Category: Glossary


Hokum (noun): false or irrelevant material introduced into a speech, essay, etc., in order to arouse interest, excitement, or amusement.

OR

out-and-out nonsense

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Hokum?s=t

I encountered this word in our readings of “City Limits” by Colson Whitehead in class. The word is first introduced on page two, Paragraph two of the essay,  in the first three lines. Whitehead uses this word to explain how people portray or advertise New York is usually never the way that you knew it, thus making the information false or wrong according to your perspective of New York, or in Whiteheads case, “It’s all hokum”. After searching up the definition of hokum, i was able to get a better understanding of how Whitehead used the word in his work, describing how the New York today is wrong compared to how you remembered it.

Distort (Verb) : to twist awry or out of shape; make crooked or deformed

source of definition: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/distort?s=t

 

I encountered this word on Wednesday presentation of “Ways of seeing”, as the guide was talking about how we as people view art in different perspectives, weather its because of the color and mood it gives us, or the unique use of  normal or distorted shapes used to make up the image. When he uses the word distort, he talks about it upon the perspective of the painting that was viewed to us. He asks what do these distorted shapes make us feel, or how we view the picture and the message it gives off to the viewer.

Example of Distort:

Distortion of words in adobe photoshop

Distortion of words in adobe photoshop