Make Your Point > Archived Issues > DUPE
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pronounce
DUPE:
Say it "DOOP."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
In the five sentences below, try to spot the pattern:
1. "He had an audience of children and other gullible creatures who believed in werewolves, flibbertigibbets, and miracles" (John Nichols).
2. "When I went into the upper school room I was astonished to see large boys standing on stools against the wall with cards around their heads marked 'fool', 'booby' or 'dunce'" (Arkansas Historical Quarterly).
3. "Russian tanks became sitting ducks for anti-tank weapons because they weren't properly camouflaged" (Washington Times).
4. "Shall I stand still, like a goose or a fool, with my finger in my mouth?" (John Griffiths).
5. "These amateur gamblers are the greatest pigeons I ever knew" (Baltimore Sun).
You've seen it, I'm sure!
In each sentence above, the speaker implies that some bird is particularly stupid. Gulls, boobies, ducks, geese, pigeons, and as we'll see in a moment, hoopoes--we've used all of these birds to imply human stupidity. Oh, and dodos.
While we're on the subject, see if you can recall a two-syllable word meaning "a noisy group of geese, or a noisy, dumb group of people wandering around."
definition:
As you might know already, hoopoe birds are incredibly beautiful and richly symbolic in myth, religion, and folklore.
They're also kinda stupid.
In fifteenth-century France, bands of thieves used the phrase de huppe, "of the hoopoe," to describe dumb people who were easy to trick or easy to steal from. That phrase may have warped into duppe, then dupe--still in French--before it entered English around 1681.
A dupe is a person who gets tricked or misled, usually in some particular situation.
And, to dupe people is to trick, cheat, or mislead them.
We should note that "dupe" is also a completely different word (spelled the same), slang for "a duplicate, or a copy," or "to make a duplicate or copy." For example, we might dupe a $9 Starbucks drink by making it at home, or buy an affordable dupe of a luxury cosmetic: "Who knows of a dupe for this $90 eye shadow palette?" Or in video gaming, players might dupe certain valuable items: make illegal copies of them to make the game easier or more fun.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Often a noun, the countable kind: "They were the dupes in this scandal."
And often a verb, the transitive kind: "They duped us."
Other forms:
The common ones are "dupes," "duped," "duping," and "duper(s)."
There's also a fun-to-say noun, "dupery." These authors titled their article about fake news "Dupery by Design."
how to use it:
Pick the semi-common word "dupe" when you need a short, clear, harsh synonym for "mislead," "swindle," or "victimize."
You might refer to people as dupes, or talk about people duping each other, sometimes into doing things: "They duped us into handing over the cash;" "She duped me into attending a lengthy sales pitch."
examples:
"As he auctions them off — a pile of teeth removed from his own mouth — he invents fantastical provenances connecting them to his favorite writers... The wealthy residents respond enthusiastically to his tales, bidding hundreds of dollars for them. Perhaps they are in on the joke, or the project, or perhaps they are dupes."
— Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times, 17 September 2015
"This time... [Little Red Riding Hood] pretends to be taken in by the wolf, but instead rushes over to her grandmother's, where the two of them set a trap and kill him. Thus, the heroine learns from her former experience and this time is able to dupe the duper."
— Stephen Greenspan, Annals of Gullibility: Why We Get Duped and How to Avoid It, 2008
has this page helped you understand "dupe"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "dupe" without saying "swindle" or "easy mark."
try it out:
In a review of a book about loss and grief, Peter Conrad wrote, "Religion duped us by pretending to vanquish death."
Talk about what he means, and whether or not you agree with him.
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 this month: MYP Anagrams!
Rearrange the letters in the given word to form a word we've studied before. For example, if I give you THREAD, you give me DEARTH. To see the answer, scroll all the way down.
Try this one today:
Rearrange the letters in SCANTED to make a verb (or a noun).
To peek at the clues, highlight the hidden white text below.
The definition is… to talk or write for a long time on some specific subject.
The first letter is… D.
review this word:
A. a SAGACIOUS person: someone who always acts in a quick, smart, practical way.
B. a SCRUPULOUS person: someone who always treats others honestly and ethically.
C. a SLOVENLY person: someone who always appears sloppy, dirty, untidy, or unclean.
2.
They were duped: _____.
A. the stray cat they had fed purred his way into their home
B. the well-priced Xbox they had ordered was a box with an X on it
C. the gift card they had wrapped up and presented was a used one from their own drawer
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.
In the five sentences below, try to spot the pattern:
As you might know already, hoopoe birds are incredibly beautiful and richly symbolic in myth, religion, and folklore.
Part of speech:
Pick the semi-common word "dupe" when you need a short, clear, harsh synonym for "mislead," "swindle," or "victimize."
"As he auctions them off — a pile of teeth removed from his own mouth — he invents fantastical provenances connecting them to his favorite writers... The wealthy residents respond enthusiastically to his tales, bidding hundreds of dollars for them. Perhaps they are in on the joke, or the project, or perhaps they are dupes."
Explain the meaning of "dupe" without saying "swindle" or "easy mark."
In a review of a book about loss and grief, Peter Conrad wrote, "Religion duped us by pretending to vanquish death."
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.
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. |
