Is Angelina Jolie carved from marble or Salt?
The Washington Post had a really interesting article about Salt, the new Angelina Jolie spy movie out today. The article talks about how Jolie is charting a career course that is traditionally only taken by male actors, splitting her time between serious dramas and action flicks, while avoiding genres like romantic comedies.
But what really caught my eye was the interesting word used in the article:
If “Salt” makes anything clear, it’s that the most superhuman stunt Jolie performs in the movie can’t be found in the over-the-top set pieces, or in her deceptively layered performance as the film’s slippery title character — or even in the marmoreal perfection she has reached as a physically flawless screen object.
The OED definition of marmoreal:
- Resembling marble or a marble statue; cold (also smooth, white, etc.) like marble.
Marmoreal comes from the classical Latin marmoreus, which comes from marmor, meaning marble. One of those times that I wish my two years of high school Latin had taken. This seems like a bit of an obscure word to use in a pop-culture article, but it’s the right one here for what the writer wanted to say. Movie stars do cultivate that statue-like perfection.
“Marmoreal” was for years one of those words whose definition I could not remember. It sounds like “mammary,” “mammy,” and Alcott’s “Marmee” — all the opposite of “cold and marble-like.” I finally researched it and got the “marble” connection embedded more or less firmly in my head, but it wasn’t easy.
I applaud The Washington Post. More newspapers, magazines, and online news/entertainment sources should try to use “le mot just.” Too many pander (too strong?) to the readership, rather than asking readers to push themselves. I like it! I disagree with the writer’s opinion of Jolie, but that’s another topic.