Make Your Point > Archived Issues > GRADGRIND

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connect this word to others: Thanks to Charles Dickens, we've got some colorful names for colorful personalities. You've got your Scrooges, known for being miserly. "Bah, humbug." You've got your Micawbers. (Remember what they're known for?) "Something will turn up." And you've got your Gradgrinds, known for being obsessed with facts and numbers. "Fact, fact, fact!" Here's Dickens, introducing Thomas Gradgrind in Hard Times: Thomas Gradgrind, sir. A man of realities. A man of facts and calculations. ... With a rule and a pair of scales, and the multiplication table always in his pocket, sir, ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature, and tell you exactly what it comes to. It is a mere question of figures, a case of simple arithmetic. make your point with... "GRADGRIND" In Charles Dickens's 1854 novel Hard Times, Thomas Gradgrind was a teacher known for being cold, hard, forceful, overbearing, and extremely focused on facts (rather than emotions, processes, experiences, creativity, or critical thinking). In the story, Gradgrind "seemed a kind of cannon loaded to the muzzle with facts, and prepared to blow [the students] clean out of the regions of childhood at one discharge." When you think of Gradgrind, you think of facts, facts, and more facts being shoved aggressively into people's minds. So, if you refer to things as Gradgrind, or if you call people Gradgrinds, you mean that they're cold, hard, overbearing, and way too focused on facts, especially numbers. Pronunciation: GRAD grind Part of speech: Most often a noun, the countable kind, and the proper kind (the kind you always capitalize): "she's such a Gradgrind," "they're a bunch of Gradgrinds." We can also use this word loosely like an adjective: "that Gradgrind school of thought," "their focus is so Gradgrind." Other forms: Gradgrinding, Gradgrindery How to use it:  Are you comfortable dropping rare terms and literary references into your everyday conversations? I like you. You might refer to people as Gradgrinds, often in the plural ("all these Gradgrinds care about is their third quarter profits"), and you might refer to people's habits, methods, policies, priorities, obsessions and so on as Gradgrind--or as Gradgrindery.  examples: "A Gradgrind ethos is destroying the school system: Children with special educational needs are being excluded to boost exam results. That's not a healthy approach."    — Simon Jenkins, The Guardian, 26 October 2018 "Literal-minded readers, the Gradgrinds of the world, are forever in difficulty with the metaphoric sense of poetic language. They want to know 'what the poem is about,' and they resist the essential duplicity whereby the poem is never entirely about what it seems to be about."    — John Ciardi and Miller Williams, How Does a Poem Mean?, 1975 has this page helped you understand "Gradgrind"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "Gradgrind" without saying "data-obsessed" or "focused on cold, hard facts." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "_____ is a Gradgrinding system that measures _____ and ignores _____." Example: "The SAT once was a Gradgrinding system that measured vocabulary and ignored writing ability."   If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) 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. This month, we're playing Name Those Synonyms! We're enjoying the gracefully written, ultra-authoritative explanations in Funk & Wagnalls Standard Handbook of Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions. In each issue, check out the passage from the book, and see if you can figure out which synonyms are being distinguished. From the previous issue: What three synonyms (<1>, <2>, and <3>) does the Handbook distinguish below? (They are distinguished, also, from "concord.") "When tones, thoughts, or feelings, individually different, combine to form a consistent and pleasing whole, there is <1>. <1> is deeper and more essential than <2>; we may have a superficial, forced, or patched-up <2>, but never a superficial, forced, or patched-up <1>. Concord is less full and spiritual than <1>. Concord implies more volition than <3>; as, their views were found to be in perfect <3>; or, by conference concord was secured; we do not secure <3>, but discover it. We may speak of being in <3> with a person on one point, but <1> is wider in range." Answers: <1> is "harmony." <2> is "agreement." <3> is "accord." Try this today: What three synonyms (<1>, <2>, and <3>) does the Handbook distinguish below?  "A person is <1> who impatiently desires to accomplish some end; he is <2> with a desire that is less impatient, but more deep, resolute, and constant; he is <3> with a desire that foresees rather the pain of disappointment than the delight of attainment. One is <1> for the gratification of any appetite or passion; he is <2> in conviction, purpose, or character. <1> usually refers to some specific and immediate satisfaction, <2> to something permanent and enduring; the patriotic soldier is <2> in his devotion to his country, <1> for a decisive battle." Bonus challenge: Recall the fine differences among "amazement," "astonishment," and "surprise." You can view the answer in this issue. review this word: 1. Some near opposites of GRADGRIND include A. SOUR, BITTER, and REMORSEFUL. B. FLEXIBLE, SENSITIVE, and INTERPRETIVE. C. CULTIVATED, PRECARIOUS, and FAR-FLUNG. 2. Their philosophy is _____, practically Gradgrind, with no appreciation for _____. A. Faustian .. morality B. Seussian .. reality C. utilitarian .. beauty 1. B 2. C 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.