Make Your Point > Archived Issues > MIRABILE DICTU

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

connect today's word to others: At my high school, where most of the kids were Puerto Rican, I was confused at first by how the girls would shout at each other "Mira, mira!" Eventually they told me what it meant, or maybe I looked it up. "Mira, mira!" is Spanish for "Look, look!" That mira comes from the Latin mirari, "to marvel at, to wonder at, to be astonished by." Mirari also gave us the words marvel, miracle, mirror, mirage, and admire, the name Miranda (literally "worthy of admiration"), and today's phrase, mirabile dictu: "wonderful to say." Of course, the other half of mirable dictu comes from the Latin dicere, "to say, to speak." So do the three words below. Can you recall them? 1. Dict______ people and things are bossy or controlling, telling you what to do. 2. ____dict___s are prayers or kind wishes for someone's success or happiness. 3. ____dict___s, the exact opposite of #2 above, are curses: mean, rude, vulgar things that you say. (To reveal a word with blanks, give it a click.) make your point with... "MIRABILE DICTU" This is Latin for "wonderful to relate." In other words, "mirabile dictu" means marvelous to say, fantastic to report, wondrous to note, awesome to declare. Pronunciation: muh ROB uh lay DICK too Part of speech: Interjection. (Interjections are words or phrases you simply say or shout, like hey, wow, or wait.) (Actually, you can think of it as an adverb or even a noun. As long as you understand how to plop it into your sentence, it doesn't really matter what you call it!) Other forms: none How to use it: This happy, energetic, emphatic, easy-to-understand phrase makes a great substitute for plain ones like "I'm happy to say," "we're very glad to report," "we're very pleased to discover," and "hallelujah." If you prefer, you can keep it in italics to show its foreignness. Or just write it like normal. (I've decided against italics because, in matters like these, I tend to follow however the New York Times does it.) Here are several ways to place "mirabile dictu" into your sentences. 1. Write it as its own exclamatory sentence before or after your wonderful news:    "Mirabile dictu! The baby is born."      "The baby is born. Mirabile dictu!" 2. Let it open or close your sentence. Use a comma or a colon:    "Mirabile dictu, the baby is born!"    "The baby is born, mirabile dictu!"    "Mirabile dictu: the baby is born!"    "The baby is born: mirabile dictu!" 3. Wrap it in commas, dashes, or parentheses, then tuck it right before the good news:    "The baby, mirabile dictu, is born."    "The baby--mirabile dictu--is born."    "The baby (mirabile dictu) is born." Those are just some ways to get you started. Feel free to experiment! ("The baby is born." "...Mirabile dictu?") And wow, I've used a lot of exclamation points for my "mirabile dictu" examples so far. So have other writers. But the exclamation point is optional. Finally, though the tone of this phrase is generally positive, "mirabile dictu" works well for sarcasm, too. After noting that a criminal would be jailed for a mere two weeks, Michael J. Knowles added "mirabile dictu, our streets are finally safe" (Daily Wire). examples: Repairing the car turned out to be a very quick and, mirabile dictu, inexpensive process. "Which brings us to the age of Obama, perhaps — mirabile dictu — the most exhilarating time of all. There is nothing as bracing for democracy as the alternation of power, particularly when it yields as serious, determined and challenging an ideological agenda as Barack Obama's."    — Charles Krauthammer, The Chicago Tribune, 21 December 2009 study it now: Look away from the screen to define "mirabile dictu" without saying "glorious to learn and share" or "marvelous to tell." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "Mirabile dictu: (something wonderful has happened)." Example: "Mirabile dictu: they're expecting their first child." 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 last month was "A Doodad Named After a Thingamajig." I gave you two categories, X and Y, and you thought of an X that was named after a Y. From the previous issue: Can you think of a type of problem named after an ancient city? The only answer I know of is the Tower of Hanoi. And not the Gordian knot, named for a person, not a city--thanks, Mark! (If you know more, please share them!) Our new game: "Complete the Limerick!" Finish off the last line of each poem with a word or phrase we've checked out before. Try this one today: He's frugal and so overbearing. His scrimping is why we're all swearing. And when he cut our wages, We rose up to say this: "We quit! That was too much ___________." review today's word: 1. The precise opposite of MIRABILE DICTU is HORRIBILE DICTU. But a pretty close opposite of MIRABILE DICTU is A. LOOSELY. B. INDESCRIBABLY. C. UNFORTUNATELY. 2. _____ and, mirabile dictu, _____. A. Her costume is sweet, purple, flouncy .. constantly shedding glitter B. He promised to reduce the number of children going hungry .. he did C. It seemed like the movie had given away all its good jokes in the preview .. it did 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. C 2. B