Make Your Point > Archived Issues > PIGEONHOLE
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connect this word to others:
Think about the verb stereotype, how it suggests that we're stamping people with one solid metal plate, as if to force them into sameness.
(Thanks for the picture, Wikipedia!)
Let's compare stereotype to circumscribe. Circumscribing is also a kind of limiting, or categorizing, or forcing people into certain rigid roles. But what physical action does it suggest? Not stamping with a plate, but doing what with what tool?
Now let's take stereotype and circumscribe and compare them with pigeonhole. As we'll see in a moment, pigeonholing people suggests that you're rolling them up like slips of paper and shoving them into tiny labeled compartments.
make your point with...
"PIGEONHOLE"
(Thanks to Wikipedia for the pictures!)
Above are literal pigeonholes: little compartments for pigeons to rest in. These have been around since the 1500s.
And, since the 1600s, we've also referred to compartments like the ones below as pigeonholes, even though they're not actually for pigeons:
As you can see, pigeonholes like the ones above let you sort and categorize papers and other small items. Not just into a few broad categories, but into lots of very specific categories.
By the 1800s, we'd started using "pigeonhole" more abstractly, to mean "a narrow role or a narrow category."
We can still use that meaning of "pigeonhole" today. Often, we turn it into a verb: to pigeonhole people or things is to limit them to a small, narrow role or category, as if you're sticking them neatly, thoughtlessly, and permanently into a tiny labeled compartment.
Pronunciation:
PIDGE in hole
Part of speech:
Both a noun (the countable kind: "these pigeonholes")
and a verb (the transitive kind: "they pigeonholed the actor as a villain").
Other common forms:
pigeonholes, pigeonholed, pigeonholing
How to use it:
This word provides a powerful image and a sharply negative tone: no one appreciates being pigeonholed, and pigeonholing is almost always a lazy, unkind, thoughtless, or small-minded thing to do.
Talk about people pigeonholing things and other people, often without being aware that they're doing it. "After she made some fantastic contributions to our group project, I felt bad for pigeonholing her as a dumb cheerleader." "Pay no attention to any online quiz that tries to pigeonhole you into some personality type or another." "The media have pigeonholed him as a treehugger, ignoring his work on other issues."
Often we say that people and things get pigeonholed in, into, or as certain narrow, limited roles, types, labels, and categories. "The actor resists being pigeonholed as a dashing villain."
examples:
In Divergent, Beatrice, along with every other teenager in her dystopian world, must devote herself to just one of five factions. Her resistance to being pigeonholed in this way explains the title. She diverges.
"[A winegrower], Mr. Berliner prefers not to pigeonhole his form of agriculture as organic, biodynamic or anything else. His idea is not to follow a recipe, but simply to respond to what he perceives the vineyard wants."
— Eric Asimov, New York Times, 30 May 2019
has this page helped you understand "pigeonhole"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "pigeonhole" without saying "peg" or "narrowly classify."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(In some situation), you get put into this pigeonhole of (some kind of role, type, label, or category)."
Example: "I'm a guitar player, but I do other things as well. I'm playing other instruments, I'm singing and I'm writing songs. But because of the guitar you get put in this pigeonhole of blues Americana and I'm ready to express more than that."
— Gary Clark Jr, as quoted by Jake Nevins, The Guardian, 21 February 2019
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.
Last month, we played Name Those Synonyms!
We enjoyed the gracefully written, ultra-authoritative explanations in Funk & Wagnalls Standard Handbook of Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions.
From the previous issue: What seven synonyms (<1>, <2>, <3>, <4>, <5>, <6>, and <7>) does the Handbook distinguish below?
Choose from the following word bank, which also includes words you won't use: blaze, flame, flicker, glare, gleam, glimmer, glistening, glitter, glow, luster, sheen, shimmer, sparkle, twinkle.
"<1>, <2>, and <3> denote wavering light. We speak of the <1> of distant lamps through the mist; of the <3> of waves in sunlight or moonlight. A <2> is a hard light; as, the <2> of burnished arms. A <4> is not wavering, but transient or intermittent: 'a sudden <4> of light came through the half-open door.' <5> is a shining as from a wet surface. <6> denotes commonly a reflection from a polished surface, as of silk or gems. A <7> is a sudden light, as of sparks thrown out; 'scintillation' is the more exact and scientific term for the actual emission of sparks, also the figurative term for what suggests such an emission; as, scintillations of wit or of genius."
Answers:
<1> is "glimmer."
<2> is "glitter."
<3> is "shimmer."
<4> is "gleam."
<5> is "glistening."
<6> is "luster."
<7> is "sparkle."
Bonus challenge: Recall the fine differences among "composed," "collected," "tranquil," "placid," and "serene." You can view the answer in this issue.
Next, our game for October: Anagrams!
In each issue this month, rearrange the letters in the given word to form a word we've studied before. Try to recall its meaning, too.
Let's see some examples. If I give you DYED, you give me EDDY. If I give you THREAD, you give me DEARTH. And if I give you COTERIES, you give me ESOTERIC.
Try this one today: LEAN.
Give yourself 5 points if you can figure out the word without clues. To reveal the clues, hover over the blue text below.
Give yourself 4 points if you figure it out after peeking at the part of speech: Noun.
Give yourself 3 points if you figure it out after peeking at the definition: a hasty, sudden enthusiasm or liveliness.
Give yourself 2 points if you figure it out after peeking at the first letter: E.
Give yourself 1 point if you figure it out after peeking at the first two letters: EL.
And if you'd like to reveal or review the word, click here.
review this word:
1. A close opposite of PIGEONHOLE is
A. SEE AN OPEN BOOK.
B. SEE VAST POTENTIAL.
C. SEE MAJOR DIFFICULTIES.
2. Suggesting that all humans pigeonhole their thoughts, H. P. Lovecraft wrote _____
A. "Our means of receiving impressions are absurdly few."
B. "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."
C. "When as children we listen and dream, we think but half-formed thoughts, and when as men we try to remember, we are dulled and prosaic with the poison of life."
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:
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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.
Think about the verb stereotype, how it suggests that we're stamping people with one solid metal plate, as if to force them into sameness.
(Thanks for the picture, Wikipedia!)
(Thanks to Wikipedia for the pictures!)
As you can see, pigeonholes like the ones above let you sort and categorize papers and other small items. Not just into a few broad categories, but into lots of very specific categories.
In Divergent, Beatrice, along with every other teenager in her dystopian world, must devote herself to just one of five factions. Her resistance to being pigeonholed in this way explains the title. She diverges.
Explain the meaning of "pigeonhole" without saying "peg" or "narrowly classify."
Fill in the blanks: "(In some situation), you get put into this pigeonhole of (some kind of role, type, label, or category)."
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 PIGEONHOLE is
|