Make Your Point > Archived Issues > MISCELLANEA

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connect today's word to others: Compared to the more familiar word miscellany, our word miscellanea is approximately eighteen times rarer, so it's perfect for emphasis. Here's Henry Nelson Coleridge: "[Don't] infer that his collections were a heap of incoherent miscellanea." Other than miscellanea being rarer, is there a difference between it and miscellany? Yes and no. You can think of miscellany as the stuff, the contents, the individual items, while miscellanea is the collection, the whole, the assortment itself. But this distinction disappears in everyday speech--we use the two words interchangeably. And they both come from the Latin miscere, "to mix:" the source, too, of our word __misc____, meaning "unable to be mixed: failing to blend well together." (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) make your point with... "MISCELLANEA" Miscellanea is a collected group of varied types of stuff. (Or, it's the varied stuff that's all collected together into a group.) Pronunciation: miss uh LAY nee uh Part of speech: Noun, usually the uncountable kind: "a drawer of miscellanea," "some camping miscellanea," "the miscellanea of academic life." Other forms worth knowing: The more familiar forms are the adjective "miscellaneous" and the other, more common noun, "miscellany." The noun for the quality of being miscellaneous is "miscellaneousness," as in "the miscellaneousness of garage sale offerings." And the adverb is "miscellaneously." How to use it: The word "miscellanea" is rare, and because it has often described collections of writings, its tone is a bit literary. Use it to call special attention to any mixed, varied collection of things, either literal things ("a storage bin of wedding miscellanea") or figurative things ("the emotional miscellanea of the lost generation"). examples: Like the soldiers in O'Brien's The Things They Carried, the migrants in Urrea's The Devil's Highway strike us as real and relatable as we read about the miscellanea in their pockets and on their minds. "On the surface, [the novel] 'Sudden Death' is a glorious grab bag of miscellanea [...] the reader is batted from one subject to another, and between the New World and the Old."    — Larry Rohter, The New York Times,14 February 2016 study it: Explain the meaning of "miscellanea" without saying "collection of random stuff" or "heap of this and that." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "In/On _____, among the miscellanea, is _____." Example: "In the attic, among the miscellanea, is a doll from my childhood that I hope my daughter will find charming and not creepy." 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. Our game this month is "Inspired by, but in no way associated with, Jeopardy!" In each issue, I'll create three "answers" for you, and you supply the "questions." (That is, you'll respond in the form of a question, like "What is...?" or "Who is...?") From the previous issue: 1. Category: Homophone Pairs. Answer: It's the superior officer of unpopped seeds in the tub of popcorn. Question: What is a kernel colonel? 2. Category: The B is Silent. Answer: It's what skeptics always do. Question: What is doubt? 3. Category: "N"ine-Letter Words. Answer: Supposedly, theoretically, not in fact: in name only. Question: What is "nominally"? Try these today: 1. Category: The B is Silent. Answer: It's to submit, or to surrender. 2. Category: "N"ine-Letter Words. Answer: It describes animals active at night, like bats and owls.  3. Category: Anagrammed Appetizers. Answer: No spaghetti, but maybe some toothpicks to prevent rolling: Blastemal. review today's word: 1. A near opposite of MISCELLANEA is A. COMPLEX ISSUE. B. COORDINATED SET. C. CHRONOLOGICAL PLOT. 2. A display near the register offered miscellanea: _____. A. pamphlets, magazines, and books B. candies, crackers, granola bars, and popcorn C. pens, sodas, lotions, flashlights, and stuffed animals Answers are below. a final word: Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From Liesl's 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. Answers to review questions: 1. B 2. C