Make Your Point > Archived Issues > EX CATHEDRA
Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.
connect this word to others:
Once, under duress, I had to read a self-published ebook about, let's say, psychology. (I've changed that detail to protect the shameless.) The book was a deeply terrible and profoundly useless rambling through psychological concepts, as if the author had said to himself, "Who needs an education, a degree, experience, or research? I'll just sit down in my armchair and tell everyone what's what. My word will be final."
It was the worst kind of armchair psychology: the kind doled out ex cathedra, as if from the chair or throne of a ruling authority.
Ex cathedra, literally "from the chair," is the term we'll explore today. See if you can recall another term with "ex" in it (meaning "from") that literally means "a god from a machine," or figuratively, "a person or thing that suddenly shows up at just the right time and completely fixes the problem." It starts with D.
make your point with...
"EX CATHEDRA"
Let's start with the familiar word "cathedral."
The oldest meaning of "cathedral" is "having to do with a cathedra: having to do with a bishop's throne or chair." Cathedral churches were the ones where the bishops sat--and so they were the grandest. Hence, cathedrals: churches of remarkable size and beauty.
Now let's focus on "ex cathedra," which is Latin for "from the chair."
To do something ex cathedra is to do it with a lofty attitude of authority, as if you're sitting on a bishop's throne. In other words, "ex cathedra" means "done in a serious, official, in-charge way, as if you're sitting on some grand chair of authority."
Pronunciation:
ECKS kuth EE druh
Part of speech:
It's a phrase we often use as an adverb: "he ordered it ex cathedra."
We can also use it as an adjective: "an ex cathedra tone," "her ex cathedra judgments."
Other forms:
A similar term, almost opposite in meaning, is "in cathedra:" "in the chair," as in "he imagines himself in cathedra."
How to use it:
This term is highly formal and often sarcastic.
But you might be sincere when you talk about people with real authority who do things, say things, command things, and issue things ex cathedra--usually orders, judgments, or commandments. And after these authorities speak or decide those things ex cathedra, us regular folks hear, receive, accept, or reject them ex cathedra.
Again, all this can be done in earnest--but it's more likely that you'll use this term in a sarcastic way to call attention to people's inflated, or even baseless, sense of self-importance and authority.
To use this term like an adjective, talk about an ex cathedra tone, style, manner, attitude, order, rule, judgment, commandment, pronouncement, discourse, etc.
examples:
"So much that is wrong with writing instruction is wrong because a single person's beliefs have somehow been elevated to ex cathedra pronouncements and passed along from teacher to teacher and from teacher to student through generation after generation, without ever being challenged, without ever being tested against experience, without ever really being thought about."
— Brooks Landon, Building Great Sentences, 2013
"'The Secret' and 'The Power' deliver their wisdom in an ex cathedra voice reminiscent of the 'Saturday Night Live' segment 'Deep Thoughts.'"
— Christopher F. Chabris and Daniel J. Simons, The New York Times, 24 September 2010
has this page helped you understand "ex cathedra"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "ex cathedra" without saying "done with grand authority" or "said as if from on high."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) will issue, ex cathedra, a (certain kind of) pronouncement about the state of (some profession or sphere of interest)."
Example: "Periodically, the old coach will issue, ex cathedra, a cranky pronouncement about the state of basketball."
— Tommy Craggs, Slate, 5 June 2010
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.
In August, we're playing the time-honored Game of Venery!
We're inventing terms for groups of things: terms that James Lipton, the author of An Exaltation of Larks, calls "shards of poetry and truth." Example terms of venery include lovely ones like "a conflagration of fireflies" and silly ones like "a myopia of umpires," "a rash of dermatologists," and "an unemployment of graduates."
In each issue this month, I'll offer two templates. Have fun filling them in and sharing your inventions with your family, being as lofty, silly, or bawdy as you like. In each subsequent issue, I'll list the actual terms that appear in Lipton's book.
From the previous issue:
1. A rending of _____
2. A _____ of janitors
The terms listed in the book are "a rending of contractors" and "an inertia of janitors." As I've met only janitors who were busy, often with mopping, I would have gone with "a fwish of janitors."
Try these today:
1. A phalanx of _____
2. A _____ of polluters
review this word:
1. A close opposite of EX CATHEDRA is
A. FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE.
B. FROM FLOOR TO CEILING.
C. FROM ONE FRIEND TO ANOTHER.
2. They all looked up at him expectantly, _____, as if waiting for him to _____ the question ex cathedra.
A. haughtily .. skirt
B. eagerly .. rephrase
C. simperingly .. settle
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.
Once, under duress, I had to read a self-published ebook about, let's say, psychology. (I've changed that detail to protect the shameless.) The book was a deeply terrible and profoundly useless rambling through psychological concepts, as if the author had said to himself, "Who needs an education, a degree, experience, or research? I'll just sit down in my armchair and tell everyone what's what. My word will be final."
"EX CATHEDRA" Let's start with the familiar word "cathedral."
"So much that is wrong with writing instruction is wrong because a single person's beliefs have somehow been elevated to ex cathedra pronouncements and passed along from teacher to teacher and from teacher to student through generation after generation, without ever being challenged, without ever being tested against experience, without ever really being thought about."
Explain the meaning of "ex cathedra" without saying "done with grand authority" or "said as if from on high."
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) will issue, ex cathedra, a (certain kind of) pronouncement about the state of (some profession or sphere of interest)."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. A close opposite of EX CATHEDRA is
|