Make Your Point > Archived Issues > TOUCHSTONE
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connect today's word to others:
A test of quality, or an excellent basis of comparison, is a touchstone. We took that word from goldsmiths and silversmiths.
And from chemists, we took a two-word synonym of touchstone: ac__ ____.
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make your point with...
"TOUCHSTONE"
Some old meanings of the noun "touch" include "quality or purity" and "a test of something's quality." We still see these old meanings in the phrase "to put something to the touch" (which means the same thing as "to put something to the test").
So, a touchstone is a dark piece of stone that you use to test the purity of gold or silver objects. You scrape, say, a gold ring across the touchstone, and you'll know that it's made of real gold because it leaves a certain kind of mark on the touchstone.
Figuratively, then, a touchstone is something that lets you test or judge how valuable something else is. In other words, a touchstone is often something so good or famous that people use it as a basis for judging other similar things.
Pronunciation:
TUTCH stone
Part of speech:
Most often a noun
(the countable kind: "a touchstone," "this touchstone," "two touchstones")
but also an adjective
("this touchstone issue," "some touchstone technologies").
Other forms:
touchstones
How to use it:
Talk about people, things, creations, productions, qualities, moments, and experiences being, becoming, or remaining touchstones.
You can have touchstones of something: "it became a touchstone of her career," "it remains a touchstone of their culture."
Let's expand on that. You might call something a touchstone of some feature or quality (as in a touchstone of excellence, a touchstone of dignity, a touchstone of devotion, or a touchstone of democracy), or call something a touchstone of some condition to be applied or endured (as in a touchstone of experience, a touchstone of hardship, or a touchstone of public scrutiny).
Notice again that when you say "a touchstone of X" that X can be either the quality that you're measuring or the test itself. For example, John O'Keeffe wrote that "Distress is the Touchstone of Friendship," following the pattern "a test is the touchstone of a quality," but he could have also flipped that around to say "friendship must withstand the touchstone of distress," which would have followed the pattern "a quality must withstand the touchstone of a test."
Also, you can have touchstones for something or someone: "it was a touchstone for southwestern art," "it became a touchstone for all other southwestern artists."
You can say that people and things are being put to the touchstone (meaning they're being compared or put to a test to determine their value or quality) or that people and things are standing or withstanding a touchstone. "Critics are putting her new album to the touchstone." "He's being put to the touchstone of experience." "It's withstanding the touchstone of equality."
Add an adjective, if you like: historical touchstones, musical touchstones, cultural touchstones. Here's the New York Times: "Shakespeare remains a cultural touchstone."
Finally, you can use this word loosely as an adjective: touchstone things provide a model that other things must measure up to. You might talk about touchstone principles, touchstone features, touchstone technologies, etc.
examples:
We protect our voting rights so passionately because we still hold them up as a touchstone of democracy.
The Giver remains a touchstone story: we use it to judge the richness and creativity of all others that envision a frightening futuristic society.
study it now:
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "touchstone" means when you can explain it without saying "way to test mettle" or "standard of excellence."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) considers (some excellent quality) the touchstone that distinguishes (a very good thing or person) from (something or someone less impressive)."
Example: "She considers humility the touchstone that distinguishes a well-deserving applicant from a passable one."
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 this month is "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.
For example, if I give you the word KANSAS, I bet you can recite this: "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," from The Wizard of Oz (1939).
I'll share each answer in the following issue. And we’ll work our way forward in time, starting with the oldest movies. Let’s play!
From the previous issue: From a 1971 film, what's the famous quote that includes the word LUCKY?
Answer: From Dirty Harry: "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"
Try this today: From a 1972 film, what's the famous quote that includes the word OFFER?
review today's word:
1. A close opposite of TOUCHSTONE, the adjective, is
A. ROTARY
B. HALLMARK
C. INFERIOR
2. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" became a touchstone album, _____.
A. selling over 30 million copies and setting a standard for a generation of other artists
B. too experimental and too hastily produced to have much of an impact
C. since fans embraced it while critics panned it
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. A
A test of quality, or an excellent basis of comparison, is a touchstone. We took that word from goldsmiths and silversmiths.
"TOUCHSTONE" Some old meanings of the noun "touch" include "quality or purity" and "a test of something's quality." We still see these old meanings in the phrase "to put something to the touch" (which means the same thing as "to put something to the test"). Part of speech: Other forms:
We protect our voting rights so passionately because we still hold them up as a touchstone of democracy.
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "touchstone" means when you can explain it without saying "way to test mettle" or "standard of excellence."
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) considers (some excellent quality) the touchstone that distinguishes (a very good thing or person) from (something or someone less impressive)."
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.
1. A close opposite of TOUCHSTONE, the adjective, is
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. |