Make Your Point > Archived Issues > REMORA

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connect today's word to others: Thanks for reading today's word and trusting me to have more to say about it than "it's a fish." :) The same goes for flounder and red herring--can you explain how to use those terms in general, non-fishy conversation? make your point with... "REMORA" A remora is a type of fish that we also call a suckerfish. "Remora" is Latin for "delayer," and the Greek word for the same fish literally means "ship holder." More specifically, remoras are those fish that attach themselves to bigger creatures (or to boats) with their sucker-like fins. When they do this, as Wikipedia explains, both the remora and the bigger animal benefit: the remora cleans up the bigger animal and gets to eat its leftovers. But we're interested in remoras as a metaphor, so there are two important things to know about them: they were once thought to slow boats down, and they appear to be pests getting a free ride. So, figuratively, remoras are things or people that seem to have attached themselves in an annoying or harmful way to bigger, better, or more important things. Also, remoras can also be obstacles: things that get in the way or slow other things down. Pronunciation: REM uh ruh. (Be sure to rhyme it with "women, uh" and "ephemera"--don't say "ruh MORE uh.") 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 remora or multiple remoras.) Other forms: remoras How to use it: "Remora" is a fun, nautical alternative to words like "leech," "parasite," and "stumbling block." The tone is pretty harsh: again, when it comes to using this word in general conversation, it doesn't matter that real remoras are helpful to their hosts or that real remoras don't actually slow boats down. Figurative remoras are clingy hangers-on or annoying, sticky impediments. So, simply call something or someone a remora, or a remora on someone's ship, or a remora on someone's whale. You can also call something a remora to or of something or someone else. Or, say that a remora is stuck or fastened or attached to something, that a remora is slowing or impeding something or pulling something back, or that a remora must be pried off or removed from something. Do you prefer similes to metaphors? (I don't blame you--similes are less abstract and easier to understand.) Or, are you concerned that your audience won't know the word "remora"? Then just talk about something attaching itself "like a remora" or "as a remora" to something else. examples: Hitchens seemed to present religion as a remora to be pried off a slowing, if not sinking, society. That we can't split infinitives, that we can't start sentences with conjunctions, that we can't end sentences with prepositions--all these myths cling like remoras to our thinking about writing. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "remora" means when you can explain it without saying "a drag" or "a leech." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "_____ has/have fastened (itself, themselves, himself, or herself) like a remora to _____." Example: "A sense of dread has fastened itself like a remora to the smell of disinfectants used in hospitals." 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 Vocabulary of Movie Quotes." Jean Picker Firstenberg at the American Film Institute (AFI) says, "Great movie quotes become part of our cultural vocabulary." I believe it! I bet you can recall, verbatim, any of the AFI's "100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time" if all I give you is a single word from the quote. From the previous issue: From a 2002 film, what's the famous quote that includes the word PRECIOUS? Answer: From The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: "My precious."  Now, a new game for September! Good news, y'all. The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce is in the public domain, so we can play with it! It's a collection of silly, sarcastic, satirical definitions of everyday words. In each issue this month, I'll give you one of Bierce's definitions and, if it's a tough one, I'll give you the word's first letter--and you try to come up with the word. Here's an example: Bierce defines it as "one whom we are commanded to love as ourselves, and who does all he knows how to make us disobedient." It's a noun. It starts with N. What is it? Answer: Neighbor. Try this today: Bierce defines it as "a permanent topic of conversation among persons whom it does not interest, but who have inherited the tendency to chatter about it from naked arboreal ancestors whom it keenly concerned." It's a noun. It starts with W. What is it? review today's word: 1. A close opposite of REMORA is A. LANDSCAPE B. PROVIDER C. CYNIC 2. Phoenix International produces the Remora 6000, a _____. A. lightweight helicopter made for reconnaissance B. subsea vehicle that seeks out, and grips, bits of wreckage C. battle tank with a smoothbore cannon and a self-regulating control system 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