You searched for: “the
Roman Republic, The
The Roman Republic was established in 509 B.C. after the overthrow of the last of the seven kings, Tarquinius Superbus. It was superseded by the Roman Empire in 27 B.C.
Units related to: “the
(Modern Latin: tellus, the "earth"; metal)
(Greek: inclination, slope; the [supposed] slope of the earth from the equator towards the poles; hence, the latitudinal zone of the earth and prevailing weather in a given zone)
(Latin: funnel; literally, "the [little] thing into which something is poured"; a funnel-shaped organ of the body)
(Latin: book; originally, the "inner bark of a tree", whence "the text written on this", "collection of leaves for writing", and finally "book")
(Greek > Latin: "the great river encompassing the whole earth"; hence, the "great Outward Sea" [as opposed to the "Inward" or Mediterranean]; the ocean)
(establishments that often forget that in “business”, the "u" comes before the "i")
(the "tongue" term may be applied to both a body part in the mouth and an extensive reference to "language")
(Latin: grapelike; the uvea, the [grapelike] surface of the iris of the eye)
(shortened forms of spoken words or written symbols, or phrases, used chiefly in writing to represent the complete forms)
(generally a reference to indigenous people in general; being the first or earliest known of its kind present in a region: aboriginal forests, aboriginal rocks; of or relating to Aborigines or people of Australia)
(the origins and more recent usage as a term used in the performances of prestidigitation or "magic")
(etymology of words or their original "true meanings"; a rich source of information regarding the earliest meanings of words as they migrated from the past into the present)
(the structure of organisms from the smallest components of cells to the biggest organs and their relationships to other organs especially of the human body)
(the science of bodily structures and parts as discovered and developed over the centuries by means of dissections)
(terms restricted to the study of social insects; such as, ants and words that apply generally to entomology)
(Greek: beginning; the first, the leader, the ruler; being first has two different, but often related, meanings: one meaning indicated first in time; another indicated first in importance)
(a glossary of archeological terms particularly related to the field of research that can tell us about our origins and our remote past)
(the science of the celestial bodies: the sun, the moon, and the planets; the stars and galaxies; and all of the other objects in the universe)
(scientific terms about the use of vehicles including cars, trucks, or any automobiles including their technology as related to transportation)
(a reverse acronym or a regular word that also doubles as an acronym using the same procedures as with acronyms, except that the letters of a word are presented to form a phrase which defines the word or for humorous reasons)
(a world of Biblical information for everyone who wants to know more about the Bible and its contents and the world from which it became known)
(phrases or Bible quotations that are derived directly from the King Jame's version of the Bible many of which are direct quotations)
(sources of information for the various terms listed in the Index of Scientific and Technological Topics)
(many blended words have entered English since the 1800's; a significant number of which are corporate brand names)
(the relative locations of sections of the body, or bodily organs, and their actions and activities)
(what resembles an odd marriage between Trojan battle gear and Medusa is actually part of the most powerful brain scanner ever made)
(the most deadly five "enemies" of the brain: depression, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, stroke, and autism)
(the hundred-degree temperature interval gave us the name scale of centigrade from the Latin centum, "hundred" and gradus, "step")
(all of the enhanced units present parts of speeches (when applicable), have definitions for word entries, and clarifying sentences in context)
(some of the common terms used in computer science)
(a radiographic technique that produces an image of a detailed cross section of bodily tissue using a narrow collimated beam of x-rays that rotates in a full arc around a patient to image the body in cross-sectional slices)
(judicial or legal words that may apply to trial processes that determine the guilt or innocence of people which is ascertained by either judges or juries)
(lexicomedy, linguicomedy, or a chuckleglossary consisting of definitions which are markedly different from the accepted dictionary norm)
(New plagues, survival, and the various mutual adaptations carried on with our microbial fellow travelers)
(Until recently, the usual explanation for the first pandemics was not biological but a result of immorality)
(dogs are considered to be the companions and best friends of humans and this list of terms will help all of us understand the topics that exist about our canine friends)
(excerpts and compilations from the news about international economic activities)
(electricity has become one of the most significant areas of study in the world)
(concern over the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels has resulted in looking for alternative fuels that are less polluting)
(this summary of English history is continued from the Get Words home page)
(an official language of the Republic of South Africa which developed from the Dutch of the colonists who went there in the 1600's; South African Dutch)
(the language of a group of American Indian tribes that lived in the valleys of the Ottawa River and of the northern tributaries of the St. Lawrence River)
(an American Indian or an Eskimo; any of the languages of certain American Indians or Eskimos)
(A history of the English Language)
(languages spoken by over 400 closely related groups in central, east-central, and southern Africa, belonging to the South Central subgroup of the Niger-Congo language family and including Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Zulu, Xhosa, etc.)
(an alphabetized listing of links to a world of the uncompromising multi-purpose, majestic, and fathomable universe of words)
(ecology is the study of the relationship between organisms and the environments in which they live, including all living and nonliving components)
(the historical progress of English dictionaries)
(the next stages of dictionary development)
(words that are involved with the father who imprisoned his daughter)
(the laser that can produce quadrillions of pulses of light per second, creating a spot on a cell that is as hot as the sun)
(the first newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(the second newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(the third newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(the fourth newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(the fifth newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(the sixth newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(the seventh newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(the eighth newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(the ninth newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(the tenth newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(the eleventh newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(the twelfth newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(the thirteenth newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(the fourteenth newsletter of a series that was formerly presented to subscribers by the Sr. Scribe, a.k.a. John Robertson)
(here are 14 important words with elements from Latin and Greek sources)
(the four gemstones which are most valuable are diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds; and anyone would be impressed with a gift of a diamond, a sapphire, an emerald, or a ruby piece of jewelry)
(geography includes mapmakers, scientists, explorers of the earth and provides a way to look at both the physical world and the people who live in various parts this globe)
(a glossary, or dictionary, of terms used in geology; the science of the earth including its origin, composition, structure, and history)
(when visiting old graveyards and examining the epitaphs on gravestones, there are certain words and phrases which could be difficult or impossible to understand without knowing what the words in this unit mean)
(fields are protected by barriers of hedges by keeping the wind from eroding (blowing away) valuable top soil)
(Herodotus extended his historical coverage beyond the Greek world to the lives, ways, and beliefs of the people with whom the Greeks and the Persians came into contact)
(the science of water which denotes the study of the properties, distribution, and movements of water on land surfaces, in the soil, and through the subsurface rocks of the earth)
(Latin punctus "a point" or "a mark"; the standardized non-alphabetical symbols or marks that are used to organize writing into clauses, phrases, and sentences, and in this way to clarify meanings)
(this is an over-all listing of the special groups of topics listed on this site)
(Historical perspectives of the Reader's Digest)
(a few words from the Reader's Digest, March, 1932)
(a few words from the Reader's Digest, July, 1940)
(a compilation of excerpts and quotes from past issues of magazines and books so they won't be lost in the present)
(a glossary of terms relating to the decoration and design of interior spaces in buildings)
(Italian developed from Latin and the following words came into English from Italian; most of which were derived from Latin)
(the first Latin words to find their way into the English language owe their adoption to the early contact between the Roman and the Germanic tribes on the European continent and Greek came with Latin and French while others were borrowed directly; especially, in the fields of science and technology)
(Modern Medical Technology reveals more about King Tut, Part 2 of 2)
(Modern Medical Technology reveals more about King Tut, Part 1 of 2)
(just a few of the many important words with several applications in common practice and referring to special technical and scientific operations)
(get the answers to the "Logical Challenge Quiz" here)
(mathematics is the deductive study of quantities, magnitudes, and shapes as determined by the use of numbers and symbols while every branch of science and engineering depends on mathematics; measurement is the process of associating numbers with physical quantities and phenomena and measurement is fundamental to the sciences; to engineering, construction, and other technical fields; and to almost all everyday activities)
(there are certain anatomic terms which present various situations; for example, a body part may be horizontal, as opposed to vertical; in front as opposed to being behind or at the back; above as opposed to being under, etc.)
(how some terms might be interpreted by those who lack professional vocabulary knowledge in the field of medicine)
(leeches are bleeding their way back into the good graces of modern medical treatment as healers just as they did in ancient societies)
(learning more about the progress of medicine throughout the centuries)
(fashion terms including the invention of new words for items that apply specifically to men's fashions)
(terms about the science and technology of metals and metal processing)
(topics about the study of the complex motions and interactions of the atmosphere, including the observation of phenomena; such as, temperature, density, winds, clouds, and precipitation)
(the Mexican marijuana trade is more robust and brazen than ever before)
(the advantages of self determination in fulfilling your objectives and belief in your aspirations can improve your mental control and enhance your health)
(these words have become a part of the English language over recent years)
(the study of the deep seas or oceans involves the abyss or the "deep seas" which cover almost two-thirds of the earth's surface; showing applicable scientific terminology in this unit)
(the challenges that face people in their later years)
(a science that attempts to discover the fundamental principles of the sciences, the arts, and the world that the sciences and arts influence)
(based on words from The Washington Post's "Style Invitational" in which readers were given the opportunity to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and then to provide a new definition for the modified word)
(poetic, figures of speech, and words primarily referring to the content of various types of poems)
(words that take the places of nouns)
(using the creations of pumpkins to illustrate some words)
(this page includes a presentation of the punctuation marks or symbols that are in general use in English writing)
(symbols at the beginning and end of a word or groups of words)
(over the past century, knowledge of the way the universe works [science] has grown significantly, and with it the ability to apply that knowledge to everyday problems [technology] has changed the way people live)
(terms appearing in some "scientific" areas from about 2000 B.C. to 1799 A.D.)
(terms appearing in some "scientific" areas from about 1800 A.D. to 1899 A.D.)
(the spread of information with the "wiring" of the world has improved communications between people and accelerated the pace of scientific discoveries as well as greater efficiency in the exchange of technical knowledge and applications)
(a re-writing of the classical story with excessive wordiness)
(Shakespeare is given credit for coining more than 1,500 words for the English language)
(there is much more to learn about the mysterious processes of sleep and the things that disturb it)
(engineering is the technical science in which properties of matter and the sources of power in nature are made useful to people; such as, in structures, devices, machines, and products)
(some of the common terms and abbreviations used by those who send out text messages)
(a translation of the story)
(The name given to the plague that ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351.)
(The name given to the plague that ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351.)
(The name given to the plague that ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351.)
(A poem that expresses misconceived judgements based on incomprehensible, or at least, inadequate information)
(Various living organisms are organized from the smallest unit of cells to form tissues which form organs and organs work together to form organ systems)

The Flora and Fauna story by Barbara Krahn-Chiussi

()
(Fiction or Non-Fiction? You decide.)
(theater as we know it was originated by the Greeks and many of their theatrical terms are still in use)
(Sesquipedalia Verba or Sesquipedalians are references to the use of excessively long words)
triage (adjective) (not comparable)
(Descriptive of the task of allocating and sorting: The triage nurse had many patients to categorise and group regarding their medical needs.)
(as presented by Mickey Bach, the cartoonist who defined words with related illustrations)
(using definitions and a letter added to the beginning of the second word of two words with the same spellings will produce two completely different words)
(sentences that illustrate the manipulations of words with one meaning into different applications)
(words exist in all sizes and degrees of difficulty from numerous languages and English continues to churn out new words from the past and the present)
(words being used in news media headlines, subheadings, and excerpts from applicable articles with certain words being listed in bold and defined separately)
(many of the words used today in English are derived from Greek myths)
(an exhibition of words that appear in headlines and sub-headlines which all of us should know)
(a collection of English words that have been used in the titles of articles from various printed media)
(one of the group of biological sciences, each of which deals with an aspect of the study of living things)
Word Entries at Get Words containing the term: “the
(noun) (s) uncountable noun, used only in the singular form
1. (noun) (s): "uncountable", "uncountable noun", or "mass noun" are all terms that refer to a noun that cannot be used freely with numbers or the indefinite article, and which, therefore, usually take no plural forms.

The English nouns, perseverance, information, are uncountable nouns (or "mass nouns), at least in their primary meanings.

With such terms, it is not proper to say that there is one perseverance, nor that there are many perseverances or many informations.

2. Some dictionaries use the entry for a noun with the label [noncount] when it doesn't have a plural form or when it refers to something that can't be counted.
3. When a word can be used as both a singular noun and a plural noun, certain dictionaries will label it count, noncount.
This entry is located in the following unit: noun (s), nouns (pl) (page 1)
A drop in the bucket (Isaiah 40:15)
"Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing."
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 1)
A voice crying in the wilderness (John 1:23)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 1)
Achilles' Heel, the Myth
A myth which has become a physical-medical application unit.
Additional words that were found which are derived from the Greek element tribo- are explained in the following contents:

Additional words that exist that are derived from the Greek element tribo-: nanotribology, [no dictionary seems to be available that has a definition for this term.] The following definitions came from various sources on the internet.

First, on Thursday, January 21, 1999, there was the following information from Dr. Jacqueline Krim, Professor of Physics at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina:

“Thank you for your inquiry. Yes, I coined the term nanotribology in a paper I wrote in 1991, entitled, ‘Nanotribology of a Kr [krypton] monolayer: A Quartz Crystal Microbalance Study of Atomic-Scale Friction’, J. Krim, D. Solina and R. Chiarello, PRL, 66, (1991) p. 181-184.”

“I would define nanotribology as the sub-field of tribology involving contact geometries which are well-characterized at atomic length or time scales. These tend to be on the order of nanometers and nanoseconds.”

“JK”


Secondly, on Friday, January 22, 1999, I received another clarifying definition that I had requested from a contact I found on the internet.

I asked for a simple, easy to understand definition of “nanotribology” and this is what he sent to me:

“Tribology is the science and technology of two surfaces in relative motion which encompasses friction, wear, and lubrication. Nanotribology allows the study of friction and wear processes on nanoscale.”

—Prof. Bharat Bhushan, Ohio Eminent Scholar and The Howard D. Winbigler Professor
and Director, Computer Microtribology and Contamination Laboratory,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio

Now you know what nanotribology means, don’t you? If you want to know more about nanotribology, here are excerpts of other definitions; but be WARNED that if they are too confusing or of no interest to you, you may scroll down to the area where other tribo- words are presented. Don’t give up before you see the rest of the list, please.

Micro/nanotribology as a field is concerned with experimental and theoretical investigations of processes ranging from atomic and molecular scales to the microscale, occurring during adhesion, friction, wear, and thin-film lubrication at sliding surfaces.

This involves determination of the chemical, physical and mechanical properties of the surfaces undergoing relative motion at length scales of the order of nanometers. Interaction between rubbing surfaces occurs at asperities [roughness of surfaces] at which the local pressure and temperatures can be very high.

These conditions can lead to formation of tribochemical films with the unusual properties necessary for efficient wear protection. The nanomechanical properties of these films are being investigated by interfacial force microscopy (IFM) which is capable of determining the elastic constants and anelastic behavior of the films in boundary layer lubrication.

Proposed nanotribology experiments for the Triboscope include studying the effect of different contact areas, scan directions and crystallographic orientations on both lubricated and unlubricated surfaces.

Tribology is the study of friction, lubrication and wear. Nanotribology is roughly defined as the study of these same phenomena down to the nN and nanometer force and length scales.

I hope I haven’t lost you in the sea of obfuscation (confusion, obscurity, or bewilderment) because there are other interesting words to learn. Here are additional examples that are derived from tribo-:

  • triboelectric, an electrical charge produced by friction between two objects; such as, rubbing silk on a glass surface.
  • triboelectricity, in physics, electrical charges produced by friction between two surfaces; static electricity.
  • Frictional electricity … was supposedly known to the ancient Greeks, particularly Thales of Miletus, who observed about 600 B.C. that when amber was rubbed, it would attract small bits of matter. The term “frictional electricity” gave way to “triboelectricity,” although since “tribo” means “to rub,” the newer term does little to change the concept.

    —A.D. Moore (as seen in The American Heritage Dictionary of Science
    by Robert K. Barnhart; Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston; 1986).

  • tribofluorescence, triboflurescent; to give off light as a result of friction.
  • tribologist, a specialist in the science of tribology.
  • tribology, tribological, the science of the mechanisms of friction, lubrication, and wear of interacting surfaces that are in relative motion.
  • triboluminescence, the quality of emitting light under friction or violent mechanical pressure.
  • triboluminescent, exhibiting triboluminescence.
  • tribophosphorescence, tribophosphorescent; to produce light by friction.
  • tribothermoluminescence, thermoluminescence [luminescence resulting from exposure to high temperature] produced in a material as a result of friction.
  • tribometer, an instrument for estimating sliding friction.
  • tribophysics, the physical properties or phenomena associated with friction.
  • tribophosphoroscope, an instrument for examining triboluminescence.
  • tribulation, originally from Greek; then through Latin, “to press; affliction”; distress, great trial, or affliction.

“The Roman tribulum was a sledge consisting of a wooden block studded with sharp pieces of flint or iron teeth. It was used to bring force and pressure against wheat in grinding out grain.

The machine suggested the way trouble grinds people down and oppresses them, tribulations becoming another word for troubles and afflictions. The word is first recorded in English in 1330.”.

—From the Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins
by Robert Hendrickson; Facts On File, Inc., New York; 1997.

The Romans ground out their corn [make that grain-J.R.] with a heavy roller, mentioned in Vergil’s Georgics among agricultural instruments: the tribulum, diminutive noun, from tritere, trit —, to rub, from Greek tribein, to rub. Being ground under and pressed out made an excellent metaphor to express the trials and tribulations of the early Christians.

Dictionary of Word Origins by Joseph T. Shipley.

“To know the origin of words is to know how men think, how they have fashioned their civilization. Word history traces the path of human fellowship, the bridges from mind to mind, from nation to nation.

“Some of the words in our language can be traced to a remote past; some have histories that begin but yesterday. Many are members of large families, with intertwining legend and history. Slow change, swift new coinage of science or slang, ancient or recent borrowing from many tongues: together they give flexibility, power, and beauty to English, the richest and most widespread language of all time.”

— Joseph T. Shipley, from the Preface of his Dictionary of Word Origins.
This entry is located in the following unit: Focusing on Words Newsletter #05 (page 1)
Amphora: The word and the @ symbol
Greek > Latin: @ two-handled; a vessel with two handles or ears; a pitcher or vase unit.
Angioplasty Info and the Stent, Part 1
The reconstruction of blood vessels damaged by disease or injury usually performed by inflating a balloon inside the blood vessel lumen (tube) in order to reconstitute the flow of blood unit.
Apollo, god of the Sun, words from myths
The Sun god who brings life-giving heat and light to Earth unit.
babe in the woods (s) (noun), babes in the woods (pl)
An innocent or naive person; a helpless person: When Karissa arrived in New York, she felt like a babe in the woods.
This entry is located in the following unit: English Words in Action, Group B (page 1)
bang for the buck (s) (noun), bangs for the bucks (pl)
1. The most impact or results for one's money: Joe's determination to work out as often as possible at the local fitness studio gave him more bangs for the bucks for his physical well-being than if he were sitting around and watching TV too often.
2. Value for the money spent or a favorable cost-to-benefit ratio: It does matter what gets built: the country spent too much on increasingly wasteful roads and bridges, and not enough in areas like education and social services, which studies show deliver more bangs for the bucks than infrastructure spending.
This entry is located in the following units: Economics on a Global Scale (page 1) English Words in Action, Group B (page 2)
biomass in the ecology
The total mass of living organisms present in a given area.

It may be specified for a particular species; such as, earthworm biomass or for a general category; such as, herbivore biomass.

Estimates also exist for the entire global plant biomass and measurements of biomass can be used to study interactions between organisms, the stability of those interactions, and variations in population numbers.

Whenever dry biomass is measured, the material is dried to remove all water before weighing.

This entry is located in the following unit: Environment and Ecology Information + (page 1)
Biopiracy: In the News
Biological theft by illegally collecting indigenous plants, microbes, enzymes, etc. by corporations who patent them for their own commercial use unit.
Birth of the Blues

This is supposed to be the ONLY time Johnny Carson sang in public!

This show was at Kiel Opera House in St Louis, in June, 1965, when Johnny Carson hosted the "Tonight Show".

"The Rat Pack" was playing in Las Vegas, but visited Carson for this entertaining performance by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Johnny Carson

Click on this link: Birth of the Blues for your enjoyment.

This entry is located in the following unit: Videos (page 1)
Bite the dust (adapted from Psalms 72)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 1)
bite the dust (verb), bites the dust; bit the dust; ; biting the dust
To die or to stop functioning: Joe's old car finally bit the dust and he had to buy a new vehicle.

The old horse has bitten the dust and will have to be buried in the field.

This entry is located in the following unit: English Words in Action, Group B (page 5)
blaming the victim
The stereotypical practice of charging the socially and psychologically handicapped with the lack of motivation.

An attitude or belief that the adverse conditions and negative characteristics of a group, often of minorities, are the group's own fault.

This entry is located in the following unit: Criminal Court Words or Judicial Terms + (page 5)
Blind Men and the Elephant
The Blind Men and the Elephant by John Godfrey Saxe unit.
By the skin of your teeth (Job 19:20)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 1)
By the sweat of your brow (Genesis 3:19)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 1)
Calendar,The Whole Ball of Wax
The meaning and origin as presented in this unit.
Can you translate the following sesquipedalians into "common English"?

Here is an old proverb: While bryophytic plants are typically encountered as substrata of earthly or mineral matter in concreted state, discrete substrata elements occasionally display a roughly spherical configuration which, in the presence of suitable gravitational and other effects, lends itself to a combined translatory and rotational motion. One notices in such cases an absence of the otherwise typical accretion of bryophyta.


The proverb means: “A rolling stone gathers no moss.”



What was a young man saying to a young woman in the following sesquipedalian?


They shine more rutilent than ligulin—those labial components that surround thy pericranial orifice, wherein denticulations niveous abound!

Commingle them with my equivalents! Let like with like nectareously converge! From the predestined confluence some sempiternal rapture must emerge!


As Willard Espy put it, “After all, he was only asking her for a kiss. Jargon may be useful to hide one’s real thinking, or lack of it, but it can be downright self-defeating if you are trying to persuade someone to do something. A young man learned that when he addressed these words to the maiden he loved, only to be shown the door.”

Both of the foregoing were compiled by Willard R. Espy.


The letters MS refer to two things: One is a debilitating and surprisingly widespread affliction that renders the sufferer barely able to perform the simplest task; the other is a disease. In other words, MS stands for the name of a well-known software company or for the disease Multiple Sclerosis.

This entry is located in the following unit: Focusing on Words Newsletter #12 (page 1)
Cast the first stone (John 8:7)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 2)
China: The Country and Its Globalization Perspectives
Perceptions of China and the Chinese in their actual interrelationships with themselves and the rest of the world; as well as, the potential hazards and perils of their global dominance unit.
Earth, Words from the Myths
Gaia, Earth goddess of the ancient Greeks, she was called Gaea, Terra Mater, "Earth Mother" by the Romans; third planet from the sun unit.
Elephants walking in the sunset.
An adult and a small elephant are walking across the horizon.

An adult and a young elephant are walking across the Masai Mara, a National Reserve in Kenya, Africa; just as it is getting dark.

This entry is located in the following unit: Views of Nature (page 1)
Erin McKean presents a speech titled: "The Joy of Lexicography"
Filmed at TED: Technology, Entertainment and Design, March, 2007.

Click on this link: Erin McKean was able to launch Wordnik, thanks to her TED Talk.

This entry is located in the following unit: Videos (page 1)
Erinyes, Eumenides; the Furies;
In Greek mythology, three terrifying snake-haired winged goddesses, named Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, who mercilessly punished wrongdoing, especially when committed within families.

Eumenides meant "the kindly ones". We now use the word "euphemism" to describe words which do not say the unpleasant idea intended.

From Greek euphemismos, "use of a favorable word in place of an inauspicious one"; from euphemizein "to speak with fair words", from eu-, "good" + pheme, "speaking", from phanai, "to speak".

In ancient Greece, the superstitious avoidance of words of ill-omen during religious ceremonies, or substitutions; such as, Eumenides, "the Gracious Ones" with reference to the Furies.

In English, a rhetorical term at first; broader sense of "choosing a less distasteful word or phrase than the one meant" was first established or documented in 1793.

This entry is located in the following unit: Words from the Greek Myths (page 1)
Fall by the wayside (Matthew 13:4)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 2)
Fat of the land (Genesis 45:18)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 2)
Fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 2)
Fly in the ointment (adapted from Ecclesiastes 10:1)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 2)
Give up the ghost (Mark 15:37)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 2)
Google creates an app for use at the checkout
app:
checkout:

"The technology giant introduced Google Wallet, a mobile application that will allow consumers to pay at a store by waving their cellphones at a retailer's terminal instead of using a credit card [or cash]."

"The app, for the Android operating system also will enable users to redeem special coupons and earn loyalty points."

The Global Edition of the New York Times, May 28-29, 2011; page 15.
Grammatical Forms That Are Used to Identify the Parts of Speech for Word Entries
A list of Parts of Speech that are presented with word entries.
This entry is located in the following unit: Index of Punctuation Marks (page 1)
He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword (Matthew 26:52)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 3)
How the mighty are fallen (Samuel 1:19)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 3)
In the news

Couple will pay $2.3 million to have the family pet cloned as seen in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 6, 1998.

“A couple who are convinced they have the perfect dog with the perfect bark and the perfect howl are giving $2.3 million to Texas A&M University to clone their beloved animal, Missy.

“Besides making a litter of Missy pups, the Texas A&M scientists hope to learn more about canine reproduction and improve contraception and sterilization methods. The project could also lead to the replication of exceptional animals, such as guide dogs or rescue dogs.”

I once saw a sign at a copy-service store that read, “Clone your own.” So where did the word “clone” come from? It’s etymological source is Greek, and means “twig”, “slip”, “sprout”, or “shoot” and apparently refers to the reproduction of the plant from which the twig comes [my guess]. Do you have a better explanation? If you do, please send it to me so I can share it with the list. I could not find any explanation in my etymological dictionaries nor in any other abridged or unabridged dictionary. Definitions are available for the word clone, but no explanations about the Greek source.


Another article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (September 6, 1998) caught my attention:


Robot leads tours at history museum in nation’s capital  The article talks about Minerva, who isn’t a typical tour guide. She’s four feet high and shaped like a tank.

“Minerva, named for the Roman goddess of wisdom, was developed by a team under Sebastian Thrun, 31, assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon.”

According to the article, “She leads five tours that cover three to five items each. They deal largely with robots and how they are made.”

My question to you is, if we call a “male” robot an android (in the form, or shape, of a man); what should we call a robot that is in the form, or shape, of a woman? If you would like to easily find the answer, go to this gynoid page.

This entry is located in the following unit: Focusing on Words Newsletter #01 (page 1)
In the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 3)
Index of Information from Past Publications Revealed in the Present, Part 1
Information from the Past and into the Present, Part 1; Historical perspectives of the Reader's Digest.
Index of Information from Past Publications Revealed in the Present, Part 2
Information from the Past and into the Present, Part 2; Excerpts of humorous and more serious topics from the Reader's Digest March, 1932.
Index of Information from Past Publications Revealed in the Present, Part 3
Information from the Past and into the Present, Part 3; A few words from the Reader's Digest July, 1940.
It doesn’t do much good to lock the barn door after the horse is stolen.
Don’t lock the barn door after the horse is stolen.

Of little value his compunctions
Who assumes clavinous functions
When once from circumambient pen,
Is snatched its equine denizen.
Lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 3)
laugh all the way to the bank (informal saying or idiom), laughs all the way to the bank; laughed all the way to the bank; laughing all the way to the bank
Having made a lot of money; especially, when doing something that other people consider to be foolish: There were those who thought Celeste's investment in the company was stupid, but now she's laughing all the way to the bank.
Letter of the law (2 Corinthians 3:6)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 3)
Living off the fat of the land (Genesis 45:18)
This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 3)
Lose/Loose, Use and Abuse; More about [sic] from the Last Newsletter

I probably should have been more precise with my discussion about “lose” and the [sic] example of “loose”. Whenever we mean that something has been lost, we should NEVER say, “I loose the hounds” or “I loosened the hounds” OR “The quarter back loosed his grip on the football” when LOST is meant!

The [sic] misuses are when people replace “lose” with “loose”. Again, I should have written, “... we NEVER ‘loose’ anything when ‘to lose’ is meant! They are two different verbs with different meanings and should not be confused. It’s certainly correct to say, “I let the dogs loose so they could run around (for example).” I maintain that it is unacceptable to say, “I loosed the dogs and I don’t know where they are” when “I lost the dogs .... ” is meant. Does this clarify the point?

I do appreciate the comments from readers. If nothing else, they make me aware that I must be more precise and probably should not have sent the letter out when I was so tired. It was after 2:30 a.m. (where I am) when I submitted the letter to the web and I wanted to get it out to see if it would go out properly (over the internet, that is).

For those who wrote, thank you. It means you’re paying attention and that’s better than being ignored. This reminds me of something I read recently about the “conspiracy of silence”. The phrase was coined by Sir Lewis Morris, a minor poet of the Victorian era. He wanted to be Poet Laureate in England but he never gained this honor. He claimed that critics were jealous of him and, as a result, damned his poetry when they bothered to mention it at all. He once complained at length to Oscar Wilde of this treatment, finally saying: “Oscar, there’s a conspiracy of silence against me. What shall I do?” Wilde replied simply: “Join it!”

This entry is located in the following unit: Focusing on Words Newsletter #02 (page 1)
Luke Howard, 1772-1864, the man who classified cloud types

Up until about 1800, there were no general classifications of clouds

Clouds were referred to poetically or as vague essences floating in the sky.

As an English manufacturing chemist and pharmacist, Luke Howard, like many who observed and studied the workings of the atmosphere at that time, was an amateur meteorologist.

Although he produced several landmark works including On the Modification of Clouds, The Climate of London, and Seven Lectures on Meteorology, the first textbook about weather, he was never trained as a scientist but from an early age, he had a fondness for nature and the weather, particularly the clouds.

Luke Howard divided clouds into basic shapes with Latin classifications: cumulus, stratus, cirrus, and nimbus.
Each cloud type is formed under different conditions.

His fascination with clouds started with the incredible skies of 1783 between May and August of that year. The Northern Hemisphere sky was filled with a "Great Fogg", a haze composed of dust and ash that caused brilliant sunrises and sunsets which resulted from the violent volcanic eruptions in Iceland (Eldeyjar) and Japan (Asama Yama).

In addition to the spectacle of the continuous volcanic ash in the sky, there was a fiery meteor which flashed across western European skies during the early evening of August 18, which was observed by the eleven year-old Luke Howard.

Before the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, most weather observers believed that clouds were too transient, too changeable, and too short-lived to be classified or even analyzed.

With few exceptions, no cloud types were named; they were just described by their color and form as each individual saw them: dark, white, gray, black, mare's tails, mackerel skies, wooly fleece, towers and castles, rocks and oxes-eyes.

Clouds were used in a few situations as weather forecasting proverbs, but mostly by their state of darkness or color:

"Red sky in morning, sailor take warning."

"Mackerel skies and mare's tails, make lofty ships carry low sails."


—Excerpts compiled from
Weather Doctor's Weather People and History;
Luke Howard: The Man Who Named the Clouds
and
— "The Father of Clouds" by Anne H. Oman in
Weather Nature in Motion; National Geographic Society;
Washington, D.C.; 2005; page 58.
This entry is located in the following unit: Meteorology or Weather Terms + (page 5)
marvels of the Maya
In 1839, Frederick Catherwood and John Lloyd Stephens explored Central America, visiting the Maya monuments of Copan, Palenque, and Uxmal. Stephens' fascination with the Maya has continued to these modern times.
This entry is located in the following unit: Archeology, Archaeology (page 5)
measuring the unverse
Our universe gives measurements of length, weight, and area in metric units because scientists use the metric system in their work.

Temperatures are measured in degrees Celsius (°C), also called centigrade, and in kelvins (sometimes abbreviated K).

Kelvins are used by astronomers to describe very high temperatures; such as, those in the sun and other stars.

This entry is located in the following unit: Astronomy and related astronomical terms (page 15)
Medical Orientation Words with Reference to the Body

Medical references as related to the body or anatomy.

This entry is located in the following unit: Index or Menu of Various Topics (page 1)
New Additions to the Search Area
A great deal of effort has been made since the last newsletter to include new words and definitions with some of the Latin and/or Greek elements in the search area. Such additions are indicated below for your consideration. Let me know if you have any desires for specific Latin and/or Greek word groups. So much to do and so little time to get them done.

  • There are thousands of English words that are derived from Latin and Greek sources which can be found by doing searches at this Cross-References Search page.
  • Again, if you don’t see what you would like to have, you are urged to let me know which Latin and/or Greek elements and related words and definitions you would like to see.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Focusing on Words Newsletter #07 (page 1)
  • Newly formed words from The Washington Post

    The Washington Post recently published a contest for readers in which they were asked to supply alternate meanings for various words. The following were some of the winning entries:


    • Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
    • Carcinoma (n.), a valley in California, notable for its heavy smog.
    • Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
    • Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.
    • Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
    • Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightie.
    • Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
    • Gargoyle (n.), an olive-flavored mouthwash.
    • Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon.
    • Flatulence (n.) the emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
    • Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
    • Semantics (n.), pranks conducted by young men studying for the priesthood, including such things as gluing the pages of the priest's prayer book together just before vespers.
    • Circumvent (n.), the opening in the front of boxer shorts.
    • Frisbatarianism (n.), The belief that, when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck there.

    The Washington Post's Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are some recent winners:

    • Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the reader who doesn't get it.
    • Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
    • Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very high.
    • Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of obtaining sex.
    • Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously.
    • Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.
    • Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like a serious bummer.
    • Glibido: All talk and no action.
    • Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
    • Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a refund from the IRS, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Focusing on Words Newsletter #10 (page 1)
    No rest for the wicked (adapted from Isaiah 57:20)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 4)
    noun (s) uncountable noun, used only in the singular form

    Go to this nouns page for information about usages and applications.

    This entry is located in the following unit: Parts of Speech for Word Entries (page 1)
    Out of the mouths of babes (Psalms 8:2, Matthew 21:16)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 4)
    paddling, tied at the elbows
    A gaiting fault, so named for its similarity to the swing and the dip of a canoeist's paddle.

    Pinching in at the elbows and shoulder joints causes the front legs to swing forward in a stiff outward arc.

    This entry is located in the following unit: Dog or Canine Terms + (page 8)
    Political problems in the U.S. with applicable quotes

      “Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.”

      —Will Rogers

      “Politicians say they’re beefing up our economy. Most don’t know beef from pork.”

      —Harold Lowman

      “Washington is a place where politicians don’t know which way is up and taxes don’t know which way is down.”

      —Robert Orben

      “Politics is the art of getting money from the rich and votes from the poor, with the pretext of protecting one from the other.”

      —Muy Interesante
    This entry is located in the following unit: Focusing on Words Newsletter #11 (page 1)
    Roget's II The New Thesaurus
    By the editors of The American Heritage Dictionary; Houghton Mifflin Company; Boston, Massachusetts; 1980.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Sources of Information; Words in Action (page 1)
    Science and Technology from the Past to 1799, Part 1
    An extensive list of Science and Technology terms from the past.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Index of Scientific and Technological Topics (page 2)
    Sign of the times (Matthew 16:3)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 4)
    Success with Words, A Guide to The American Language
    By The Reader's Digest Association, Inc; Pleasantville, New York; 1983.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Sources of Information; Words in Action (page 1)
    The 106-year-old Virginia McLaurin, an African-American, was very excited to meet the Obamas in the White House and she was dancing with joy.

    Ms. McLaurin was invited as part of a Black History Month celebration. “I thought I would never live to get into the White House and I tell you I am so happy to have a black president,” she said to the smiling Barack Obama and the first lady, Michelle Obama.

    Click on this link: to see the video posted by the White House as Virginia McLaurin opens her arms wide and greets Obama with an excited "Hi!".

    This entry is located in the following unit: Videos (page 1)
    The Better Way by Edgar A. Guest (1881-1959)
    I'd rather see a sermon

    Than hear one any day;

    I'd rather one should walk with me

    Than merely show the way.


    The eye's a better pupil,

    And more willing than the ear;

    Fine counsel is confusing,

    But example's always clear.


    The best of all the preachers

    Are the men who live their creeds,

    For to see good put in action,

    Is what everybody needs.


    I can soon learn how you do it,

    If you let me see it done;

    I can watch your hands in action,

    But your tongue too fast may run.


    And the lectures you deliver

    May be very wise and true;

    But I'd rather get my lesson,

    By observing what you do,


    For I may misunderstand you,

    And the high advice you give,

    But there's no misunderstanding

    How you act and how you live.

    This entry is located in the following unit: Poetry, Proverbs, Quotes, and Statements of Faith (page 1)
    The blind leading the blind (Matthew 15:14)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 4)
    The Colon :

    The colon by some is thought odd,
    And no wonder:
    Two periods make it,
    One over,
    One under.

    The colon resemble the eyes of a beast:
    A tiger,
    A fox,
    Or a tomcat at least —
    Two eyes ever looking, two eyes open wide,
    That belong to a creature that lies on its side.

    Unable to point or to say, "over there,"
    All the colon can do,
    And it does it,
    Is stare.
    So here's a suggestion: go on, if you please,
    To where it is looking, to see what it sees.

    —This poem is compiled from On Your Marks, A Package of Punctuation
    by Richard Armour; McGraw-Hill Book Company; New York; 1969; page 19.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Colon : (page 1)
    The Comma ,

    Consider the comma, most used of all marks.
    In back of a word,
    You will notice,
    It parks
    And waits for the reader and tells him or her to pause
    Before, let us say,
    He or she begins a new clause.

    Its head on the line and its tail hanging down,
    It looks like a polliwog trailing a noun,
    And, having no arms,
    There it clings by its chin,
    Amidst the fat words looking tiny and thin.

    Yet small though it is,
    It shows lion-like heart
    In keeping two parts of a sentence apart
    And helping the reader, down wordways careening,
    Get just the right emphasis,
    Just the right meaning.

    It doesn’t say, "Stop!"
    It says, "Caution" or "Slow,"
    And this can be very important, you know.

    —This poem is compiled from On Your Marks, A Package of Punctuation
    by Richard Armour; McGraw-Hill Book Company; New York; 1969; page 15.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Comma , (page 1)
    The Dash

    How dashing the dash is
    So straight and so narrow.
    It aims at a word like a spearor an arrow
    And luckily hasn't a point at one end
    Or it mightJust by accident
    Puncture a friend.

    But don't call it pointlessit passes for many
    For comma, parenthesesjust about any.
    It dashes about with the greatest devotion.
    It's blunt,
    It's abrupt
    It creates a commotion.

    It's used to gain emphasis, vigor, a touch
    Of surpriseand it's alsoby some
    Used too much.

    —This poem is compiled from On Your Marks, A Package of Punctuation
    by Richard Armour; McGraw-Hill Book Company; New York; 1969; page 31.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Dash (page 1)
    The Elephants that came to dinner
    This is an unusual appearance of elephants who walked through a restaurant as if it were part of their natural environment.

    Click on this link: The Elephants that came to dinner so you can see what happened.

    This entry is located in the following unit: Videos (page 1)
    The ends of the earth (Zechariah 9:10)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 4)
    The Exclamation Mark (Point) !

    Wham!
    Bang!
    Zowie!
    Oh!
    Here is a mark it's exciting to know.
    If it's called not a mark but a point, this is why:
    It points like a rocket right up at the sky,
    A rocket just launched from its pad with a blast
    And a swish! and a swoosh!
    And it's rising fast!

    It's slim
    And it's trim
    And it's soldier straight,
    Like a guard that's on guard at a palace gate.
    It's also like someone set free who was bound,
    Now joyfully jumping a foot off the ground.

    You find it with grim and you find it with gay,
    Not only with "ouch!"
    But, as often, "Hooray!"
    It's not for a whisper, it's more for a shout,
    So look for excitement when it is about!


    —This poem is compiled from On Your Marks, A Package of Punctuation
    by Richard Armour; McGraw-Hill Book Company; New York; 1969; page 23.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Exclamation ! (page 1)
    The four greatest risks to your mental health
    1. Excessive consumption of television.
    2. Neglect of reading challenging materials.
    3. Lack of stimulating conversation.
    4. Avoidance of challenging word (vocabulary) acquisitions from a variety of perspectives.

    It’s not what you get, it’s what you keep that counts!

    —John Rayoa
    This entry is located in the following unit: Focusing on Words Newsletter #08 (page 1)
    The Hyphen -

    Rated high is the hy-
    Phen, a mark that's divine
    When divid-
    Ing a word
    At the end of a line.
    The hyphen itself is a line, like the dash.
    It's an ex-dash, perhaps,
    That got caught in the crash
    And the clash and the mash
    Of two close-pressing words
    And was squeezed until shorter
    By fully two thirds.

    The dash is a wedge
    But the hyphen's like glue,
    Sticking this word to that,
    Making one word of two.
    It fixes prefixes
    Like anti- and pro-
    And fashions such phrases
    As to-and-fro.

    The dash may be longer, more dashing, exciting,
    But the hy-
    Phen's more use-
    Ful in read-
    Ing and writ-
    Ing.
    —This poem is compiled from On Your Marks, A Package of Punctuation
    by Richard Armour; McGraw-Hill Book Company; New York; 1969; page 33.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Hyphen - (page 1)
    The love of money is the root of all evil (Timothy 6:10)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 5)
    The missionary impulse
    Impulse: A sudden strong desire to do something suddenly and without thinking about the results of such an action.

    "Zealous amateurs have damaged the efforts of legitimate adoption services in Haiti (IHT editorial, February 27, 2010; page 6)."

    The Period .

    A period is a single small dot at the end of a group of words that have been written and it means that this is the end of a complete statement or sentence.

    The period is a warning to the reader that the statement is finished and so it must not be run together with whatever follows it.

    The idea that is stated in the sentence, or group of words, begins with a capital letter and ends with a period which is presented in the form of a simple assertion.

    The writer does not intend to ask the reader a question, nor does he or she want the reader to feel that the sentence is expressing a thought with great emphasis. It is simply stated and that's what the period tells readers.

    That is all anyone needs to know about the single little dot which is used as a mark of punctuation and is called a period. Oh, yes, remember that when an abbreviation occurs at the end of a sentence, or a statement, the abbreviation point and the period are combined into one dot and so the use of two dots is not necessary nor acceptable in normal English writing.


    Fat little period, round as a ball,
    You'd think it would roll,
    But it doesn't
    At all. Where it stops,
    There it plops,
    There it stubbornly stays,
    At the end of a sentence
    For days and days.

    "Get out of my way!"
    Cries the sentence. "Beware!"
    But the period seems not to hear or to care.
    Like a stone in the road,
    It won't budge, it won't bend.
    If it spoke, it would say to a sentence,
    "The end."

    —This poem is compiled from On Your Marks, A Package of Punctuation
    by Richard Armour; McGraw-Hill Book Company; New York; 1969; page 13.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Period . (page 1)
    The powers that be (Romans 13:1)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 5)
    The Question Mark ?

    This punctuation mark is well known and like the period, it means that a thought has been completely expressed, but it also tells the reader that the writer has not expressed the sentence or thought as an assertion but is asking something.

    "Jim fell down." "Jim fell down?" The first sentence means one thing; the second means something quite different.

    Since the initial capital letters and the three-worded thoughts are exactly the same in both sentences, the differences in meanings are communicated only by the different punctuation marks at the ends of the two sentences and these differences can be communicated in no other way known to writing and printing.


    Why is a question mark?
    What can it be?
    Already you've two of them. How about three?
    It looks like an acrobat perched on a ball
    Who has to be nimble or else he will fall.
    His legs come down straight,
    But his back is a curve,
    And keeping his balance
    Takes talent
    And Nerve.
    Or is it like smoke that comes lazily curling
    From a blaze underneath in a ball that is twirling?
    Or a hook used for hanging?
    Or maybe a genie
    Coming out of a bottle?
    (The bottle is teeny.)

    Whatever it looks like (have you a suggestion?),
    The question mark raises (and lowers) a question.
    No reason to scorn it or ever to doubt it.
    This mark's made its mark.
    Any question about it?

    —This poem is compiled from On Your Marks, A Package of Punctuation
    by Richard Armour; McGraw-Hill Book Company; New York; 1969; pages 20-21.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Questions Mark Punctuation (page 1)
    The results of a diagnostic test given to premedical students who were instructed to write short meanings for a list of medical terms

    artery, the study of paintings.

    bacteria, the back door of a cafeteria.

    barium, what doctors do when patients die.

    bowel, a letter like a, e, i, o, or u.

    caesarean section, a neighborhood in Rome.

    cat scan, searching for a lost cat.

    cauterize, making eye-contact with a girl.

    coma, a punctuation mark.

    dilate, to live a long time.

    enema, not a friend .

    euthanasia, Chinese, Japanese, etc. adolescents.

    fester, quicker.

    fibula, a small lie.

    genital, not a Jew.

    hangnail, a coat hook.

    impotent, distinguished, well known.

    labor pain, getting hurt at work.

    malfeasance, exorbitant charges for professional services.

    medical staff, a doctor’s cane.

    morbid, a higher offer.

    nitrates, cheaper than day rates.

    node, was aware of, knew.

    nosography

    1. The art of writing using a pen or pencil stuck up one’s nose.

    2. The writing done by a nasograph.

    outpatient, someone who has fainted.

    pap smear, a fatherhood test.

    pelvis, a cousin of Elvis.

    prophylactic, a person who favors birth control.

    recovery room, place to do upholstery.

    rectum, dang near killed ‘em.

    secretion, hiding something.

    seizure, famous Roman leader.

    tablet, a small table.

    terminal illness, getting sick at the airport.

    tumor, more than one.

    urine, opposite of “you’re out”.

    vein, conceited.

    —Source is unknown
    The root of the matter (Job 19:28)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 5)
    The salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 5)
    The Semicolon
    The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 5)
    The Straight and narrow (Matthew 7: 13/14)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 5)
    The writing is on the wall (Daniel 5: 5/6)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 5)
    There's nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 5)
    tragedy of the commons
    The degradation of commonly owned resources due to the lack of incentive for individual users to conserve them.

    Commons were originally shared grazing areas, which were generally overgrazed. The full expression was coined by Garrett Hardin in 1968.

    This entry is located in the following unit: Ocean and Deep Sea Terms (page 6)
    U.S. agency offers start-up fund to inventors aiming for the stars
    agency:
    start-up fund:
    inventors:

    "The U.S. government agency that helped invent the Internet now wants to do the same for travel to the stars."

    International Herald Tribune, August 18, 2011; page 1.
    Wash your hands of the matter (Matthew 27:24)
    This entry is located in the following unit: Bible Quotations used in modern English (page 5)
    Words at Work in the Print Media: INDEX

    Lists of words being used in news media headlines, subheadings, and excerpts from applicable articles.

    This entry is located in the following unit: Index or Menu of Various Topics (page 2)
    Words in the news

    In the December 28, 1998, issue of the International Herald Tribune in the William Safire column called, "Language", he wrote: "Now to the alleged mistake that drew the most mail. In a line about the pronunciation of status, I wrote, 'That is usually pronounced STAT-us, as in statistics, by the highfalutin, and STATE-us by the hoi polloi.' "

    "From Jim Tart of Dallas: 'My daughter Katie tells me that her eighth-grade teacher would have smacked her in the head with her grammar book had she said 'the hoi polloi'. Katie says hoi polloi means "the masses", and therefore should never be proceeded by the. Live by the sword and die by the sword."


    Thank you, Mr. Tart. (And when Katie comes by with her spelling book opened to preceded, watch your head.)

    This entry is located in the following unit: Focusing on Words Newsletter #05 (page 1)
    Words of Science and the History behind Them
    Isaac Asimov; Houghton Mifflin Company; Boston; 1959.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Sources of Information; Science and Technology (page 1)
    Write a number out that contains the letter a
    The first numerical word that consists of the letter a is "one thousand"; believe it, or not.
    This entry is located in the following unit: Number Challenges (page 1)