Word Power Made Easy - Norman Lewis 2014
4 How to talk about doctors (Sessions 4-6)
Part one. Getting off to a good start
Teaser preview
What is the title of the doctor who specializes in:
✵ internal medicine?
✵ female ailments?
✵ pregnancy and childbirth?
✵ the treatment and care of infants and young children?
✵ skin disorders?
✵ diseases of the eye?
✵ heart problems?
✵ the brain and nervous system?
✵ mental and emotional disturbances?
Session 4
In this chapter we discuss ten medical specialists—what they do, how they do it, what they are called.
Ideas
1. what's wrong with you?
To find out what ails you and why, this specialist gives you a thorough physical examination, using an impressive array of tests: X ray, blood chemistry, urinalysis, cardiogram, and so on.
An internist
2. female troubles?
This specialist treats the female reproductive and sexual organs.
A gynecologist
3. having a baby?
This specialist delivers babies and takes care of the mother during and immediately after the period of her pregnancy.
An obstetrician
4. is your baby ill?
You know the common childhood maladies—mumps, whooping cough, chicken pox, measles. This specialist limits his practice to youngsters, taking care of babies directly after birth, supervising their diet and watching over their growth and development, giving them the series of inoculations that has done so much to decrease infant mortality, and soothing their anxious parents.
A pediatrician
5. skin clear?
You have heard the classic riddle: “What is the best use for pigskin?” Answer: “To keep the pig together.” Human skin has a similar purpose: it is, if we get down to fundamentals, what keeps us all in one piece. And our outer covering, like so many of our internal organs, is subject to diseases and infections of various kinds, running the gamut from simple acne and eczemas through impetigo, psoriasis, and cancer. There is a specialist who treats all such skin diseases.
A dermatologist
6. eyes okay?
The physician whose specialty is disorders of vision (myopia, astigmatism, cataracts, glaucoma, etc.) may prescribe glasses, administer drugs, or perform surgery.
An ophthalmologist
7. how are your bones?
This specialist deals with the skeletal structure of the body, treating bone fractures, slipped discs, clubfoot, curvature of the spine, dislocations of the hip, etc., and may correct a condition either by surgery or by the use of braces or other appliances.
An orthopedist
8. does your heart go pitter-patter?
This specialist treats diseases of the heart and circulatory system.
A cardiologist
9. is your brain working?
This physician specializes in the treatment of disorders of the brain, spinal cord, and the rest of the nervous system.
A neurologist
10. are you neurotic?
This specialist attempts to alleviate mental and emotional disturbances by means of various techniques, occasionally drugs or electroshock, more often private or group psychotherapy.
A psychiatrist
Using the words
Can you pronounce the words?
Words take on a new color if you hear them in your own voice; they begin to belong to you more personally, more intimately, than if you merely hear or read them. As always, therefore, say the wards aloud to take the first, crucial step toward complete mastery.
Con you work with the words?
Match each doctor to the field.
Fields
1. mental or emotional disturbances
2. nervous system
3. skin
4. diagnosis; internal organs
5. infants
6. female reproductive organs
7. eyes
8. heart
9. pregnancy, childbirth
10. skeletal system
Doctors
a. internist
b. gynecologist
c. obstetrician
d. pediatrician
e. dermatologist
f. ophthalmologist
g. orthopedist
h. cardiologist
i. neurologist
j. psychiatrist
Key: 1-j, 2-i, 3-e, 4-a, 5-d, 6-b, 7-f, 8-h, 9-c, 10-g
Do you understand the words?
Key: 1-yes, 2-yes, 3-no, 4-no, 5-yes, 6-no, 7-yes, 8-no, 9-yes, 10-yes
Can you recall the words?
Write the name of the specialist you might visit or be referred to:
1. for a suspected brain disorder
2. for a thorough internal checkup
3. if you have a skin disease
4. if you have a heart problem
5. if you are tense, fearful, insecure
6. if you are pregnant
7. for some disorder of the female reproductive organs
8. for a checkup for your two-month-old child '
9. for faulty vision
10. for curvature of the spine
1. N ...
2. I ...
3. D ...
4. C ...
5. P ...
6. О ...
7. G ...
8. P ...
9. О ...
10. О ...
Key: 1-neurologist, 2-intemist, 3-dermatologist, 4-cardiologist, 5-psychiatrist, 6-obstetrician, 7-gynecologist, 8-pediatri- cian, 9-ophthalmologist, 10-orthopedist
(End of session 4)
Session 5. Origins and related words
1. inside you
Internist and internal derive from the same Latin root, internus, inside. The internist is a specialist in internal medicine, in the exploration of your insides. This physician determines the state of your internal organs in order to discover what’s happening within your body to cause the troubles you’re complaining of.
Do not confuse the internist with the intern (also spelled interne'), who is a medical graduate serving an apprenticeship inside a hospital.
2. doctors for women
The word gynecologist is built on Greek gyne, woman, plus logos, science; etymologically, gynecology is the science (in actual use, the medical science) of women. Adjective: gynecological 
Obstetrician derives from Latin obstetrix, midwife, which in turn has its source in a Latin verb meaning to stand—midwives stand in front of the woman in labor to aid in the delivery of the infant.
The suffix -ician, as in obstetrician, physician, musician, magician, electrician, etc., means expert.
Obstetrics 
has only within the last 150 years become a respectable specialty. No further back than 1834, Professor William P. Dewees assumed the first chair of obstetrics at the University of Pennsylvania and had to brave considerable medical contempt and ridicule as a result—the delivery of children was then considered beneath the dignity of the medical profession.
Adjective: obstetric 
or obstetriccd 
3. children
Pediatrician is a combination of Greek paidos, child; iatreia, medical healing; and -ician, expert.
Pediatrics 
then, is by etymology the medical healing of a child. Adjective: pediatric 
(The ped- you see in words like pedestal, pedal, and pedestrian is from the Latin pedis, foot, and despite the identical spelling in English has no relationship to Greek paidos.)
Pedagogy
which combines paidos with agogos, leading, is, etymologically, the leading of children. And to what do you lead them? To learning, to development, to growth, to maturity. From the moment of birth, infants are led by adults— they are taught, first by parents and then by teachers, to be selfsufficient, to fit into the culture in which they are bom. Hence, pedagogy, which by derivation means the leading of a child, refers actually to the principles and methods of teaching. College students majoring in education take certain standard pedagogy courses—the history of education; educational psychology; the psychology of adolescents; principles of teaching; etc. Adjective: pedagogical 
A pedagogue 
is versed in pedagogy. But pedagogue has an unhappy history. From its original, neutral meaning of teacher, it has deteriorated to the point where it refers, today, to a narrow-minded, strait-laced, old-fashioned, dogmatic teacher. It is a word of contempt and should be used with caution.
Like pedagogue, demagogue 
has also deteriorated in meaning. By derivation a leader (agogos) of the people (demos), a demagogue today is actually one who attempts, in essence, to mislead the people, a politician who foments discontent among the masses, rousing them to fever pitch by wild oratory, in an attempt to be voted into office.
Once elected, demagogues use political power to further their own personal ambitions or fortunes.
Many “leaders” of the past and present, in countries around the world, have been accused of demagoguery 
Adjective: demagogic 
4. skin-deep
See the syllables derma in any English word and you will know there is some reference to skin—for example, a hypodermic
needle penetrates under (Greek, hypos) the skin; the epidermis 
is the outermost layer of skin; a taxidermist 
whose business is taxidermy
prepares, stuffs, and mounts the skins of animals; a pachyderm 
is an animal with an un
usually thick skin, like an elephant, hippopotamus, or rhinoceros; and dermatitis 
is the general name for any skin inflammation, irritation, or infection.
5. the eyes have it
Ophthalmoiogist—note the ph preceding th—is from Greek ophthcdmos, eye, plus logos, science or study. The specialty is ophthalmology 
the adjective ophthal mological 
An earlier title for this physician, still occasionally used, is oculist 
from Latin oculus, eye, a root on which the following English words are also built:
1. ocular 
—an adjective that refers to the eye
2. monocle 
—a lens for one (monos) eye, sported by characters in old movies as a symbol of the British so-called upper class
3. binoculars 
—field glasses that increase the range of two (bi-) eyes
4. And, strangely enough, inoculate 
a word commonly misspelled with two n’s. When you are inoculated against a disease, an “eye,” puncture, or hole is made in your skin, through which serum is injected.
Do not confuse the ophthalmologist or oculist, a medical specialist, with two other practitioners who deal with the eye—the optometrist 
and optician 
Optometrists are not physicians, and do not perform surgery or administer drugs; they measure vision, test for glaucoma, and prescribe and fit glasses.
Opticians fill an optometrist’s or ophthalmologist’s prescription, grinding lenses according to specifications; they do not examine patients.
Optometrist combines Greek opsis, optikos, sightor vision, with metron, measurement—the optometrist, by etymology, is one who measures vision. The specialty is optometry 
Optician is built on opsis, optikos, plus -ician, expert. The specialty is optics (OP'-tiks).
Adjectives: optometric
or optometrical (op-
optical 
Review of etymology
Using the words
Can you pronounce the words? (I)
Can you pronounce the words? (ll)
Can you work with the words? (I)
1. gynecology
2. obstetrics
3. pediatrics
4. pedagogy
5. demagoguery
6. dermatology
7. taxidermy
a. principles of teaching
b. stuffing of skins of animals
c. specialty dealing with the delivery of newborn infants
d. stirring up discontent among the masses
e. treatment of skin diseases
f. specialty dealing with women’s diseases
g. specialty dealing with the treatment of children
Key: 1-f, 2-c, 3-g, 4-a, 5-d, б-e, 7-b
Can you work with the words? (II)
1. hypodermic
2. epidermis
3. pachyderm
4. dermatitis
5. ophthalmologist
6. optometrist
7. optician
a. elephant
b. eye doctor
c. under the skin
d. one who measures vision
e. lens grinder
f. outer layer of skin
g. inflammation of the skin
Key: 1—c, 2-f, 3-a, 4-g, 5-b, 6-d, 7-e
Do you understand the words?
Key: 1-yes, 2-yes, 3-no, 4-yes, 5-no, 6-no, 7-no, 8-yes, 9-no, 10-no, 11-yes, 12-no, 13-no
Can you recall the words?
1. specialty of child delivery
2. outer layer of skin
3. principles of teaching
4. thick-skinned animal
5. skin inflammation
6. one who foments political discontent
7. one who sells optical equipment
8. medical graduate serving his apprenticeship
9. treatment of childhood diseases
10. practice of stirring up political dissatisfaction for purely personal gain
11. one who stuffs the skins of animals
12. another title for ophthalmologist
13. treatment of female ailments
14. medical specialty relating to diseases of the eye
15. one-lens eyeglass
16. pertaining to the eye
17. one who measures vision
1. О ...
2. E ...
3. P ...
4. P ...
5. D ...
6. D ...
7. О ...
8. I ...
9. P ...
10. D ...
11. T ...
12. O ...
13. G ...
14. О ...
15. M ...
16. O ...
17. О ...
Key: 1-obstetrics, 2-epidermis, 3-pedagogy, 4-pachyderm, 5-dermatitis, 6-demagogue, 7-optician, 8-intem or interne, 9-pediatrics, 10-demagoguery, 11-taxidennist, 12-oculist, 13-gynecology, 14-ophthalmology, 15-monocle, 16-ocular, 17-optometrist
(End of Session 5)
Session 6. Origins and related words
1. the straighteners
The orthopedist is so called from the Greek roots orthos, straight or correct, and paidos, child. The orthopedist, by etymology, straightens children. The term was coined in 1741 by the author of a textbook on the prevention of childhood diseases—at that time the correction of spinal curvature in children was a main concern of practitioners of orthopedics 
Today the specialty treats deformities, injuries, and diseases of the bones and joints (of adults as well as children, of course), often by surgical procedures.
Adjective: orthopedic 
Orthodontia 
the straightening of teeth, is built on orthos plus odontos, tooth. The orthodontist 
specializes in improving your “bite,” retracting “buck teeth,” and by means of braces and other techniques seeing to it that every molar, incisor, bicuspid, etc. is exactly where it belongs in your mouth.
Adjective: orthodontic 
2. the heart
Cardiologist combines Greek kardia, heart, and logos, science.
The specialty is cardiology 
the adjective
Cardiological 
So a cardiac (KAHR'-dee-ak) condition refers to some malfunctioning of the heart; a cardiogram 
is an electrically produced record of the heartbeat. The instrument that produces this record is called a cardiograph 
3. the nervous system
Neurologist derives from Greek neuron, nerve, plus logos, science.
Specialty: neurology 
adjective: neurological 
Neuralgia 
is acute pain along the nerves and their branches; the word comes from neuron plus algos, pain.
Neuritis 
is inflammation of the nerves.
Neurosis 
combining neuron with -osis, a suffix meaning abnormal or diseased condition, is not, despite its etymology, a disorder of the nerves, but rather, as described by the late Eric Berne, a psychiatrist, “. . . an illness characterized by excessive use of energy for unproductive purposes so that personality development is hindered or stopped. A man who spends most of his time worrying about his health, counting his money, plotting revenge, or washing his hands, can hope for little emotional growth.”
Neurotic 
is both the adjective form and the term for a person suffering from neurosis.
4. the mind
A neurosis is not a form of mental unbalance. A full-blown mental disorder is called a psychosis 
a word built on Greek psyche, spirit, soul, or mind, plus -osis.
A true psychotic
has lost contact with reality—at least with reality as most of us perceive it, though no doubt psychotic (note that this word, like neurotic, is both a noun and an adjective) people have their own form of reality.
Built on psyche plus iatreia, medical healing, a psychiatrist by etymology is a mind-healer. The specialty is psychiatry 
the adjective is psychiatric
Pediatrics, as you know, is also built on iatreia, as is podiatry 
discussed in the next chapter, and geriatrics 
the specialty dealing with the particular medical needs of the elderly. (This word combines iatreia with Greek geras, old age.)
The specialist is a geriatrician 
the adjective is geriatric 
Review of etymology
Using the words
Can you pronounce the words (I)
Can you pronounce the words? (II)
Can you work with the words? (II)
1. orthopedics
2. orthodontia
3. neuralgia
4. neuritis
5. geriatrics
a. nerve pain
b. specialty dealing with medical problems of the elderly
c. straightening of teeth
d. inflammation of the nerves
e. treatment of skeletal deformities
Key: 1-e, 2-c, 3-a, 4-d, 5-b
Can you work with the words? (II)
1. cardiogram
2. cardiograph
3. neurosis
4. psychosis
5. psychiatry
a. record of heart beats
b. mental unbalance
c. emotional disturbance
d. treatment of personality disorders
e. instrument for recording heartbeats
Key: 1-a, 2-e, 3-c, 4-b, 5-d
Do you understand the words?
Key: 1-F, 2-T, 3-T, 4-T, 5-T, 6-F, 7-F, 8-T, 9-T, 10-T, 11-T, 12-F, 13-F
Can you recall the words?
1. specialist who straightens teeth
2. nerve pain
3. medical specialty dealing with bones and joints
4. medical specialty dealing with emotional disturbances and mental illness
5. inflammation of the nerves
6. emotional or personality disorder
7. mentally unbalanced
8. pertaining to the heart
9. specialty dealing with medical problems of the elderly
10. instrament that records heart action
11. record produced by such an instrument
1. О ...
2. N ...
3. О ...
4. P ...
5. N ...
6. N ...
7. P ...
8. C ...
9. G ...
10. C ...
11. C ...
Key: 1-orthodontist, 2-neuralgia, 3-orthopedics, 4-psychiatry, 5-neuritis, 6-neurosis, 7-psychotic, 8-cardiac, 9-geriatrics, 10-cardiograph, 11-cardiogram
Chapter review
A. Do you recognize the words?
1. Specialist in female ailments:
(a) obstetrician, (b) gynecologist, (c) dermatologist
2. Specialist in children’s diseases:
(a) orthopedist, (b) pediatrician, (c) internist
3. Specialist in eye diseases:
(a) cardiologist, (b) opthalmologist, (c) optician
4. Specialist in emotional disorders:
(a) neurologist, (b) demagogue, (c) psychiatrist
5. Pertaining to medical treatment of the elderly:
(a) neurological, (b) obstetric, (c) geriatric
6. Straightening of teeth:
(a) orthodontia, (b) orthopedic, (c) optometry
7. Personality disorder:
(a) neuritis, (b), neuralgia, (c) neurosis
8. Mentally unbalanced:
(a) neurotic, (b) psychotic, (c) cardiac
9. Principles of teaching:
(a) demagoguery, (b) pedagogy, (c) psychosis
Key: 1-b, 2-b, 3-b, 4-c, 5-c, б-a, 7-c, 8-b, 9-b
В. Can you recognize roots?
Key: 1-inside, 2-child, 3-foot, 4—leading, 5-people, 6-skin, 7-under, 8-eye, 9-eye, 10-view, vision, sight, 11-measurement, 12-straight, correct, 13-tooth, 14-heart, 15-science, study, 16-nerve, 17-pain, 18-mind, 19-medical healing, 20-old age
Teaser questions for the amateur etymologist
1. Thinking of the roots odontos and paidos (spelled ped- in English), figure out the meaning of pedodontia: ...
2. Recall the roots kardia and algos. What is the meaning of cardialgia?
3. Of odontalgia?
4. Nostos is the Greek word for a return (home). Can you combine this root with algos, pain, to construct the English word meaning homesickness?
(Answers in Chapter 18)
Two keys to success: self-discipline and persistence
You can achieve a superior vocabulary in a phenomenally short time—given self-discipline and persistence.
The greatest aid in building self-discipline is, as I have said, a matter of devising a practical and comfortable schedule for yourself and then keeping to that schedule.
Make sure to complete at least one session each time you pick up the book, and always decide exactly when you will continue with your work before you put the book down.
There may be periods of difficulty—then is the time to exert the greatest self-discipline, the most determined persistence.
For every page that you study will help you attain a mastery over words; every day that you work will add to your skill in understanding and using words.
(End of Session 6)
Brief Intermission Two
Random notes on modern usage
English grammar is confusing enough as it is—what makes it doubly confounding is that it is slowly but continually changing.
This means that some of the strict rules you memorized so painfully in your high school or college English courses may no longer be completely valid.
Following such outmoded principles, you may think you are speaking “perfect” English, and instead you may sound stuffy and pedantic.
The problem boils down to this: If grammatical usage is gradually becoming more liberal, where does educated, unaffected, informal speech end? And where does illiterate, ungrammatical speech begin?
The following notes on current trends in modem usage are intended to help you come to a decision about certain controversial expressions. As you read each sentence, pay particular attention to the italicized word or words. Does the usage square with your own language patterns? Would you be willing to phrase your thought in just terms? Decide whether the sentence is right or wrong, then compare your conclusion with the opinion given in the explanatory paragraphs that follow the test.
Test yourself
1. If you drink too many vodka martinis, you will surely get sick.
Right. The puristic objection is that get has only one meaning—namely, obtain. However, as any modem dictionary will attest, get has scores of different meanings, one of the most respectable of which is become. You can get tired, get dizzy, get drunk, or get sick—and your choice of words will offend no one but a pedant.
2. Have you got a dollar?
Right. If purists get a little pale at the sound of “get sick,” they turn chalk white when they hear have got as a substitute for have. But the fact is that have got is an established American form of expression. Jacques Barzun, noted author and literary critic, says: “Have you got is good idiomatic English—I use it in speech without thinking about it and would write it if colloquialism seemed appropriate to the passage.”
3. No ones loves you except I.
Wrong. In educated speech, me follows the preposition except. This problem is troublesome because, to the unsophisticated, the sentence sounds as if it can be completed to “No one loves you, except I do,” but current educated usage adheres to the technical rule that a preposition requires an objective pronoun (me).
4. Please lay down.
Wrong. Liberal as grammar has become, there is still no sanction for using lay with the meaning of recline. Lay means to place, as in "Lay your hand on mine.” Lie is the correct choice.
5. Who do you love?
Right. “The English language shows some disposition to get rid of whom altogether, and unquestionably it would be a better language with whom gone.” So wrote Janet Rankin Aiken, of Columbia University, way back in 1936. Today, many decades later, the “disposition” has become a full-fledged force.
The rules for who and whom are complicated, and few educated speakers have the time, patience, or expertise to bother with them. Use the democratic who in your everyday speech whenever it sounds right
6. Neither of these cars are worth the money.
Wrong. The temptation to use are in this sentence is, I admit, practically irresistible. However, “neither of” means “neither one of” and is, therefore, is the preferable verb.
7. The judge sentenced the murderer to be hung.
Wrong. A distinction is made, in educated speech, between hung and hanged. A picture is hung, but a person is hanged—that is, if such action is intended to bring about an untimely demise.
8. Mother, can I go out to play?
Right. If you insist that your child say may, and nothing but may, when asking for permission, you may be considered puristic. Can is not discourteous, incorrect, or vulgar—and the newest editions of the authoritative dictionaries fully sanction the use of can in requesting rights, privileges, or permission.
9. Take two spoonsful of this medicine every three hours.
wrong. There is a strange affection, on the part of some people, for spoonsful and cupsful, even though spoonsful and cupsful do not exist as acceptable words. The plurals are spoonfuls and cupfuls.
I am taking for granted, of course, that you are using one spoon and filling it twice. If, for secret reasons of your own, you prefer to take your medicine in two separate spoons, you may then properly speak of “two spoons full (not spoonsful) of medicine.” 10. Your words seem to infer that Jack is a liar.
Wrong. Infer does not mean hint or suggest. Imply is the proper word; to infer is to draw a conclusion from another’s words.
11. I will be happy to go to the concert with you.
Right. In informal speech, you need no longer worry about the technical and unrealistic distinctions between shall and will. The theory of modern grammarians is that shall-will differences were simply invented out of whole cloth by the textbook writers of the 1800s. As the editor of the scholarly Modern Language Forum at the University of California has stated, “The artificial distinction between shall and will to designate futurity is a superstition that has neither a basis in historical grammar nor the sound sanction of universal usage.” 12. It is me.
Right. This “violation” of grammatical “law” has been completely sanctioned by current usage. When the late Winston Churchill made a nationwide radio address from New Haven, Connecticut, many, many years ago, his opening sentence was: “This is me, Winston Churchill.” I imagine that the purists who were listening fell into a deep state of shock at these words, but of course Churchill was simply using the kind of down-to-earth English that had long since become standard in informal educated speech.
13. Go slow.
Right. “Go slow” is not, and never has been, incorrect English—every authority concedes that slow is an adverb as well as an adjective. Rex Stout, well-known writer of mystery novels and creator of Detective Nero Wolfe, remarked: “Not only do I use and approve of the idiom Go slow, but if I find myself with people who do not, I leave quick.”
14. Peggy and Karen are alumni of the same high school.
Wrong. As Peggy and Karen are obviously women, we call them alumnae 
only male graduates are alumni 
15. I would like to ask you a question.
Right. In current American usage, would may be used with I, though old-fashioned rules demand I should.
Indeed, in modem speech, should is almost entirely restricted to expressing probability, duty, or responsibility.
As in the case of the charitable-looking dowager who was approached by a seedy character seeking a handout.
“Madam,” he whined, “1 haven’t eaten in five days.”
“My good man,” the matron answered with great concern, “you should force yourself!”