Make Your Point: DOPPELGANGER

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pronounce DOPPELGANGER:

Say it "DOP ul gang er."

To hear it, click here.

connect this word to others:

See if you can recall some words that entered English from German:

1. German for "living room," le____raum is the space required for people or things to grow and develop freely.

2. German for "stranger shame" or "external shame," fremd____m is the pain or embarrassment of watching other people embarrass themselves.

3. German for "move obligation" or "move compulsion," Zug___ng is a situation in which you HAVE to take action, but any action you take will be bad for you.

And today, here's the word we're checking out: German for "double-goer," a doppelganger is a spooky double or copy of someone.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

We took the word "doppelganger" from German, where it's written "Doppelgänger." (Yes, the capital D is because nouns are often capitalized in German--and, yes, that tradition is changing these days.)

It literally means "double-goer."

A doppelganger is a ghost that looks just like another (living) person.

Or, more loosely, a doppelganger is a copy of someone or something, or a very similar version of someone or something, that seems creepy or ghostly.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, the countable kind: "a doppelganger," "these doppelgangers."

Other forms:

The plural is "doppelgangers."

If you prefer, you can keep the foreign look of the word by including the dots over the "a:" doppelgänger.

how to use it:

When you need a creepy or mock-creepy tone, instead of picking a word like "twin," "copy," "look-a-like," "imitation," or "replica," pick "doppelganger."

Usually we refer to a person as another person's doppelganger: "I saw your doppelganger at the post office;" "a Prince Harry doppelganger (Fox News)," "Lizzie McGuire's thoughts are spoken 'by her animated doppelganger (Washington Times).'"

But you can also refer to a thing as someone's doppelganger, like a painting, a statue, a mannequin, etc.

And you can refer to one thing as another thing's doppelganger: "This eye shadow palette, a doppelganger of the $60 Pro Pigment Palette from Anastasia, is $8 at Walmart."

examples:

In "Jaynestown," Jayne and the rest of the Firefly crew stand around, staring in confusion at a crude statue, a doppelganger of Jayne himself.

"Finding your museum doppelganger is fun – but the science behind it is scary... Facial recognition technology allows Google to find the artwork you most resemble – but it also supports the rise of the surveillance state."
— Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian, 16 January 2018

has this page helped you understand "doppelganger"?

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 "doppelganger" without saying "spooky double" or "creepy copy."

try it out:

You can play with tools online that give you your celebrity doppelganger. Neat!

This one told me that my celebrity doppelganger is Maria Menounos (on the right). Eh, I'm not so sure, though. I don't think we look very much alike!

If you try out this tool, do you think it does a good job of finding your doppelganger? If not, who do you think your celebrity doppelganger really is?

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 for November is "SpongeBob Shakespeare."

Check out the goofy quote below. Is it from SpongeBob Squarepants, or is it a modern-English version of a quote from Shakespeare?

I'll list the answer at the bottom of each issue. Enjoy!

Try this one today:

One character: "I have a theory, people talk loud when they want to act smart, right?"

Another character, shouting: "CORRECT!"

review this word:

1. The nearest opposite of DOPPELGANGER is

A. EVIL TWIN.
B. ANTITHESIS.
C. SIMULACRUM.

2. Entertainment Weekly wrote that Renee Zellweger "hardly seems like a natural doppelganger for [Judy Garland]," perhaps implying that actresses ought to _____ the people they portray.

A. psychoanalyze
B. physically resemble
C. exhibit the same level of talent as

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.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > DOPPELGANGER See this issue on Make Your Point, Jr. Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > DOPPELGANGER

See this issue on Make Your Point, Jr.

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.