Word of the Day: July 18, 2023

glom

play
verb | GLAHM

What It Means

To glom is to take or get something. Glom is most often used in the phrase “glom on to” to refer to taking something for your own use, becoming strongly attached to or associated with someone or something, or becoming aware of something.

// The book consists of a collection of humorous essays glommed from popular magazines.

// That author is known for glomming on to other people's ideas as if they were his own.

// Other business owners have not yet glommed onto the impact the new parking garage will have on the town.



Examples

“I am aware that adaptations have been with us for centuries and that Shakespeare borrowed his best plots. But that doesn't stop this book lover from being suspicious when movies and plays glom onto my favorite titles.” — Chris Hewitt, The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 21 May 2023


Did You Know?

It's a classic case of glomming: Americans seized on glaum (a term from Scots dialect that basically means “to grab”) and appropriated it as their own, changing it to glom in the process. Glom first meant “to steal” (as in the purse-snatching, robber kind of stealing), but over time that meaning got stretched to include figurative uses. Today the term is most familiar in the phrase “glom on to,” or “glom onto,” which can mean “to appropriate for one's own use,” as in “glomming on to another's idea”; “to grab hold of,” as in “glommed onto the last cookie”; “to latch on to,” as in “glom on to an opinion” or “glom onto an influential friend”; or “to become aware of,” as in “glomming onto the potential of this new technology.”


Larger Vocabulary = More $$

Not enough people realize that it is our ability to use our language that will determine our place on the social pyramid–and that will also control, to a great extent, the amount of money we will earn during our lives. Research has shown over and over that a person’s vocabulary level is the best single predictor of occupational success (more info). Ready to reach the top? Subscribe and receive a new word daily via TXT!


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Facts & Statistics

"A person may dress in the latest fashion and present a very attractive appearance. So far, so good. But the minute he opens his mouth and begins to speak, he proclaims to the world his level on our social pyramid...Our use of our language is the one thing we can't hide."

Earl Nightingale (one of the greatest self-improvement authors of all time) conducted of a 20-year study of college graduates. "Without a single exception, those who had scored highest on the vocabulary test given in college, were in the top income group, while those who had scored the lowest were in the bottom income group."

Another study by scientist Johnson O'Connor, who gave vocabulary tests to executive and supervisory personnel in 39 large manufacturing companies:

Presidents and VPs

236 out of 272

Managers averaged

168 out of a 272

Superintendents averaged

140 out of 272

Foremen averaged

114 out of 272

Floor bosses averaged

86 out of 272

In virtually every case, vocabulary correlated with executive level and income.

In a "Reader's Digest" article titled "Words Can Work Wonders for You", author Blake Clark told a fascinating story of a salesman in his 50s who scored in the bottom 5% of a standardized vocabulary test. He worked himself into the top 45% and became a vice president of the company.

You can reach the top! We may not all be brilliant enough to be the top in our fields, but we can certainly be in the top 5%–including you.

"Let's face it, from the earliest times, the favored class of people has always been the educated class. They can make themselves recognized instantly, anywhere, by the simple expedient of speaking a few words. Our language, more than anything else, determines the extent of our knowledge.

Step out, and make something more of yourself!