Make Your Point > Archived Issues > MOVABLE FEAST
Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.
pronounce
MOVABLE FEAST:
Say it "MOO vuh bull FEEST."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
A movable feast, literally speaking, is a holiday that scoots around, year to year, on the calendar.
Speaking of calendars, see if you can recall this colorful adjective: a r__-____er day or event is important and memorable in a happy way, as if it's been circled on the calendar.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"MOVABLE FEAST"
Unlike, say, Christmas, which is always on the 25th of December, a movable feast (also called a movable festival) is a religious holiday that falls on different days from year to year. Easter is a movable feast, for example, because it falls not on a set date but rather on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.
More generally speaking, a movable feast is anything that exists or happens at various, changing times or places, especially when it involves lots of food (or a "feast" for the mind or the senses).
Part of speech:
Noun, the countable kind: "it's a movable feast," "let's enjoy this movable feast."
Other forms:
The plural is "movable feasts."
Sometimes you'll see the spelling "moveable feast," with that extra "e" in there. That spelling, "moveable," is the older one compared to "movable." But I recommend sticking with "movable," since it's now the more common, more standard one.
How to use it:
The tone of this term has always been religious and celebratory, but now the tone is also literary.
Why? Ernest Hemingway spent the last few years of his life writing a memoir about his years in Paris. His wife later titled the book A Moveable Feast, and it's a really popular one. It seems to have made the term "movable feast" more common, and more playful--but, you know, it's Hemingway, with his reputation as a classic, Nobel-winning, generation-inspiring writer. So, "movable feast" feels literary and scholarly even when we use it playfully.
You might simply use this term in a literal way, referring to certain religious holidays as movable feasts.
More likely, you'll be playful, referring to certain events, celebrations, performances, and works of art or literature as movable feasts. Let's see a few examples: "the movable feast of street food vendors in New York City" (New York Times), "The Capital Fringe Festival is a movable feast, a shot of urban adrenaline and carnival flair" (Washington Post). As you'll see below, Hemingway may have been the first to use "movable feast" in a figurative way: he referred to Paris itself, or really, a set of experiences and memories from Paris, as a movable feast.
examples:
"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
— Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, 1964
"Medicine's Movable Feast: What Jumping Genes Can Teach Us about Treating Disease... [Barbara McClintock] discovered that certain genetic regions in maize could jump around the chromosome and, consequently, influence the color of mottled ears of maize with kernels ranging from golden yellow to dark purple."
— Roxanne Khamsi, Scientific American, 26 July 2017
has this page helped you understand "movable feast"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "movable feast" without saying "something celebrated at various times" or "a fabulous thing that moves from place to place."
try it out:
If something comes and goes, or if it moves from here to there, and if it seems to offer a banquet or bounty of delights, you can call it a movable feast.
For example, The Economist referred to the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven wonders of the natural world, as a movable feast:
"The Great Barrier Reef... is a movable feast. Reef-forming corals prefer shallow water so, as the world’s sea levels have yo-yoed during the Ice Ages, the barrier reef has come and gone."
Here's a list and a quick description of all seven wonders of the natural world. Which others could also be called movable feasts? Why?
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.
Rhyming Puzzles!
I give you a description of something, and you name it in a rhyming phrase. For example, if I say, "This is an ideal environment for a large tree-dwelling lizard--one in which this creature is perfectly happy and peaceful," then you say, "That's iguana nirvana."
The answers will get longer and sillier as the month goes on. If you'd like to see the clue, click or mouse-over the link. I'll share each answer the following day. Enjoy!
From the previous issue: It's your friend's birthday, and you're heading to her house for a party, stopping first at the grocery store for a gift. You vaguely recall that she likes port wine, but you're not sure what kind. You grab the first bottle of port you see, slap a pink bow on it, and go. It's the thought that counts, but there wasn't much thought involved in this ____ ____ _____ ______. (Four words, one syllable each. Clue: use this phrase.)
Answer: port gift short shrift.
Try this one today: You're watching a dancer. She's tall, thin, and graceful as she moves in a quick, clever, skillful way. Something about this skill of movement as she skitters across the dance floor reminds you of a rodent. No, not a rodent: something cuter and warmer. A fox. No, not a fox: something smaller and sleeker. A skunk? An otter? A badger? Closer. Aha! You realize what animal she reminds you of, because she dances with _______ ________. (Two words. The first word has three syllables. The second word has four syllables. Clue: use this word.)
review this word:
1. The nearest opposite of MOVABLE FEAST is
A. FIXED GAZE.
B. STEADFAST FRIEND.
C. SCHEDULED CHORE.
2. Calling the Great American Eclipse a "movable feast," TIME reported that _____.
A. it would be visible across the entire nation
B. its zone of totality would cross the nation at about 1,700 mph
C. it would pose several new logistical problems for photographers
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:
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.
A movable feast, literally speaking, is a holiday that scoots around, year to year, on the calendar. Unlike, say, Christmas, which is always on the 25th of December, a movable feast (also called a movable festival) is a religious holiday that falls on different days from year to year. Easter is a movable feast, for example, because it falls not on a set date but rather on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.
"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
Explain the meaning of "movable feast" without saying "something celebrated at various times" or "a fabulous thing that moves from place to place."
If something comes and goes, or if it moves from here to there, and if it seems to offer a banquet or bounty of delights, you can call it a movable feast.
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. The nearest opposite of MOVABLE FEAST is
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. |