive" or "long-winded." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "(Some speech, show, article, comedy routine, etc.) is full of discursive (asides, anecdotes, rants, ravings, side plots, adventures, etc.)." Example: "'Consider the Lobster' is full of discursive, and hilarious, footnotes." before you review, play: Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first. Our game is "TV Tropes!" This month, we're playing with tropes from TVTropes.org. TV tropes are storytelling devices, which can come from any source of fiction—TV, movies, books, you name it. They're the archetypes, the story patterns, the plot devices, the cheap tricks, the situational clichés that we see over and over throughout fiction.  Examples of TV tropes include "Skyward Scream," "Banister Slide," "Caught on the Jumbotron," "Burp of Finality," "City People Eat Sushi," "Dance Party Ending," "Clean Pretty Childbirth," "Come Back to Bed, Honey," "Even the Subtitler is Stumped," and tens of thousands more. Naming a trope can be a straightforward business, as in the "Skyward Scream." But often it demands precision, inviting the use of humorously sophisticated terms. Enter our Make Your Point words.  In each issue this month, consider the name of a TV trope, and try to define it or even give an example from a TV show or other work of fiction. From the previous issue: In fiction, what is the trope known as a Hurricane of Euphemisms? Answer: It's when a character describes something by rattling off a long list of indirect terms for it. For example, in Monty Python's Flying Circus, Mr. Praline refers over and over to a dead parrot in euphemistic terms: "...This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker!..." Try this today: In fiction, what is the trope known as a Diabolus ex Machina? (Compare it to a deus ex machina.) review today's word: 1. One opposite of DISCURSIVE is A. EXTINCT. B. DISTINCT. C. SUCCINCT. 2. In the eighth season, the storyline plods on, discursive as _____. A. a dream B. the devil C. the deep blue sea Answers are below. a final word: Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From Liesl's 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. Answers to review questions: 1. C 2. A