Make Your Point: TAWDRY

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pronounce TAWDRY:

TODD dree

connect this word to others:

As we'll see in a moment, the word tawdry arose when people started shortening or squishing down a longer phrase ("St. Audrey's lace"), taking on a new meaning of its own, quite separate from the original phrase.

A similar thing happened with the word lack_____ical, which arose when people started squishing down the phrase "Alack the day!" (meaning "I regret this day!"). Today the word lack_____ical means "lazy and uninterested, totally lacking in focus or energy, as if way more interested in complaining about how terrible everything is instead of getting things done." Can you recall that word?

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

St. Audrey, also known as Æthelthryth, was a patron saint of Ely, England, known for wearing fancy lace necklaces early in life and then later developing a throat tumor, which she assumed was God's way of punishing her for wearing fancy things around her throat. In Ely, as various sources tell it, a local fair was held in her honor, where women could buy "St. Audrey's lace:" fancy, decorative necklaces. These soon came to be seen as cheap, ugly, and old-fashioned.

So, around the year 1612, people started shortening the phrase "St. Audrey's lace" into the word "tawdry," and ever since, it's been used to describe things that are cheap, showy, tacky, and tasteless.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "a tawdry shade of magenta;" "This soap opera, with its love triangles and an occasional return from the dead, is tawdry."

Other forms:

Tawdriness, tawdrily; untawdry.

how to use it:

Pick the semi-common, mildly insulting word "tawdry" when you want to emphasize how something is both cheap and flashy. It's a great alternative to the word "tacky" when you want to sound more serious.

You might talk about tawdry clothes, which are flashy and fall apart after a few washes; or tawdry lipstick, which is crusty and offensively bright; or tawdry characters on soap operas and reality shows, who are constantly lying, swearing, backstabbing, hooking up, and slapping each other across the face.

examples:

"The mascara has smudged again... the purplish lipstick has bled, hair trails aimlessly. The molting pink feathers are tawdry as carnival dolls and some of the starry sequins have come off."
— Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale, 1985

"There's something distinctively icky, and singularly American, about the CBS programs... The crime-oriented dramas on Fox and ABC--and to a lesser extent NBC--have a tawdry edge, too; but they seem less ashamed of themselves."
— Matt Zoller Seitz, Salon, 16 February 2011

has this page helped you understand "tawdry"?

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 "tawdry" without saying "ostentatious" or "gaudy."

try it out:

When we call something tawdry, it's usually concrete: a tawdry billboard, a tawdry sequined vest, a tawdry pair of bright orange Crocs.

But more abstract things can be tawdry, too. Call me tawdry, because I'm about to swipe all of the following examples from Weird Al's song "Tacky," which could have been titled "Tawdry." It's tawdry to keep reminding them of a favor you did for them; it's tawdry to threaten waiters with a bad review online; and it's tawdry to invite someone on an expensive date but then make them pay for it. "Can't nothin' bring me shame," indeed.

Those examples are pretty obviously tawdry! But what do you think of this one? In Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye, the narrator says:

"The word artist embarrasses me; I prefer painter, because it's more like a valid job. An artist is a tawdry, lazy sort of thing to be, as most people in this country will tell you."

Ooooh, I'd strongly disagree!

How about you? If making art brings you joy, if not money, do you think it's tawdry to go around calling yourself an artist? Why or why not?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

This month, our game is Botched Songs!

Check out the botched lyrics to a holiday song, and see if you can give me the botched title. It'll include a form of a word we've studied before.

For example, if the real song is "Jingle Bell Rock," then the botched one might be "Jingle Quell Rock." Or if the real song is "It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas," then the botched one might be "It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like a Chrysalis."

If you need some clues, highlight them to reveal them. And to see the answer, scroll all the way down. Your answer might be different than mine but just as good. Enjoy!

Try this one today:

City sidewalks, dismal sidewalks,
Dressed in dim Doomsday style.
In the air there's a feeling of tension.
Bitter laughing, people gasping,
Trudging mile after mile,
And on every street corner you hear…
—from "Silver _____"

Clue 1: The word in the blank means… a slow, sad bell being rung; or more figuratively, something that spells out doom

Clue 2: The word in the blank starts with the letter… K, but it's silent

Clue 3: The word in the blank sounds like… "bells;" it rhymes with it precisely.

review this word:

1. Opposites of TAWDRY include

A. BRASH and SASSY.
B. MUSICAL and MELODIOUS.
C. ELEGANT and UNDERSTATED.

2. The series starting with Flowers in the Attic was a tawdry one, with a storyline built on _____.

A. journeys of self-discovery
B. grand heroics and adventure
C. incest and other shocking secrets

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:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A 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.

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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > TAWDRY

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