Make Your Point > Archived Issues > UBIQUITY
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Recently as I was driving along the interstate, I spotted a vacant billboard that screamed "BE UBIQUITOUS," with the ad agency's phone number underneath. Mixed feelings arose. On the one hand, it's disturbing to see an empty billboard, essentially a billboard for a billboard; it's like looking into a commercial abyss. But on the other hand, it's exciting to see the beautiful word ubiquitous shared with such gusto.
Let's break it into its Latin roots.
Ubi means "where, or place," and que means "and, any, or ever."
Combine them and you get ubique, "everywhere." Now lift ubique into English and you get ubiquitous: "anywhere and everywhere, omnipresent, existing all over the place--or seeming to." Like an advertising campaign spanning hundreds of billboards. (South of the Border, I'm looking at you.)
(If you go back through that process but drop the que ["and, any, or ever"], you wind up with the oddball English word ubiety, meaning "place, location, presence, where-ness.")
So, you call something ubiquitous when it's so common that it seems to be everywhere: Pedro on South of the Border billboards, cell phones in people's hands, dreams of athletic careers in kids' minds.
And when something ubiquitous affects every single person on our planet, you might get more specific and call it panh___n.
And when something ubiquitous is irksome or harmful, you might get more specific and call it per____ve.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"UBIQUITY"
From the Latin word for "everywhere," our word "ubiquity" dates back to 1572 and originally meant "the presence of Christ everywhere." The idea was that Christ is in every place, in every thing: that he's ubiquitous.
It's a serious doctrine, of course, but here's a humorist's take on it:
If He were not ubiquitous,
He could not then look out for us,
But if He is, He'd have to be
In you, of course, and even me,
And that is so preposterous
It verges on the blasphemous.
...There's so much wrong with everything,
The Lord has quit ubiquit-ing!
Regardless of whether we think the Lord is still ubiquit-ing, the idea of "ubiquity" in the sense of "Christ being everywhere" is a good thing: warm, comforting, glorious, meaningful, etc., and not a creepy thing--not a Big-Brother's-watching-you kind of thing. I mention that because it's probably why the words "ubiquity" and "ubiquitous" often carry a positive tone, not a negative one.
So anyway, like words do, "ubiquity" has loosened up in meaning, from "the state of Christ being everywhere" to "the state of anything being everywhere." In other words, ubiquity is the state or quality of being extremely common, as if it's everywhere, all the time.
Pronunciation:
you BICK wih tee
(Or, soften the "t" in the last syllable to a "d:" "you BICK wih dee.")
Part of speech:
Noun, the uncountable kind: "Subway's ubiquity," "the ubiquity of blue jeans."
Other forms:
Ubiquitous (you BICK wud us), ubiquitously.
If for some reason you need a longer noun with an ugly suffix, use "ubiquitousness" instead of "ubiquity," but the rest of us will judge you for it. Just kidding.
How to use it:
The words "ubiquity" and "ubiquitous" seem to have shed their original religious flavor but kept their overall positive tone. Now we use them to describe all kinds of things and people: trends, fashions, dances, video games, plants, technologies, celebrities, companies, ad campaigns, social media platforms, catchwords, catch phrases, ideas, opinions, perspectives, etc.
Although something's ubiquity is often a good thing or a neutral thing, it can be bad, too: the ubiquity of this uncredentialed hack, the ubiquity of that harmful misconception, the ubiquity of sugar-loaded foods at children's events.
examples:
"Still considered a signifier of classic professionalism, [the suit] also connotes efficiency, old-fashioned gender-blurring and a reprieve from the ubiquity of dresses because for a while, there were so, so many dresses."
— Robin Givhan, The Washington Post, 6 March 2010
"Mammals have been enjoying the sunlight since the dinosaurs went extinct, but now we're driving them back into the night-time. We're a ubiquitous, terrifying force on the planet — much like the dinosaurs were."
— Kaitlyn Gaynor, as quoted by Emily Sohn, Nature, 10 April 2019
has this page helped you understand "ubiquity"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "ubiquity" without saying "omnipresence" or "universality."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "Once considered (odd, rare, quirky, obscure, outlandish, etc.), _____ (has/have) risen to ubiquity."
Example: "Once considered niche and nerdy, Doctor Who has risen to ubiquity."
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.
Our game this month is Distinctive Definitions.
We're taking a scenic slog through poetic and philosophical definitions, wading through similes, metaphors, personifications, hyperboles, grandiloquence, and cheesiness.
In each issue, consider a definition provided by a poet, a writer, or a philosopher, and see if you can name the definiendum: the thing or concept being defined. (Is it life, love, time, death, music, sleep, pain, laughter, bubblegum, stubbing your toe…???) For example, James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) said, "What men call ________ and the Gods call dross." He’s defining something—what is it? "Treasure."
Now, you can play this game in earnest, trying to think of what the poet actually wrote--or you can play it for laughs, supplying the silliest or most sarcastic answer you can muster.
To take the silliness to the next level, gather your friends or family, deal each person a hand of cards from your copy of Apples to Apples (great for kids) or Cards Against Humanity (not for kids!!), and enjoy the ensuing hilarity. (In these games, players take turns being the judge for each round, picking the funniest from everyone’s submissions.) "What men call stretch limos and the Gods call dross." "What men call Morgan Freeman's voice and the Gods call dross."
From the previous issue:
George MacDonald (1824-1905) said, "___ is not all decay; it is the ripening, the swelling, of the fresh life within, that withers and bursts the husks."
Answer: Age.
Try this one today:
George Walter Thornbury (1828-1876) said,
"Man's _____ is but a jest,
A dream, a shadow, bubble, air, a vapor at the best."
review this word:
1. The exact opposite of UBIQUITY is
A. VARIETY.
B. DUBIETY (DOUBTFULNESS).
C. NULLIBIETY (NON-EXISTENCE).
2. In an interesting paradox, Drew Tewksbury introduces the brick as both ubiquitous and _____, part of our environment that's _____.
A. invisible .. hidden in plain sight
B. richly storied .. living and breathing
C. humble .. as hardworking as it is earthy
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.
Recently as I was driving along the interstate, I spotted a vacant billboard that screamed "BE UBIQUITOUS," with the ad agency's phone number underneath. Mixed feelings arose. On the one hand, it's disturbing to see an empty billboard, essentially a billboard for a billboard; it's like looking into a commercial abyss. But on the other hand, it's exciting to see the beautiful word ubiquitous shared with such gusto.
"UBIQUITY" From the Latin word for "everywhere," our word "ubiquity" dates back to 1572 and originally meant "the presence of Christ everywhere." The idea was that Christ is in every place, in every thing: that he's ubiquitous.
"Still considered a signifier of classic professionalism, [the suit] also connotes efficiency, old-fashioned gender-blurring and a reprieve from the ubiquity of dresses because for a while, there were so, so many dresses."
Explain the meaning of "ubiquity" without saying "omnipresence" or "universality."
Fill in the blanks: "Once considered (odd, rare, quirky, obscure, outlandish, etc.), _____ (has/have) risen to ubiquity."
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 exact opposite of UBIQUITY is
|