Make Your Point > Archived Issues > LONGUEUR

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connect today's word to others: When Bertrand Russell wrote in The Conquest of Happiness that "All great books contain boring portions, and all great lives have contained uninteresting stretches,” he was talking about longueurs: boring portions or uninteresting stretches within any slice of fiction or life. Even if you haven't seen this word before, it's pretty obvious that longueur means something that's long (or something that seems long because it's so humdrum). Recently we checked out another word with the word "long" inside it. Could you recall it? It means the ability to wait and to stay calm or strong in difficult situations that go on for a long time. make your point with... "LONGUEUR" This word is French for "a long, boring passage." A longueur is a boring part of something, like in a song, a story, or a period of time. Pronunciation: long GUR 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 longueur or multiple longueurs.) Other forms: Just the plural: "longueurs." How to use it: "Longueur" is a rare word, but it's useful and easy to understand. (The hardest part about this word is just the spelling--remembering to type that second "u.") In older texts, you'll see it in italics to show that it's foreign (longueur), but we don't do that anymore--it's appeared in English texts since 1791. Talk about longueurs in a song or an album or an entire discography, longueurs in a book or a play or a movie, longueurs in a day (especially a work day), longueurs in a relationship, longueurs in a career, longueurs in a long period of time, a stretch of history, the development of a nation, etc. So far I've written "in" after this word, but we can follow it with "of" instead: longueurs of exposition, longueurs of the workweek, longueurs of Irish history. You can say that something has longueurs or that it's free from longueurs, that it overcomes or compensates for its longueurs, that it's ruined by its longueurs, and so on. examples: The longueurs in Twilight are mostly about doing laundry, not eating very much, and obsessing over the things your moody boyfriend said. The Lord of the Rings film trilogy is over eleven hours long, but I think it overcomes its inevitable longueurs. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "longueur" means when you can explain it without saying "boring part" or "part that seems overly long." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "When (something was boring or uneventful for a long time), (someone) dismissed it as a longueur." Example: "When I went for a whole winter without finding any exciting novels to recommend to my students, I dismissed it as a longueur." 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. Our game this month is Banishing Bland Adjectives. In each issue, we're strengthening our word-finding skills as we take aim at a vague little adjective and think up three ways to make it more specific. Resist the urge to sneak off to the thesaurus! From the previous issue: CRAZY. 1. When something is CRAZY because you weren't expecting it to be that way and it makes you laugh, then instead of CRAZY, call it _____. 2. When someone is CRAZY because the things that person says or does are totally different from what other people say and do, then instead of CRAZY, call that person _____. 3. When something is CRAZY because it involves a whole lot of things that must be done in a short amount of time, then instead of CRAZY, call it _____. Suggested answers: 1, kooky; 2, eccentric; 3, hectic. (Your answers might be different but just as precise.) Today: BEAUTIFUL. 1. When something is so BEAUTIFUL that it seems like it must have been handed down from the gods as a gift, then instead of BEAUTIFUL, call it _____. 2. When something is so BEAUTIFUL because it seems like it took a lot of time and skill to create, then instead of BEAUTIFUL, call it _____. 3. When something is so BEAUTIFUL that it seems to emit rays of light, then instead of BEAUTIFUL, call it _____. review today's word: 1. Some close opposites of LONGUEUR are A. ACME & ZENITH B. BOON & WINDFALL C. CANDOR & PROBITY 2. A steadfast friendship with each other _____ the longueurs of marriage. A. ensures B. sustains us through C. creates much of the bliss that characterizes 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. A 2. B