Make Your Point > Archived Issues > EFFACE
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pronounce
EFFACE:
Say it "if FACE."
Or, if you prefer, "eh FACE."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
You know how we say "Well, on the face of things, it seemed..."?
Situations don't have eyes, noses, or mouths, but we still say they have faces. We love to use the word face metaphorically like that.
The metaphor continues in the word efface: "to wipe out the face of things, to wipe out the appearance of things, the evidence of them." To efface things is often to get rid of them superficially--but they're still true, real, or present. So if you're effacing crimes, or information, or memories, you're just wiping away their faces. Metaphorically.
Let's keep this whole face metaphor going. See if you can recall these words:
1. A fac__ is one "face," one aspect, or one way of looking at something. It implies that there are many others.
2. A fac___ is the "face" of a building--or a false front that someone puts on when they're pretending to be what they're not.
3. An about-face, or a vo___-face, a major change in attitude or opinion, as if the person has turned his face 180 degrees.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
This word's Latin roots literally mean "to remove the face."
To efface something is to get rid of it, as if it's a mark or a stain that you're erasing.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech: verb, the transitive kind: "They've effaced those painful memories."
Other forms: effaced, effacing, effacement, effacive; self-effacive, self-effacing, self-effacement.
how to use it:
Sometimes, we're literal. We talk about struggling to efface graffiti from a brick wall, or struggling to read an old gravestone whose inscription has been effaced by time and weather. Have you watched that cooking show with Alton Brown, Good Eats? He has to efface brand names from his show for legal reasons; instead of Jell-O and Ritz Crackers, he calls for "gelatin" and "salted circular crackers." That's some pretty literal effacement. It might even involve blurring out logos.
But most effacing is figurative: we talk about effacing truths, memories, the past, experiences, desires, distinctions, etc.--often from something. "They effaced those painful memories from their minds."
And fairly often, we talk about self-effacement: people effacing themselves, or fading into the background on purpose.
examples:
"...Memory – and therefore history – is not a 'blank slate' on which we can arbitrarily write whatever happens to be congenial to us in the present. Rather, it is a process of sedimentation, by which the past is never completely effaced, but constantly reinterpreted through the lens of the present."
— Carlo Invernizzi-Accetti, The Guardian, 6 December 2017
"[Mood Media, the marketing company that makes Muzak,] wants to be more subtle and pervasive, and it will do this by being more boring... Mood Media knows that it's easier to sell to the unwary, and wants to efface itself entirely from public view."
— Alan Yuhas, The Verge, 13 February 2013
"Keiko finds purpose and acceptance at the Smile Mart, where she receives a uniform and a manual that outlines exactly how she is supposed to conduct herself, down to the scripted phrases approved for customer interactions. 'This is the only way I can be a normal person,' Keiko realizes... [Her] ability to anticipate shoppers' desires—and to efface herself—seems at once uncanny and depraved, implying a lack of soul."
— Katy Waldman, with a quote from Sayaka Murata's novel Convenience Store Woman, for The New Yorker, 21 June 2018
has this page helped you understand "efface"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "efface" without saying "blot out" or "do away with."
try it out:
One of my favorite movies is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Here's the basic plot, courtesy of IMDB.com:
"When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories."
In other words, they efface each other.
Imagine that this kind of effacement were a medical reality. For the sake of discussion, assume the procedure is safe, fast, free, and painless. Would you choose to efface your worst memories from your mind? Why or why not?
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.
This month, our game is "Caption These!"
In each issue this month, caption the images below (A, B, and C) by matching them to the vocabulary words they illustrate (1, 2, and 3). Need a closer look? Give the images a click. And, if you can, explain the exact meaning of each word. I'll share the answers in the following issue. Good luck!
From the previous issue:
Answers:
A: bouillabaisse, B: brindle, C: bastion.
(To review a word, give it a click.)
Try these today:
1: malevolent
2: nebulous
3: tangential
review this word:
1. A near opposite of EFFACE is
A. BURN.
B. ADORN.
C. ILLUMINATE.
2. Jim Gaffigan's comedy can seem self-effacing: _____
A. "Look, you lost a tooth. Congratulations. Enjoy looking like a hillbilly. Here's a dollar."
B. "How kids feel about snow days is the exact opposite of how parents feel about snow days."
C. "A woman can feed a baby with her body. When you compare that to the male's contribution to life, it's kind of embarrassing, really."
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.
You know how we say "Well, on the face of things, it seemed..."?
This word's Latin roots literally mean "to remove the face."
Part of speech: verb, the transitive kind: "They've effaced those painful memories."
Sometimes, we're literal. We talk about struggling to efface graffiti from a brick wall, or struggling to read an old gravestone whose inscription has been effaced by time and weather. Have you watched that cooking show with Alton Brown, Good Eats? He has to efface brand names from his show for legal reasons; instead of Jell-O and Ritz Crackers, he calls for "gelatin" and "salted circular crackers." That's some pretty literal effacement. It might even involve blurring out logos.
"...Memory – and therefore history – is not a 'blank slate' on which we can arbitrarily write whatever happens to be congenial to us in the present. Rather, it is a process of sedimentation, by which the past is never completely effaced, but constantly reinterpreted through the lens of the present."
Explain the meaning of "efface" without saying "blot out" or "do away with."
One of my favorite movies is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Here's the basic plot, courtesy of IMDB.com:
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.
1. A near opposite of EFFACE is
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