Why Obfuscation Is the Perfect Vocab Word for “Paper Towns”

John Green’s PaperTowns is about a boy named Quentin and his quest to find the girl of his dreams, Margo Roth Spiegleman.   He already knows her; she lives next door.  But she has this thing about running away and disappearing.  
And Quentin wants to bring her back.
 
He learns a lot along the way.  About himself and the girl.
About midway through the book, one of Margo’s “close” friends confesses:

“She had [the notebook] with her all the time.  I never saw her write in it, but I just figured it was like a day planner or whatever.   God, I never asked about it.”

“She wouldn’t have answered anyway,” I said.  It was dishonest to act like Margo hadn’t participated in her own obfuscation.

Wow, that’s a mouthful.  Try to say it. 

New Word Nerd Word:

obfuscation \,äb-fəs-‘kā-shən\  noun from Latin –ob in the way + fuscusdark brown; confusion, darkness, obscurity

The word itself sounds elusive, just like Margo.  And nerdy, like Quentin, her pursuer.  A perfect choice by Mr. Green once again.

Word Nerd Workout

Use obfuscation in a sentence.  That’s tricky, I know, so I give you permission to use another form of the word, like obfuscate or obfuscatory.  Since I picked it, I’ll use the noun form.

The Republican candidate for Governor spent a significant amount of time generating obfuscation around his relationship with the CEO of Warden Products International. 

Have I obfuscated you today?  Hope not!  Looking forward to your sentences!

Other Word Nerd Words:

Julia
Julia Tomiak
I believe in the power of words to improve our lives, and I help people find interesting words to read. Member of SCBWI.

9 Comments

  1. My psychology teacher tends to obfuscate her lessons, due to what I believe is lack of understanding of her subject.

  2. Here we go:
    There was terrible obfuscation when the 4th grade science students let the animals out of their cage, one by one, as one of the experiments let off a puff of blue smoke, accompanied by a big bang!

    Monique

  3. Yes, I am officially obfuscated by this word. Does that work? I’m still not sure I’m pronouncing it correctly…ob-fus-cay-shun?

    p.s. I just added the “follow” button on my blog as many readers have asked why I don’t have one. Is the “Subscribe to” the same thing???

    1. Amy, Your “pronounciation” is correct- I think. The “fus” sounds a little like “fis”- when I looked it up on my iPhone, I could hear someone pronounce it!! Appropriate sentence!
      I see the “followers” button on your blog now- essentially, that’s a “popularity” button. The “subscribe to” above it allows readers to get your posts via email, like I do. 🙂 An even better button to add would be “Follow by RSS” (aka Real Simple Syndication)- then people can follow your posts through a reader, like Google Reader. Note: if people become your “followers” through Blogger, Blogger will automatically add them to Google Reader for you. Have I generated more obfuscation now?

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