The Hidden and the Shown

Eight words about what a thing keeps hidden and what it finally shows.

Meet each word one at a time, then take the quiz to lock them in.

1. 1 anomaly noun
2. 2 spectrum noun
3. 3 reconcile verb
4. 4 juxtapose verb
5. 5 latent adjective
6. 6 innate adjective
7. 7 overtly adverb
8. 8 discreetly adverb

Nelson's word

noun

Anomaly. A noun, and a precise one, which I appreciate. I file it under the single reading that will not sit with the others: the one that deviates from the pattern everyone expected. When ninety-nine measurements agree and the hundredth refuses, that hundredth is the anomaly. It is not a mistake and it is not noise; it is a fact that breaks the rule, and a careful record keeps it rather than discards it. Some of the most important discoveries began as a stubborn anomaly nobody could explain away. State it precisely: an anomaly is the exception that does not fit, and that is exactly why it matters.

The scientists flagged the reading as an anomaly, because nothing else in the data behaved that way.

Nelson's word

noun

Spectrum. A noun. I file it under the complete range, the whole spread of related things laid out end to end, not two choices but every shade in between. Light passing through a prism opens into a spectrum, red to violet with no gaps; opinions on a question spread across a spectrum from one extreme to the other. When a report says a policy affects people across the spectrum, it means the full range of them, not merely the two ends. Reach for it whenever you want to say that something is not either or, but a continuous range. Filed correctly, spectrum keeps you from flattening a range into a pair.

Opinions in the room covered the whole spectrum, from eager approval to flat refusal.

Vinny's word

verb

Reconcile! To take two things that clash, two accounts, two figures, two people who cannot agree, and bring them into agreement at last! When the accountant reconciles the books, the receipts and the ledger finally match. When friends reconcile after a fight, the quarrel gives way to peace. That is the verb, and it is heroic work, because agreement does not happen on its own; someone has to reach across the gap and close it. Watch the shape of the word: re, meaning back, and concile, from a root about council and coming together. To reconcile is to call things back together. When two truths seem to fight, reconcile is the word for the labor of making them one.

The mediator helps the two sides reconcile their versions of what happened.

Vinny's word

verb

Juxtapose! To place two things side by side, right next to each other, so the comparison leaps out at you! When a museum juxtaposes an old master and a modern canvas on the same wall, you see at once what each one is doing that the other is not. That is the verb, and it is a quiet kind of power: you do not argue, you simply set two things together and let the contrast speak. Look inside it, juxta means beside, pose means to place, so to juxtapose is literally to place beside. When you want a difference to become obvious without a single word of explanation, juxtapose is your verb.

The editor juxtaposes the two photographs so readers notice how much the street has changed.

Jake's word

adjective

Latent. Ah, a subtle one, and it is mine. As an adjective, latent describes a quality that is already there, waiting, present but not yet visible or active: a latent talent, a latent illness, a fault line lying latent beneath quiet ground. The thing is real; it simply has not surfaced. Its Frown is active, the same quality once it comes out into the open. Could we be more specific than saying an ability was hidden? We could say it was latent, which tells the reader it was there all along, only waiting for its moment. Same picture, sharper edges. Magnifique.

The talent was latent for years, until a patient teacher finally drew it out.

Jake's word

adjective

Innate. A fine adjective, and mine, describing a quality that exists from birth, inborn, part of you before anyone taught it: an innate curiosity, an innate sense of balance, an innate kindness that no one had to train. Notice the front of the word, in, meaning within, and nate, from the root for born; innate means born within. Be careful not to confuse it with latent. A latent quality is present but hidden and may have been learned; an innate quality is present because you were born with it. Could we be more specific than saying a talent was natural? We could call it innate, and mean it came with the child.

Her innate sense of rhythm showed before she had taken a single lesson.

Benny's word

adverb

Overtly. Now here is an adverb worth having in your kit, and I own it. It tells you an action happens out in the open, undisguised, where everyone can see it: to object overtly, to smile overtly, to break a rule overtly rather than sneak around it. Its opposite is doing a thing in secret. Here is your coaching point: weak writing says she disagreed and stops there. You can do better. Tell me how she disagreed. Overtly, out loud, in front of the room, so no one could miss it. See how much sharper that lands? When you want the reader to know an action was plain and open, overtly is the word that earns its place.

She overtly disagreed, raising her hand and stating her objection for the whole room to hear.

Benny's word

adverb

Discreetly. A precise adverb, and mine to coach you on. It describes an action done quietly and carefully, on purpose, in a way that avoids drawing notice: to leave discreetly, to ask discreetly, to handle a delicate matter discreetly rather than announce it. It is the direct opposite of doing something overtly. My coaching point: do not settle for he left quietly when the whole story is that he did not want to be seen. He left discreetly. That one word tells the reader it was careful, deliberate, and meant to go unnoticed. When the how of an action is that it slipped by on purpose, discreetly is the word that does the work.

He discreetly slid the note across the desk so no one else would see it.