Make Your Point > Archived Issues > TRANSMOGRIFY
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connect today's word to others:
Transmogrify has a sketchy history, one that the Oxford English Dictionary calls "vulgar or uneducated." We can't say for sure where the "mogrify" part came from, but it's pretty clear that the "trans" part comes from the Latin word for "across or beyond."
Could you recall two words we checked out recently that also start with "trans"? They both literally mean "going across or going beyond," and today we use them to mean "staying or lasting for a short time only."
make your point with...
"TRANSMOGRIFY"
To transmogrify something is to change it completely into something else--usually into something weird.
(And, to transmogrify is to change completely into something else, usually something weird.)
Pronunciation:
tranz MOG riff eye
Part of speech:
Verb.
It’s most often transitive (you transmogrify something, or something gets transmogrified)
but can also be intransitive (something transmogrifies on its own).
Other forms:
transmogrified, transmogrifying, transmogrification(s), transmogrifier(s)
How to use it:
Because this word is pseudo-Latin, mystical, bizarre, and, yes, showy, it gives us a fun alternative to plainer words like "transform" and "transfigure."
Talk about something transmogrifying, or about something being transmogrified, often into another thing: "The point of the game 'Telephone' is to laugh at how the original message, whispered from child to child, has transmogrified." "The original concept for the show was transmogrified into something marketable."
examples:
The researchers' modest conclusions were transmogrified into an eye-catching and utterly false headline: "New Drug Promises End to Cancer."
Sharp-tongued and self-possessed for most of the play, Katherine disappoints us when she transmogrifies into an obedient wife.
study it now:
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "transmogrify" means when you can explain it without saying "grotesquely alter" or "change bizarrely."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "_____ was transmogrified by the addition of _____."
Example: "Their backyard was transmogrified by the addition of a hideous pergola."
before you review:
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
This month, see if you can associate a snippet of song lyrics with a word we’ve studied before. For example, here's Dave Matthews: "Wasting time, let the hours roll by doing nothing for the fun. A little taste of the good life." Those lyrics call to mind the word LOTUS-EATING.
From our previous issue:
In "She's Always a Woman," Billy Joel sings:
"And she'll promise you more than the garden of Eden.
Then she'll carelessly cut you and laugh while you're bleeding...
She is frequently kind and she's suddenly cruel."
Do those lyrics call to mind the word AEGIS, ELUCIDATE, or MERCURIAL? Why?
Answer: MERCURIAL. A mercurial person changes a lot in an unpredictable way. We could have quoted from Katy Perry, too: "You're hot, then you're cold; you're yes, then you're no."
Try this today:
In "Glory of Love," Peter Cetera sings:
"Just like a knight in shining armor
From a long time ago
Just in time I will save the day
Take you to my castle far away."
Do those lyrics call to mind the word QUANDARY, QUIESCENT, or QUIXOTIC? Why?
review today's word:
1. A close opposite of TRANSMOGRIFY is
A. CONJURE.
B. ENDURE.
C. RESIST.
2. In Bill Watterson's comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin crawls inside his cardboard box, labeled TRANSMOGRIFIER, then _____.
A. flies into space
B. emerges as a tiger
C. travels back to prehistory
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. B
Transmogrify has a sketchy history, one that the Oxford English Dictionary calls "vulgar or uneducated." We can't say for sure where the "mogrify" part came from, but it's pretty clear that the "trans" part comes from the Latin word for "across or beyond."
"TRANSMOGRIFY" To transmogrify something is to change it completely into something else--usually into something weird. Part of speech: Other forms:
The researchers' modest conclusions were transmogrified into an eye-catching and utterly false headline: "New Drug Promises End to Cancer."
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "transmogrify" means when you can explain it without saying "grotesquely alter" or "change bizarrely."
Fill in the blanks: "_____ was transmogrified by the addition of _____."
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
1. A close opposite of TRANSMOGRIFY is
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. |