ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Play-Doh,

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Homer Simpson's favorite late-night snack.

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All right, which of these words is closest in meaning to...

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pliable?

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And here are the potential answers.

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Rigid... [ mumbles ] Entertaining, flexible, persuasive.

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All right, here we go.

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So we see the word "able" in there,

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so we know the word has something to do with being

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able to, uh, you know, do something.

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[ applause ]

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So right off the bat, let's eliminate A - rigid,

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which means "stiff" or "unable to bend." [ ow ]

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All right, the remaining three answers all have to do with

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having a skill of some kind.

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So let's figure out what that first part,

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"pli" means.

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Well, there's a verb "ply," P-L-Y,

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which means "to work or do an activity

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repeatedly," like

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plying a needle or plying something

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or someone with a whip. [ whip cracks ]

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Well, so, pliable means being able

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to do something easily.

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That eliminates B - entertaining.

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[ boo ] Uh, and leaves us

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with C - flexible and D - persuasive.

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Well, now, persuasive means being able to

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convince someone to do something, like

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persuading your mom that Jack's parents will definitely

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be at the party. [ chuckles ]

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But flexible means easily bent or shaped,

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which sounds pretty close to pliable.

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So the correct answer is C - flexible.

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[ oh snap ]

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[ applause ]

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