Make Your Point > Archived Issues > WIRE-PULLER

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explore the archives: Today's "wire-puller" is someone who secretly controls others, especially in a political situation. What if you need a powerful political term to describe someone who openly controls others? You might pick "h___mon" or "h___monizer," terms related to h____mony or total power and control over others. make your point with... "WIRE-PULLER" Like someone who hides from the audience while pulling on wires to make a puppet move, a wire-puller is a person who secretly controls situations and other people. Pronunciation: Like you'd expect: "WHY er PULL er." Part of speech: Countable noun. (Countable nouns, like "bottle," "piece," and "decision," are words for things that can be broken into exact units. You talk about "a bottle," "three pieces," and "many decisions." Likewise, talk about one wire-puller or multiple wire-pullers.) Other forms: Wire-pull, wire-pullers, wire-pulling. Some prefer to leave out the hyphen: "wirepuller." How to use it: We often use this word to talk about politics: wire-pullers are those people who (we think) are behind the scenes, controlling who and what gets funded, who gets elected, who gains and loses respectability, and so on. You're certainly not limited to politics when you use this term, though: the world of business has its wire-pullers, and so does academia. Sometimes we refer to fate, chance, or God as a wire-puller, either as a joke or seriously, to talk about how they affect the lives of humans. examples: Some see the political sphere these days as one big mess of wire-pullers and back-scratchers. Officially, he was fired for making a trivial error. He's still ignorant of all the corporate wire-pulling that cost him his job. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "wire-puller" means when you can explain it without saying "puppeteer" or "secret manipulator." try it out: Think of something that you can't buy with money or influence, and fill in the blank: "No amount of skilled wire-pulling will get you _____." Example: "No amount of skilled wire-pulling as an author will get you a real fanbase. Great cover art and smart marketing only go so far if your stories are unoriginal or boring." 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. When it comes to word roots, everybody knows what some of them mean, like “ambi/amphi” (“both”) and “circum” (“around”) and “hetero” (“different”). This knowledge helps you explain why words like “automobile” and “autobiography” look similar—in this case, it’s because they both involve the concept of “self.” But what about some of the less obvious roots? Could you explain, for example, why “contain” looks so much like “sustain” by defining “tain”? This month, we're exploring the meanings underlying common words you know. You can usually figure these out by looking for an extremely basic concept common to all the words in each group. We’ll start with easier, more obvious roots and move on to trickier ones as the month goes on! Yesterday's question:  In advent, adventure, avenue, event, intervene, invent, prevent, souvenir, and venue, what does “ven” mean? Answer: To come. Try this one today:  In append, depend, impending, pendant, pendulum, perpendicular, and propensity, what does “pend” mean? review today's word: 1. A close opposite of WIRE-PULLER is A. PRIMA DONNA B. STARLET C. PAWN 2.  As long as there are _____, there will be wire-pullers. A. high-stakes tests B. limitless resources C. neural networks Answers are below. a final word: To be a sponsor and send your own message to readers of this list, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: Word meanings presented here are expressed in plain language and are limited to common, useful applications only. Readers interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words are encouraged to check a dictionary. Likewise, word meanings, usage, and pronunciations are limited to American English; these elements may vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. C 2. A