Log or Blog of Words in the News and from Other Media Sources
(a presentation of word information for your vocabulary enhancement so you can increase your brain gain and decrease your brain drain)
This may not be a pleasant subject to discuss; however, sometimes we have to face the condition of having a hernia as explained at hernio-, herni-.
This is particularly personal because my doctor confirmed today with an ultrasonic exam that I have a hernia or rupture. Fortunately, I have no pain and because of my elderly condition, it was suggested that I not have an operation unless there is pain and I was cautioned to be careful when lifting things.
One source states that hernia probably comes from the Greek hermos, "a sprout", since it referred to the protruding bud of a plant.
The allusion originally was to any unsightly bulge from the body. Later, it was the essential definition established as a protrusion through an abnormal opening.
More specifically, a hernia often refers to an opening or weakness in the muscular structure of the wall of the abdomen. This defect causes a bulging of the abdominal wall.
This bulging is usually more noticeable when the abdominal muscles are tightened, thereby increasing the pressure in the abdomen. Examples of activities that can worsen a hernia are lifting, coughing, or even straining to have a bowel movement.
Imagine a barrel with a hole in its side and a balloon that is blown up inside the barrel. Part of the inflated balloon would bulge out through the hole. The balloon going through the hole is like the tissues of the abdomen bulging through a hernia.
Definitions with a humorous twist start with this "Dictionary with a Touch of Humor" page plus links to several additional pages of word-entertainment.
A synonym is the word you use when you can't spell the right one and therefore can't find it in the dictionary.
Words are one of our chief means of adjusting to all the situations of life. The better control we have over words, the more successful our adjustment is likely to be.
He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I ever met.
I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way.
Millions of Illiterates Pose World-Wide Threats to Economic Well Being!
Back in 1992, I wrote an article about how "several million people in the most advanced nations of Europe cannot read or write, according to an article in The European, a weekly British newspaper." (It was founded by Robert Maxwell and it lasted from May 11, 1990 until December, 1998).
The news paper stated that the economic performance of Europe may be severely hampered by "Europe's illiterate millions". Such illiteracy is not restricted to Third World nations. The most advanced countries have nothing to brag about.
The European also noted that the OECD, or the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development, had pointed out that: "Illiteracy is a sensitive issue in the industrialized world, including the United States."
In a separate editorial, The European asked, "How can people be encouraged to communicate across national borders if they cannot read or write in their own tongue?"
Now, I want to let you know about words that refer to cross references of word families related directly, or indirectly, to internal organs of the body. Although many of the entry words still need definitions, you can still get some kind of conception about the words that involve the "inside" of the body.
Human beings are creatures who know fools when they see them but not when they fit in the same category.
The human body is something that comes in only two forms, but in millions of shapes.
Here is another article of interest as seen in the Frankfurt Fair Dealer magazine and which involves the "Kindle" or Amazon's electronic e-book reader.
Amazon has given the international publishing community plenty to ponder as it gathers this week in Frankfurt. The pending (19 October) release of a $279 Kindle that will be available for sale in more than 100 countries has raised a variety of questions, the most pressing of which are
- How will the integrity of territorial rights be maintained?
- What will be the impact of digital editions on the open market?
- How will the international selling of English-language editions be priced and released?
An Amazon spokesperson said the e-tailer has worked with publishers to build a database that knows the correct territory where each of the 200,000 English-language titles available for sale through the international Kindle can be sold.
According to Amazon, each customer has a content catalogue associated with his or her region or country, and when a customer orders an e-book, Amazon will display the appropriate catalogue for the customer.
A customer in the UK, for example, will only be able to buy a British edition of an e-book. At present, all international customers will order e-books through their devices or from the main amazon.com website; in some cases multiple copies may appear in the database but Amazon will only allow customers to download the appropriate edition.
Amazon is establishing the prices, and in the UK those editions will be higher than the $9.99 Amazon charges for many American e-books. UK prices will range from $11.99 to $13.99, which includes VAT (value-added tax).
The number of "knowing, knowledge", and "learning" words is significant and there are many of them in English that come from Latin and Greek origins. If you go to this cogni-, cognosc- unit, you will be able to locate the many kinds of "knowing, learning" words that are used in our modern age; that is, if you utilize the links at the bottom of each page in this and the other word families.
Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subjet ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
Of all men's miseries, the bitterest is this; to know so much and to have control over nothing.
I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way.
A specialist is someone who may know a great deal about one thing but very little about other things.
You may think that words that include the letters lava- must have something to do with volcanoes, but if you visit this link, you will find that it contains many other "common" words and they have nothing to do with any volcanic material.
Keeping clean between the ears may be more important than keeping clean behind the ears.
Reading and Thinking Skills are Limited Primarily because of a Limited Vocabulary
Accessing the Word Info site can be your direct access to a greater vocabulary that will unlock the meanings to thousands of useful words for this and well into the decades ahead.
Exercise your word powers now and enjoy your intellectual growth with a more powerful vocabulary and experience the wonder of words by taking three kinds of self-scoring vocabulary quizzes.
To consider what is best for one's mental condition and potential health factors is the theme for today's word news.
This special report about brain enemies is something for people of all ages to be aware of because we need to have a better understanding of what can happen as we get older.
If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?
The brain is an anatomical organ that enables us to understand the workings of all our organs, except itself.
A brain becomes a mind when it is fortified with knowledge.
It may not be of interest to you, but it is rather amazing that there are so many words that come from Greek which refer to mirrors starting at this catoptro- unit. The words mirror, mirrors are explained in greater detail on this page link.
If you want to see how you look asleep, stand in front of a mirror with your eyes shut.
A mirror is a piece of glass so magnetic that no woman [or man] can walk past it without looking in it.
Are you one of those who knows how to remember the differences between certain "seed" words such as those that include "cede, ceed, and sede"? Here is a good mnemonic, or memory, device which will help you remember the differences between those seed elements and even another memory unit of words as shown in the related links that are indicated at the bottom of the unit pages.
Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.
How is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person?
Today I would like to introduce a significant number of moving, motion words starting with this alphabetical listing of cine-, cinem-, cinema- roots from Greek.
Again, you may take advantage of the links shown at the bottom of this word unit and each of the other word groups that you examine so you can see the varieties of "moving" words.
Can you remember when movies used to boast of being in technicolor instead of being off-color?
Once upon a time movies were rated on how good they were, not on who was allowed to see them.
Do something. Either lead, follow, or get out of the way!
Information about Noah Webster, as presented in his own words.
The subject of fat, obesity, etc. has been discussed in the news quite often lately. This lipo unit has links to several other topical areas of Latin and Greek elements that refer to "fat" at the bottom of each lipo page.
Fat is an instant on the lips, to a lifetime on the hips.
The oceans, or seas, are important factors in global existence and you can see the various words that are related to this topic by going to abysso-, abyss- where several other related unit links are available for your vocabulary expansion.
At the bottom of modern man there is always a great thirst for self-forgetfulness, self-distraction; and therefore he turns away from all those problems and abysses which might recall to him his own nothingness.
Science is proving that man can live in outer space and at the bottom of the sea. It's the area in between that's causing all the trouble.
This link will take you to the Focal Points of Information for links to other topics or subjects of interest.
