Quote
1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.
“Valentino was very, very young when so much of the book took place. His memories were spotty.”
- Writer Dave Eggers on his source for his book, What is the What. (Entertainment Weekly)
Definition
1. Definition - Study the definition.
incomplete; of poor or questionable quality
2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.
Of course, when you think of something spotty, you think of something covered in spots of color, like a dalmation or a leopard.
But the most common us of the word spotty is to describe something that isn’t whole or isn’t very good. If you don’t know a lot of the words on this page, you could say your English is a bit spotty.
Or if you think this lesson isn’t so great, but that it’s kind of useful, you could say it’s spotty. You wouldn’t say that something is spotty if you think it’s really bad. Spotty means that something isn’t good, but there is still some value in it.
Dave Eggers has been one of the most well-known writers in America ever since his 2000 book, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. A few years ago, he decided to write the life-story of Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese refugee.
Like most people, Valentino can’t remember parts of his life very clearly. He also saw a lot of war in his youth and it’s often difficult to remember horrible things.
So when Dave Eggers began talking to Valentino about his past, he discovered that the young man’s memories were spotty. So Eggers filled in the parts Valentino couldn’t remember with fiction. He took spotty memories and made them into a complete, solid story.
Examples
1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.
“My knowledge of the geography of this area is rather spotty. You might want to ask someone else for directions.”
“His performances can be a little spotty. Parts of them good, but they get dull at times.”
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