• home
  • vocab
  • tutoring
  • blog
  • help

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > JOYRIDE

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.




pronounce JOYRIDE:

JOY ride

Hear it.
connect this word to others:

In Ferris Bueller's Day Off, these valets take a 1961 Ferrari on a joyride.


(Source)

That's quite a literal joyride. You can see the joy!

Less literally, a joyride is a spree; a binge; a caper; a carousal; a rampage; a r_v__ (a wild, crazy, jubilant celebration), as in "Ferris Bueller is a rebel who takes time to r_v__." Can you recall that last one?

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

definition:

"Joyride" is American slang. It dates back to about 1906.

Literally speaking, to joyride (or to go for a joyride, or to take a vehicle for a joyride) is to go on a short trip in a vehicle just for the fun of it, or to steal a vehicle and have a good time driving it around.

Less literally, to joyride, or to go on a joyride, is to go on a wild spree of reckless behavior.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Both a verb ("Let's joyride") and a noun ("Let's go for a joyride").

Other forms: 

joyrides, joyrider(s), joyriding, joyrode, joyridden

how to use it:

The fun word "joyride" is a bit rare, but easy to understand.

Talk about people joyriding, or taking a joyride, or going on a joyride. You can be literal or figurative: "They're busy joyriding through college and haven't truly entered the real world yet." "Their financial joyride is over; the cards are maxed and the bills are due." Here's Magnet Magazine: "For more than a decade, Drew Daniel and MC Schmidt have been taking electronica for a joyride."

Even more abstractly, you can call something a joyride when it's moving recklessly and randomly, as if purely for the joy of it. You might refer to an album, a movie, a vacation, or even a relationship as a joyride.

examples:

"For all our earnest recycling, America is still seen as a terribly wasteful country... Pandas and rain forests are never mentioned when it comes to the millions of people taking joyrides in their Range Rovers." 
   — David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day, 2000

"Transcendent is not too strong a word to describe the cavalcade of dishes that for some of us taste of pure nostalgia... A souvlaki featuring mushrooms that have been sliced paper-thin, marinated, layered and pressed for a few days before they're threaded on a skewer and seasoned with oregano. Along for the joyride is a dreamy mustard dip."
   — Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 11 October 2019

has this page helped you understand "joyride"?

   

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 "joyride" without saying "jag" or "splurge."

try it out:

In the video game Jetpack Joyride, the object of the game (according to Wikipedia) is to "travel as far as possible, collect coins, and avoid hazards such as zappers, missiles and high-intensity laser beams."

It sounds pretty great. I'm not much of video gamer myself, but I'd guess that most good video games are a joyride of some sort: a way to zone out from real life and go on a thrilling adventure, with real challenges and real adrenaline rushes. Would you agree? Why or why not? Besides video gaming, is there a different hobby that you'd say is a better example of a figurative joyride?




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 March: it's the Inkhorn Stinkhorn!

It’s inspired by the Twofer Goofer, created by Collin Waldoch, in which you're given a circumlocutory clue, like "An eater with an excessive appetite for clothes fasteners," and you provide a rhyming answer, in this case "button glutton." You're then treated to an AI-generated rendering of the goofy concept you just named. In general in the Twofer Goofer, the words are straightforward and the AI art is lovely.

But here in the Inkhorn Stinkhorn, the words are pedantic and the AI art is atrocious. Enjoy! 

Try this last one today: Name a two-word rhyming phrase that means "the pervasive sense of dullness experienced by a lonely jar of clarified butter who has accepted its fate of never fusing with a delicious Indian dish but instead lingering for an eternity on a dusty shelf in the baking aisle."

Clue #1: To reveal the first letter of each word, highlight the following text… g___ e____

Clue #2: To reveal one of the words, highlight the following text… ghee e____

For the answer, scroll all the way down!

review this word:

1. A near opposite of JOYRIDING is

A. KEEPING YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF.
B. KEEPING YOUR NOSE TO THE GRINDSTONE.
C. HAVING YOUR HEART IN THE RIGHT PLACE.

2. In Episode 3 of Freaks and Geeks, Lindsay and her new friends go joyriding, _____.

A. sneaking into a concert
B. cruising around and smashing mailboxes
C. realizing they actually enjoy the tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons




Answers to the review questions:
1. B
2. B


Answer to the game question:

Ghee ennui.



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.

Subscribe to "Make Your Point" for a daily vocabulary boost.



© Copyright 2023 | All rights reserved.