This is a delayed posting of my June column.
Lately I’ve been seeing the term
“polyamory” in the media quite often. I know that “poly” means many or several.
And I know that “amor” means love in Latin and Spanish. So I assumed that polyamory
is a strong affection for several people. Hardly anything to merit media
coverage unless there’s more to the story. I decided to research the term.
It turns out that polyamorous
people have romantic relationships
with more than one partner at the same time, and all the partners involved
agree to this. It’s also defined as consensual
nonmonogamy. You might think I’d want to travel down that road in more detail
for this column, but you’d be wrong. I did wonder how many people would be
needed for a relationship to be polyamorous (vs. just a love triangle). But
what really piqued my interest was other uses for the compounded “poly.”
The notion of polyamorous relationships did call to mind Pollyanna, whose irrepressible optimism finds good in
everything. But I want to explore “poly” with a single “l”. An obvious word to
include here is polygamy. It doesn’t seem as sexy as polyamory, and it’s more
structured, usually with one husband having multiple wives. Technically one
wife could have multiple husbands. Either way the practice of polygamy is now illegal
in the U.S.
As a lover of language, I quickly thought of
polyglot, someone who knows and uses several languages. To be considered more
than bilingual or trilingual, a polyglot can usually communicate in at least
four languages. This is different from someone who prides herself on speaking polysyllabically.
Using a lot of multi-syllable words does not a polyglot make. It just makes
someone a long-winded sesquipedalian.
The most commonly known poly word is probably
polygon. This one-l poly word shouldn’t be
confused with the two-l “Polly gone,” meaning your pet parrot has flown the
coop. Sorry. I couldn’t resist some silliness. A polygon is a multi-sided
geometric figure with a certain number of sides and angles. First the triangle (3
sides), then the quadrilateral (4), and then they morph into the “gon” series:
pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, nonagon, decagon, and so on.
A word that sounds like it could be
related to polygons is polymath. Its actual meaning has nothing to do with
mathematics; it’s someone who knows a lot about many different subjects.
Leonardo DaVinci is probably the most famous polymath; Thomas Jefferson is another
celebrated one. Elon Musk’s name appears on some lists. Polymaths are usually
great solvers of complex problems.
Mathematics
does have special meaning for polytechnic universities. They specialize in providing hands-on, practical,
and applied education in STEM fields. These are increasingly popular and
important fields, specifically science, technology, engineering and math. Some
schools that are not polytechnics incorporate art into the mix and use the
acronym STEAM. Brown University and RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) have
had STEAM collaborations.
Far less interesting are poly words
that come from science, especially the many types of polymers. First of these
is polyester, the easy-care fiber for all seasons. Then there are the PVC and PET
bottles (polyvinylchloride and polyethylene terephthalate) that we’re
encouraged to recycle. We coat our outdoor furniture with polyurethane. I see
your eyes glazing over the way the furniture does, so I’ll move on from science.
I love the next two poly words because
they have creative connections. Polyphonic instruments are capable of producing
many sounds simultaneously, like my mother’s baby grand on which I took piano lessons
in elementary school. Polyphonic choral pieces are written for many voices
(but not mine). Polychromatic artworks use multiple colors vs. monochromatic
ones. I majored in art in college and always liked polychromes.
One of my favorite “poly” words is
polydactyl. We see this most often when describing cats that have extra toes.
They’re always so adorable with the cutest little mitten paws! Not so common
are polydactyl babies, those born with extra fingers. I don’t know anyone who
has a baby with this condition but I’ve seen many polydactyl cats. I’m sure
I’ve adopted one or two, though it’s not something I paid a lot of attention
to. I think I’ll go count my cats’ toes right now.
Copyright 2024 Business Theatre Unlimited
