And the Oscar Goes to... Award-worthy Words

Oscars winners always thank “the Academy,” which is far less of a mouthful than the full name: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy is a fancy word for an especially fancy school. A more widely used word is academic, which can apply to just about anything relating to schools. This phrase has an appropriately thinky origin: Academy was the name of Greek philosopher Plato’s school before broadening to refer to schools and learning in general.

These days, blockbusters make over a billion dollars: a blockbuster is a movie, usually in some kind of action genre, that does excellent box office.

This Latinate word involves people you may have heard about, even if you live under a whole bunch of rocks: famous folks. Celebrities come from not only movies but TV, pop music, politics, the internet, and any other launchpad to fame. Before celebrity referred to a person, it had the meaning of a general state: in that sense, celebrity is (and still is) the opposite of obscurity, a lonely place that has the coolest bands.

This is a fancy-schmancy word for everything related to movies, and it derives from cinematograph, as early motion picture projectors were called. Cinema sprouted from that mouthful, meaning a movie theater and then movies in general. The adjective cinematic can mean “movie-like” and is often applied to other art forms that are taking a page from the movies, like when a TV show feels like big screen stuff.

This French word is highly associated with fashion, and fashion is a huge part of the Oscars, as endless blog posts and articles pore over what women (and men these days) wear on the red carpet. Couture originally referred to sewing, and dressmaking in particular, so the word hasn’t spread far: dresses are still a huge part of couture. The term is often found in the expression “haut couture,” which means French toast. Or high fashion. You might want to double-check that...

An entourage is more than a TV show: it's any group of fawning friends and underlings.

This commonplace items takes on great importance during award shows, since they contain the hallowed name of the winner.

Like talk shows and restaurants, awards shows have hosts. Oscars hosts try to be a little funnier than the restaurant kind.

One of the most common award-show phrases is “It’s an honor just to be nominated…,” a phrase that can take the sting out of a potential or actual loss. To nominate is to name, and nominate has had similar meanings since the 1400s. Presidents do a lot of nominating: to their cabinet and the Supreme Court. But to be nominated doesn’t mean you’re on the Supreme Court or have an Oscar: it just means you’ve got a chance.

Cats hunt mice, dogs seek treats, and paparazzi—the plural form of this Italian word—stalk celebrities. These dubious photojournalists hound celebrities, dying for an opportunity to catch them unawares or even (gasp!) without makeup. They were already considered scummy even before their role in the death of Princess Diana. Not exactly a noble profession.

At any award show there’s griping about who got snubbed: in other words, what deserving people and pictures were ignored. If an awesome performance wasn’t nominated, you could say the Academy snubbed the actor. Snubs happen all the time, even away from the bright lights and botoxed faces of Hollywood.