z In English, agitprop usually carries a negative connotation and
is used generally to describe any work, particularly in an artistic
form, that attempts to indoctrinate people for political purposes.
For example: “Although she acknowledged that the movie was left-
wing agitprop, the critic also noted, somewhat surprisingly, that
it had a compelling plot and characters that the audience actually
cared about.”z Agitprop can also be used as an adjective, as in “The play’s agitprop
message was so blatant that audience members felt as if they had
been repeatedly smacked over the head with a political pamphlet.”Trusty Roots: ¿G and cred
z The root ¿G is from the Latin noun ¿GHV, meaning “trust, faith.”
It appears in a large number of English words, including ¿GHOLW\,
FRQ¿GHQW, FRQ¿GHQFH, LQ¿GHOLW\, LQ¿GHO, DI¿GDYLW (a statement
written under oath and, therefore, supposedly trustworthy), bona
¿GH, and GLI¿GHQW.
z The root cred is from the Latin verb credo, meaning “believe.” This
root also gives us a large number of words, including incredible,
credit, credentials, accredited, credible, credulous (believing too
easily; gullible), and incredulous (not inclined to believe, skeptical).3HU¿GLRXV DGMHFWLYH
Treacherous, disloyal, and deceitful.z 3HU¿GLRXV is used to describe people who are underhanded,
GLVKRQHVWRUGLVOR\DODVLQ³7KHSHU¿GLRXVVROGLHUVZLWFKHGVLGHV
during the war, revealing his commanding general’s strategy to
the enemy.”z The noun form of SHU¿GLRXV is SHU¿G\, meaning “treachery.”
3HU¿GLRXV FRPHV IURP WKH /DWLQ SUH¿[per-, meaning “through”
in such words as perspiration (“breathing through the skin”), and
the Latin root ¿G, meaning “faith.” Thus, SHU¿GLRXV literally means