Positive or Negative?

I passed a chiropractor’s office this morning and he has a marquee with interesting quotes and pithy statements. Today it said, why is it called a positive lab test if it is usually bad news???

I am enthralled

I love the library! I found some CDs by a spectacular singer, Mario Frangoulis, in the International Popular music section. I had to play it as soon as I got in the car. I told my son, “I love this singer!”


“Love” has many meanings, but maybe we could be more clear if we said, “I enjoy eating pizza,” rather than saying “I love pizza!”

Don’t believe me about the verbal impact thing? How about music? You must admit that music and sounds have a noticeable influence on our physiology. Water sounds are very relaxing, or I wouldn’t find those adorable little fountains in so many offices. Some music energizes you, that’s why the exercise gurus play it. Some music elevates the soul.

Last night the librarian was telling me about a musical performance with a powerful, magnetic singer who just enthralled the whole audience (and even the ushers). She used the word “mesmerizing!”

Enthrall means to thrill, captivate or enslave. "Thrall" means a slave! It comes from Old Norse.


Love means like, adore, desire, delight in, find irresistible, feel attracted to, be fond of, be passionate about, be partial to, or have a weakness for. I wonder where it came from? My dictionary says it's from Old English, and related to the Dutch or Germanic word, Leubh. I think "love" is a definite improvement over Leubh. That does remind me of the Russian name Lyubov, which does mean love.

New Verbs

Oops! I almost wrote "I faxed it!" And although many people do use fax as a verb, I object to this abuse. It’s one thing to say it and another to write it! I’m all for the vernacular and colloquialisms, but I am also into orthography and grammar.

I understand google is also being used as a verb. This is the name of a mega-bucks huge (evil) corporation. Not a verb!

Actually, it does have a meaning in the English language. Google is a very large number within the field of mathematics, 10 with 100 zeroes behind it. I don't think it is used much anymore, I think the new term is bazillion. Bazillion is not yet in my dictionary.

What is it called when you transmute a noun into a verb? Improper! Stop this behavior at once!

School has started and I am back in teacher mode…

Bibliotherapy

I just read an article saying that many people are turning to self-help books for bibliotherapy.

Biblio means book in Greek. Therapeia means service.

Bibliotherapy means book therapy.

Bibliophile means book friend, or a lover of books.

I am a bibliophile as well as a philolog. Just in case you like books, too:

Bemused by the epilogue

We just finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Just what are "hallows" anyway? “Hallows” are sacred objects. I was familiar with this word because Hallow'een is All Souls Day, the day before All Hallows, or All Saints Day.

I find the language of the Harry Potter Books very interesting. In this book, the author uses the word “bemused” many times. “Bemused” is related to “amused” and comes to us from Old French. It means confused, bewildered, or pondering. I’m not confused by the epilogue, it is quite clear, but it does make me think (leave me pondering).

"Epilogue" came to us ultimately from Greek, "epi" means after and "logos" means word. So the epilogue is the After Word, or final scene.

I have thoroughly enjoyed all 7 books in the series and I am only disappointed that there won’t be any more. All the loose ends are neatly tied up in this brilliant novel.

(Maybe a little too neatly. How is Voldemort so powerful and yet so uninformed and unaware?)

Crunch!

Yes! Onomatopoeia. I've got to look up the spelling, because I am into orthography, as well as philology and etymology. If you keep reading, I will explain what all these things are. You won't have to pick up a dictionary, although it might be good exercise (and a good habit to pick up, as well).

Onomatopoeia is a fun word which is difficult to look up in the dictionary, unless you know Greek. I have studied Greek for more that 2 years. I’m sorry to report that I cannot carry on an intelligent conversation, but I can spell onomatopoeia and other big words! When I was looking this up a few days ago, I realized that onoma means name in Greek, so I went past o-n-a towards o-n-o to find it. And I even remembered that poe, pronounced “pee” means to write poetry, so it’s related to poem, poet, and poetry! They just pronounce it differently. So onomatopoeia is a word that says its own name, or a word that sounds like what it is. Think snap, crackle and pop! These are words that sound like the sounds they describe! Other examples: Babbling, as in babbling brook, Tinkle like a bell, Chirp like a bird, and Ding dong, also like a bell. There are many more, but I don’t like to show off, that would be pedantic.

Orthography comes from 2 Greek words: orthos meaning correct and grapho meaning to write or draw. So it means correct writing or spelling.

Philology also comes from Greek. It means the study of literature or language.

Etymology means the origin or history of words. It comes from Greek, of course.

High Falutin'

Is that short for high faluting? I've never seen it written out like that. That's weird. I guess it's a colloquialism. It isn't in my dictionary. But I know I've seen it in print. Maybe it was in the comics...

Please let me know if you have more information on this expression! This is the kind of thing that can drive me to distraction!