Recently I was reading about Grigori Potemkin (1739-91), a soldier and statesman. At one time Potemkin was the most powerful man in Russia.
The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary mentions that Potemkin supposedly built impressive fake villages along a route Catherine the Great was to travel. Because of this impressive, but illusionary, display, we have the word or phrase “Potemkin village.” Try to work that one in your conversation or in your writing sometime soon.
1. façade (fuh-SOD)
A. monumental
B. a lovely village
C. a superficial appearance or illusion of something
D. an itinerary
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2. Potemkin village (puh-TEM-kin VILL-idge)
A. creating the best of a poor situation
B. an impressive façade or show designed to hide an undesirable fact or condition
C. a group of ostentatious actors
D. a synonym for hubris
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3. Which one, if any, is not true of Catherine the Great?
A. She was Catherine II.
B. She was the daughter of a German prince.
C. She was the wife of Peter III.
D. She was a contemporary of St. Joan of Arc.
E. She was a great patron of the arts.
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4. In which century did Potemkin and Catherine the Great live?
Let’s see how you’re doing. No. 1, façade, is C.
No. 2, Potemkin village is B.
All except D are true under No. 3. Joan of Arc lived approximately 300 years before Catherine the Great.
Catherine the Great and Potemkin, who were contemporaries of each other, lived in the 18th century.
Editor’s Note: Dr. Don Rodney Vaughan is the pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church near Eupora and is on the faculty of East Mississippi Community College, Golden Triangle Campus. Contact him at dvaughan@eastms.edu.
