Word Power Made Easy - Norman Lewis 2014

6 How to talk about science and scientists (Sessions 11-13)
Part one. Getting off to a good start

Teaser preview

What scientist:

✵ is interested in the development of the human race?

✵ is a student of the heavens?

✵ explores the physical qualities of the earth?

✵ studies all living matter?

✵ is a student of plant life?

✵ is a student of animal life?

✵ is professionally involved in insects?

✵ is a student of language?

✵ is a student of the psychological effects of words?

✵ studies the culture, structure, and customs of different societies?

Session 11

A true scientist lives up to the etymological meaning of his title “one who knows.” Anything scientific is based on facts—observable facts that can be recorded, tested, checked, and verified.

Science, then, deals with human knowledge—as far as it has gone. It has gone very far indeed since the last century or two, when we stopped basing our thinking on guesses, wishes, theories that had no foundation in reality, and concepts of how the world ought to be; and instead began to explore the world as it was, and not only the world but the whole universe. From Galileo, who looked through the first telescope atop a tower in Pisa, Italy, through Pasteur, who watched microbes through a microscope, to Einstein, who deciphered riddles of the universe by means of mathematics, we have at last begun to fill in a few areas of ignorance.

Who are some of the more important explorers of knowledge—and by what terms are they known?

Ideas

1. whither mankind?

The field is all mankind—how we developed in mind and body from primitive cultures and early forms.

An anthropologist

2. what’s above?

The field is the heavens and all that’s in them—planets, galaxies, stars, and other universes.

An astronomer

3. and what's below?

The field is the comparatively little and insignificant whirling ball on which we live—the earth. How did our planet come into being, what is it made of, how were its mountains, oceans, rivers, plains, and valleys formed, and what’s down deep if you start digging?

A geologist

4. what is life?

The field is all living organisms—from the simplest one-celled amoeba to the amazingly complex and mystifying structure we call a human being. Plant or animal, flesh or vegetable, denizen of water, earth, or air—if it lives and grows, this scientist wants to know more about it.

A biologist

5. flora

Biology classifies life into two great divisions—plant and animal. This scientist’s province is the former category—flowers, trees, shrubs, mosses, marine vegetation, blossoms, fruits, seeds, grasses, and all the rest that make up the plant kingdom.

A botanist

6. and fauna

Animals of every description, kind, and condition, from birds to bees, fish to fowl, reptiles to humans, are the special area of exploration of this scientist.

A zoologist

7. and all the little bugs

There are over 650,000 different species of insects, and millions of individuals of every species—and this scientist is interested in every one of them.

An entomologist

8. tower of Babel

This linguistic scientist explores the subtle, intangible, elusive uses of that unique tool that distinguishes human beings from all other forms of life—to wit: language. This person is, in short, a student of linguistics, ancient and modem, primitive and cultured, Chinese, Hebrew, Icelandic, Slavic, Teutonic, and every other kind spoken now or in the past by human beings, not excluding that delightful hodgepodge known as “pidgin English,” in which a piano is described as “big box, you hit ’um in teeth, he cry,” and in which Hamlet’s famous quandary, “To be or not to be, that is the question . . . ,” is translated into “Can do, no can do—how fashion?”

A philologist

9. what do you really mean?

This linguistic scientist explored the subtle, intangible, elusive relationship between language and thinking, between meaning and words; and is interested in determining the psychological causes and effects of what people say and write.

A semanticist

10. who are your friends and neighbors?

This scientist is a student of the ways in which people live together, their family and community structures and customs, their housing, their social relationships, their forms of government, and their layers of caste and class.

A sociologist

Using the words

Can you pronounce the words?

Can you work with the words?

Scientist

1. anthropologist

2. astronomer

3. geologist

4. biologist

5. botanist

6. zoologist

7. entomologist

8. philologist

9.semanticist

10. sociologist

Professional field

a. community and family life

b. meanings and psychological effects of words

c. development of the human race

d. celestial phenomena

e. language

f. insect forms

g. the earth

h. all forms of living matter

i. animal life

j. plant life

Key: 1-c, 2-d, 3-g, 4-h, 5-j, 6-i, 7-f, 8-e, 9-b, 10-a

Can you recall the words?

1. insects

2. language

3. social conditions

4. history of development of mankind

5. meanings of words

6. plants

7. the earth

8. the heavenly bodies

9. all living things

10. animals

1. E ...

2. P ...

3. S ...

4. A ...

5. S ...

6. В ...

7. G ...

8. A ...

9. В ...

10. Z ...

Key: 1-entomologist, 2-philologist, 3-sociologist, 4-anthropolo- gist, 5-scmanticist, 6-botanist, 7-geologist, 8-astronomer, 9-biologist, 10-zoologist

(End of Session 11)

Session 12 Origins and related words

1. people and the stars

Anthropologist is constructed from roots we are familiar with — anthropos, mankind, and logos, science, study.

The science is anthropology Can you write the adjective form of this word? ... (Can you pronounce it?)

Astronomer is built on Greek astron, star, and nomos, arrangement, law, or order. The astronomer is interested in the arrangement of stars and other celestial bodies. The science is astronomy the adjective is astronomical a word often used in a non-heavenly sense, as in “the astronomical size of the national debt.” Astronomy deals in such enormous distances (the sun, for example, is 93,000,000 miles from the earth, and light from stars travels toward the earth at 186,000 miles per second) that the adjective astronomical is applied to any tremendously large figure.

Astron, star, combines with logos to form astrology which assesses the influence of planets and stars on human events. The practitioner is an astrologerCan you form the adjective? ... (Can you pronounce it?)

By etymology, an astronaut is a sailor among the stars (Greek nautes, sailor). This person is termed with somewhat less exaggeration a cosmonaut by the Russians (Greek, kosmos, universe). Nautical relating to sailors, sailing, ships, or navigation, derives also from nautes, and nautes in turn is from Greek naus, ship—a root used in nausea (etymologically, ship-sickness or seasickness!).

Asteris a star shaped flower. Asterisk ( a star-shaped symbol, is generally used in writing or printing to direct the reader to look for a footnote. Astrophysics is that branch of physics dealing with heavenly bodies.

Disaster and disastrous also come from astron, star. In ancient times it was believed that the stars ruled human destiny; any misfortune or calamity, therefore, happened to someone because the stars were in opposition. (Dis-, a prefix of many meanings, in this word signifies against.)

Nomos, arrangement, law, or order, is found in two other interesting English words.

For example, if you can make your own laws for yourself, if you needn’t answer to anyone else for what you do, in short, if you are independent, then you enjoy autonomy a word that combines nomos, law, with autos, self. Autonomy, then, is self-law, self-government. The fifty states in our nation are fairly autonomousbut not completely so. On the other hand, in most colleges each separate department is pretty much autonomous. And of course, one of the big reasons for the revolution of 1776 was that America wanted autonomy, rather than control by England.

You know the instrument that beginners at the piano use to guide their timing? A pendulum swings back and forth, making an audible click at each swing, and in that way governs or orders the measure(or timing) of the player. Hence it is called a metronome a word that combines nomos with metron, measurement.

2. the earth and its life

Geologist derives from Greek ge (geo-), earth. The science is geology Can you write the adjective? ... (Can you pronounce it?)

Geometry —ge plus metron—by etymology “measurement of the earth,” is that branch of mathematics treating of the measurement and properties of solid and plane figures, such as angles, triangles, squares, spheres, prisms, etc. (The etymology of the word shows that this ancient science was originally concerned with the measurement- of land and spaces on the earth.)

The mathematician is a geometrician the adjective is geometric

Geographyis writing about (graphein, to write), or mapping, the earth. A practitioner of the science is a geographerthe adjective is geographic

(The name George is also derived from ge (geo-), earth, plus ergon, work—the first George was an earth-worker or farmer.)

Biologist combines bios, life, with logos, science, study. The science is biology The adjective? ...

Bios, life, is also found in biographywriting about someone’s life; autobiographythe story of one’s life written by oneself; and biopsy a medical examination, or view (opsis, optikos, view, vision), generally through a microscope, of living tissue, frequently performed when cancer is suspected. A small part of the tissue is cut from the affected area and under the microscope its cells can be investigated for evidence of malignancy. A biopsy is contrasted with an autopsy which is a medical examination of a corpse in order to discover the cause of death. Th autos in autopsy means, as you know, self—in an autopsy, etymologically speaking, the surgeon or pathologist determines, by actual view or sight rather than by theorizing (i.e., “by viewing or seeing for oneself’), what brought the corpse to its present grievous state. Botanist is from Greek botane, plant. The field is botany the adjective is botanical

Zoologist is from Greek zoion, animal. The science is zoology. The adjective? ... The combination of the two o’s tempts many people to pronounce the first three letters of these words in one syllable, thus: zoo. However, the two o’s should be separated, as in co-operate, even though no hyphen is used in the spelling to indicate such separation. SayZoo, a park for animals, is a shortened form of zoological gardens, and is, of course, pronounced in one syllable.

The zodiac is a diagram, used in astrology, of the paths of the sun, moon, and planets; it contains, in part, Latin names for various animals—scorpio, scorpion; leo, lion; cancer, crab; taurus, bull; aries, ram; and pisces, fish. Hence its derivation from zoion, animal.

The adjective is zodiacal

Review of etymology

Using the words

Can you pronounce the words? (I)

Can you pronounce the words? (II)

Can you pronounce the words? (Ill)

Can you work with the words? (I)

1. anthropology

2. astronomy

3. astrology

4. geology

5. biology

6. geometry

7. botany

8. zoology

9. geography

a. theory of the influence of planets and stars on human events

b. science of earth-mapping

c. science of all living matter

d. science of human development

e. science of plants

f. science of the composition of the earth

g. science of animal life

h. science of the heavens

i. mathematical science of figures, shapes, etc.

Key: 1-d, 2-h, 3-a, 4-f, 5-c, 6-i, 7-e, 8-g, 9-b

Can you work with the words? (II)

1. autopsy

2. biopsy

3. biography

4. autobiography

5. zodiac

6. astronaut

7. cosmonaut

8. aster

9. disaster

10. autonomy

11. metronome

a. “sailor among the stars”

b. star-shaped flower

c. story of one’s own life

d. dissection and examination of a corpse to determine the cause of death

e. great misfortune

f. “sailor of the universe”

g. story of someone’s life

h. diagram of paths of sun, moon, and planets

i. instrument to measure musical time

j. self-rule

k. examination of living tissue

Key: 1-d, 2-k, 3-g, 4-c, 5-h, 6-a, 7-f, 8-b, 9-e, 10-j, 11-i

Do you understand the words?

Key: 1-no, 2-no, 3-yes, 4-yes, 5-yes, 6-yes, 7-yes, 8-yes, 9-yes, 10-yes, 11-yes, 12-no, 13-no, 14—no, 15-no

Can you recall the words? (I)

1. pertaining to the science of animals (adj.)

2. pertaining to the science of plants (adj.)

3. dissection of a corpse to determine the cause of death

4. story of one’s life, self-written

5. pertaining to the science of all living matter (adj.)

6. science of the measurement of figures

7. pertaining to the science of the earth’s composition (adj.)

8. branch of physics dealing with the composition of celestial bodies

9. star-shaped flower

10. very high in number; pertaining to the science of the heavens (adj.)

11. science of heavenly bodies

12. science of the development of mankind

13. person who believes human events are influenced by the paths of the sun, moon, and planets

1. Z ...

2. В ...

3. A ...

4. A ...

5. В ...

6. G ...

7. G ...

8. A ...

9. A ...

10. A ...

11. A ...

12. A ...

13. A ...

Key: 1-zoological, 2-botanical, 3-autopsy, 4-autobiography, 5-biological, б-geometry, 7-geological, 8-astrophysics, 9-aster, 10-astronomical, 11-astrdnomy, 12-anthropology, 13-astrologer

Can you recall the words? (II)

1. microscopic examination of living tissue

2. self-government

3. time measurer for music

4. voyager among the stars

5. traveler through the universe

6. great misfortune

7. mapping of the earth (noun)

8. self-governing (adj.)

9. diagram used in astrology

10. pertaining to such a diagram (adj.)

11. pertaining to ships, sailing, etc.

12. star-shaped symbol

13. story of a person’s life

1. B ...

2. A ...

3. M ...

4. A ...

5. C ...

6. D ...

7. G ...

8. A ...

9. Z ...

10. Z ...

11. N ...

12. A ...

13. B ...

Key: 1-biopsy, 2-autonomy, 3-metronome, 4-astronaut, 5-cos- monaut, 6-disaster, 7-geography, 8-autonomous, 9-zodiac, 10-zodiacal, 11-nautical, 12-asterisk, 13-biography

(End of Session 12)

Session 13 Origins and related words

1. cutting in and out

Flies, bees, beetles, wasps, and other insects are segmented creatures—head, thorax, and abdomen. Where these parts join, there appears to the imaginative eye a “cutting in” of the body.

Hence the branch of zoology dealing with insects is aptly named entomology, from Greek en-, in, plus tome, a cutting. The adjective is entomological

(The word insect makes the same point—it is built on Latin in- in, plus sectus, a form of the verb meaning to cut.)

The prefix ec-, from Greek ek-, means out. (The Latin prefix, you will recall, is ex-.) Combine ec- with tome to derive the words for surgical procedures in which parts are “cut out,” or removed: tonsillectomy (the tonsils), appendectomy (the appendix), mastectomy (the breast), hysterectomy (the uterus), prostatectomy (the prostate), etc.

Combine ec- with Greek kentron, center (the Latin root, as we have discovered, is centrum), to derive eccentric out of the center, hence deviating from the normal in behavior, attitudes, etc., or unconventional, odd, strange. The noun is eccentricity

2. more cuts

The Greek prefix a- makes a root negative; the atom was so named at a time when it was considered the smallest possible particle of an element, that is, one that could not be cut any further. (We have long since split the atom, of course, with results, as in most technological advances, both good and evil.) The adjective is atomic

The Greek prefix ana- has a number of meanings, one of which is up, as in anatomy originally the cutting up of a plant or animal to determine its structure, later the bodily structure itself. The adjective is anatomical

Originally any book that was part of a larger work of many volumes was called a tome — etymologically, a part cut from the whole. Today, a tome designates, often disparagingly, an exceptionally large book, or one that is heavy and dull in content.

The Greek prefix dicha-, in two, combines with tome to construct dichotomy a splitting in two, a technical word used in astronomy, biology, botany, and the science of logic. It is also employed as a non-technical term, as when we refer to the dichotomy in the life of a man who is a government clerk all day and a night-school teacher after working hours, so that his life is, in a sense, split into two parts. The verb is dichotomize the adjective is dichotomous

Dichotomous thinking is the sort that divides everything into two parts—good and bad; white and black; Democrats and Republicans; etc. An unknown wit has made this classic statement about dichotomous thinking: “There are two kinds of people: those who divide everything into two parts, and those who do not.”

Imagine a book, a complicated or massive report, or some other elaborate document—now figuratively cut on or through it so that you can get to its essence, the very heartof the idea contained in it. What you have is an epitome a condensation of the whole. (From epi-, on, upon, plus tome.)

An epitome may refer to a summary, condensation, or abridgment of language, as in “Let me have an epitome of the book,” or “Give me the epitome of his speech.”

More commonly, epitome and the verb epitomize are used in sentences like “She is the epitome of kindness,” or “That one act epitomizes her philosophy of life.” If you cut everything else away to get to the essential part, that part is a representative cross-section of the whole. So a woman who is the epitome of kindness stands for all people who are kind; and an act that epitomizes a philosophy of life represents, by itself, the complete philosophy.

3. love and words

Logos, we know, means science or study; itmay also mean word or speech, as it does in philology etymologically the love of words (from Greek philein, to love, plus logos), or what is more commonly called linguistics the science of language, a term derived from Latin lingua, tongue.

Can you write, and pronounce, the adjective form of philology?

4. more love

Philanthropy is by etymology the love of mankind—one who devotes oneself to philanthropy is a philanthropist as we learned in Chapter 3; the adjective is philanthropic

The verb philanderto “play around” sexually, be promiscuous, or have extramarital relations, combines philein with andros, male. (Philandering, despite its derivation, is not of course exclusively the male province. The word is, in fact, derived from the proper name conventionally given to male lovers in plays and romances of the 1500s and 1600s.) One who engages in the interesting activities catalogued above is a philanderer

By etymology, philosophy is the love of wisdom (Greek sophos, wise); Philadelphia is the City of Brotherly Love (Greek adel- phos, brother); philharmonic is the love of music or harmony (Greek harmonia, harmony); and a philter, a rarely used word, is a love potion. Today we call whatever arouses sexual desire an aphrodisiac from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

Aphrodisiac is an adjective as well as a noun, but a longer adjective form, aphrodisiacal is also used.

A bibliophile is one who loves books as collectibles, admiring their binding, typography, illustrations, rarity, etc.—in short, a book collector. The combining root is Greek biblion, book.

An Anglophileadmires and is fond of the British people, customs, culture, etc. The combining root is Latin Anglus, English.

5. words and how they affect people

The semanticist is professionally involvedin semantics The adjective is semantic or semantical

Semantics, like orthopedics, pediatrics, and obstetrics, is a singular noun despite the -s ending. Semantics is, not are, an exciting study. However, this rule applies only when we refer to the word as a science or area of study. In the following sentence, semantics is used as a plural: “The semantics of your thinking are all wrong.”

Two stimulating and highly readable books on the subject, well worth a visit to the library to pick up, are Language in Thought and Action, by S. I. Hayakawa, and People in Quandaries, by Dr. Wendell Johnson.

6. how people live

The profession of the sociologist is sociology Can you write, and pronounce, the adjective? ...

Sociology is built on Latin socius, companion,* plus logos, science, study. Socius is the source of such common words as associate, social, socialize, society, sociable, and antisocial; as well as asocial which combines the negative prefix a- with socius.

* Companion itself has an interesting etymology—Latin com-, with, plus panis, bread. If you are social, you enjoy breaking bread with companions. Pantry also comes from panis, though far more than bread is stored there.

The antisocial person actively dislikes people, and often behaves in ways that are detrimental or destructive to society or the social order (anti-, against).

On the other hand, someone who is asocial is withdrawn and self-centered, avoids contact with others, and feels completely indifferent to the interests or welfare of society. The asocial person doesn’t want to “get involved.”

Review of etymology

Using the words

Can you pronounce the words? (I)

Can you pronounce the words? (II)

Can you pronounce the words? (Ill)

Can you work with the words? (I)

1. entomology

2. eccentricity

3. anatomy

4. dichotomy

5. epitome

6. philology

7. semantics

8. sociology

9. aphrodisiac

10. philanthropy

a. physical structure

b. summary; representation of the whole

c. science of the meanings and effects of words

d. linguistics

e. science dealing with insects

f. science of social structures and customs

g. charitable works

h. that which causes sexual arousal

i. strangeness; oddness; unconventionality

j. condition or state of being split into two parts

Key: 1-e, 2-i, 3-a, 4-j, 5-b, 6-d, 7-c, 8-f, 9-h, 10-g

Can you work with the words? (II)

1. dichotomize

2. epitomize

3. philander

4. philter

5. bibliophile

6. Anglophile

7. asocial

8. tome

9. philological

10. sociological

a. dull, heavy book

b. love potion; aphrodisiac

c. pertaining to the study of language

d. one fond of British people, customs, etc.

e. pertaining to the science of group cultures, conventions, etc.

f. to split in two

g. withdrawn from contact with people

h. book collector

i. to summarize

j. to engage in extramarital sex

Key: 1-f, 2-i, 3-j, 4-b, 5-h, б-d, 7-g, 8-a, 9-c, 10-e

Do you understand the words?

Key: 1-no, 2-yes, 3-yes, 4-no, 5-no, 6-no, 7-yes, 8-yes, 9-no, 10-no

Can you recall the words?

1. pertaining to the study of social customs (adj.)

2. pertaining to the psychological effects of words (adj.}

3. lover and collector of books

4. make love promiscuously

5. pertaining to the science of linguistics (adj.)

6. pertaining to the study of insects (adj.)

7. one who admires British customs

8. smallest particle, so-called

9. pertaining to the structure of a body (adj.)

10. a dull, heavy book

11. split in two (adj.)

12. to split in two

13. a condensation, summary, or representation of the whole

14. to stand for the whole; to summarize

15. pertaining to charitable activities (adj.)

16. out of the norm; odd

17. one who “plays around”

18. arousing sexual desire (adj.)

19. science of the manner in which groups function

20. self-isolated from contact with people

1. S ...

2. S ... or S ...

3. В ...

4. P ...

5. P ...

6. E ...

7. A ...

8. A ...

9. A ...

10. T ...

11. D ...

12. D ...

13. E ...

14. E ...

15. P ...

16. E ...

17. P ...

18. A ... or A ...

19. S ...

20. A ...

Key: 1-sociological, 2-semantic or semantical, 3-bibliophile, 4-philander, 5-philological, 6-entomological, 7-Anglophile, 8-atom, 9-anatomical, 10-tome, 11-dichotomous,

12-dichotomize, 13-epitome, 14-epitomize, 15-philanthropic, 16-eccentric, 17-philanderer, 18-aphrodisiac or aphrodisiacal, 19-sociology, 20-asocial

Chapter review

A. Do you recognize the words?

1. Student of the stars and other heavenly phenomena: (a) geologist, (b) astronomer, (c) anthropologist

2. Student of plant life: (a) botanist, (b) zoologist, (c) biologist

3. Student of insect life: (a) sociologist, (b) entomologist, (c) etymologist "

4. Student of the meaning and psychology of words: (a) philologist, (b) semanticist, (c) etymologist

5. Analysis of living tissue: (a) autopsy, (b) biopsy, (c) autonomy

6. That which arouses sexual desire: (a) zodiac, (b) bibliophile, (c) aphrodisiac

7. Self-governing: (a) autobiographical, (b) autonomous, (c) dichotomous

8. Part that represents the whole: (a) epitome, (b) dichotomy, (c) metronome

9. One who physically travels in space: (a) astronomer, (b) astrologer, (c) astronaut

10. One who has extramarital affairs: (a) cosmonaut, (b) philanderer, (c) philanthropist

Key: 1-b, 2-a, 3-b, 4-b, 5-b, 6-c, 7-b, 8-a, 9-c, 10-b

B. Can you recognize roots?

Key: 1-mankind, 2-word, speech, 3-star, 4-sailor, 5-law, order, arrangement, 6-self, 7-earth, 8-to write, 9-view, vision, sight, 10-animal, 11-a cutting, 12-cut, 13-tongue, 14-to love, 15-wise, 16-book, 17-English, 18-companion, 19-science, study, 20-life

Teaser question for the amateur etymologist

1. Recalling the root sophos, wise, and thinking of the English word moron, write the name given to a second-year student in high school or college: ... Etymologically, what does this word mean? ...

2. Based on the root sophos, what word means worldly-wise?

3. Thinking of bibliophile, define bibliomaniac: ...

4. These three words, based on lingua, tongue, use prefixes we have discussed. Can you define each one?

(a) monolingual ...

(b) bilingual ...

(c) trilingual ...

Can you, now, guess at the meaning of multilingual? ...

How about linguist? ...

What do you suppose the Latin root multus means? ...

(Think of multitude.)

5. With Anglophile as your model, can you figure out what country and its people, customs, etc. each of the following admires?

(a) Francophile ...

(b) Russophile ...

(c) Hispanophile ...

(d) Germanophile ...

(e) Nipponophile ...

(f) Sinophile ...

6. Using roots you have learned, and with bibliophile as your model, can you construct a word for:

(a) one who loves males: ...

(b) one who loves women: ...

(c) one who loves children: ...

(d) one who loves animals: ...

(e) one who loves plants: ...

(Answers in Chapter 18)

Where to get new ideas

People with superior vocabularies, I have submitted, are the people with ideas. The words they know are verbal symbols of the ideas they are familiar with—reduce one and you must reduce the other, for ideas cannot exist without verbalization. Freud once had an idea—and had to coin a whole new vocabulary to make his idea clear to the world. Those who are familiar with Freud’s theories know all the words that explain them—the unconscious, the ego, the id, the superego, rationalization, Oedipus complex, and so on. Splitting the atom was once a new idea—anyone familiar with it knew something about fission, isotope, radioactive, cyclotron, etc.

Remember this: your vocabulary indicates the alertness and range of your mind. The words you know show the extent of your understanding of what’s going on in the world. The size of your vocabulary varies directly with the degree to which you are growing intellectually.

You have covered so far in this book several hundred words. Having learned these words, you have begun to think of an equal number of new ideas. A new word is not just another pattern of syllables with which to clutter up your mind—a new word is a new idea to help you think, to help you understand the thoughts of others, to help you express your own thoughts, to help you live a richer intellectual life.

Realizing these facts, you may become impatient. You will begin to doubt that a book like this can cover all the ideas that an alert and intellectually mature adult wishes to be acquainted with. Your doubt is well-founded.

One of the chief purposes of this book is to get you started, to give you enough of a push so that you will begin to gather momentum, to stimulate you enough so that you will want to start gathering your own ideas.

Where can you gather them? From good books on new topics.

How can you gather them? By reading on a wide range of new subjects.

Reference has repeatedly been made to psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis in these pages. If your curiosity has been piqued by these references, here is a good place to start. In these fields there is a tremendous and exciting literature—and you can read as widely and as deeply as you wish.

What I would like to do is offer a few suggestions as to where you might profitably begin—how far you go will depend on your own interest.

I suggest, first, half a dozen older books (older, but still immensely valuable and completely valid) available at any large public library.

The Human Mind, by Karl A. Menninger

Mind and Body, by Flanders Dunbar

The Mind in Action, by Eric Berne

Understandable Psychiatry, by Leland E. Hinsie

A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis, by Sigmund Freud Emotional Problems of Living, by O. Spurgeon English and Gerald H. J. Pearson

Next, I suggest books on some of the newer approaches in psychology. These are available in inexpensive paperback editions as well as at your local library.

I Ain’t Well—But I Sure Am Better, by Jess Lair, Ph.D, The Disowned Self, by Nathaniel Brandon

A Primer of Behavioral Psychology, by Adelaide Bry

I’m OK—You’re OK, by Thomas A. Harris, M.D.

Freedom to Be and Man the Manipulator, by Everett L. Shostrum

Games People Play, by Eric Berne, M.D.

Love and Orgasm, Pleasure and The Language of the Body, by Alexander Lowen, M.D.

The Transparent Self, by Sydney M. Jourard

Don’t Say Yes When You Want to Say No, by Herbert Fen- sterheim and Jean Baer

Gestalt Therapy Verbatim, by Frederick S. Peris

Bom to Win, by Muriel James and Dorothy Jongeward

Joy and Here Comes Everybody, by William C. Schutz

The Fifty-Minute Hour, by Robert Lindner

(End of Session 13)

Brief Intermission Four

How to avoid being a purist

Life, as you no doubt realize, is complicated enough these days. Yet puristic textbooks and English teachers with puristic ideas are striving to make it still more complicated. Their contribution to the complexity of modern living is the repeated claim that many of the natural, carefree, and popular expressions that most of us use every day are “bad English,” “incorrect grammar,” “vulgar,” or “illiterate.”

In truth, many of the former restrictions and “thou shalt nots” of academic grammar are now outmoded—most educated speakers quite simply ignore them.

Students in my grammar classes at Rio Hondo College are somewhat nonplused when they discover that correctness is not determined by textbook rules and cannot be enforced by schoolteacher edict. They invariably ask: “Aren’t you going to draw the line somewhere?”

It is neither necessary nor possible for any one person to “draw the line.” That is done—and quite effectively—by the people themselves, by the millions of educated people throughout the nation.

Of course certain expressions may be considered “incorrect” or “illiterate” or “bad grammar”—not because they violate puristic rules, but only because they are rarely if ever used by educated speakers.

Correctness, in short, is determined by current educated usage.

The following notes on current trends in modern 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 thoughts in just such terms? Decide whether the sentence is “right” or “wrong,” then compare your conclusions with the opinions given after the test.

Test yourself

1. Let’s not walk any further right now.

right. In the nineteenth century, when professional grammarians attempted to Latinize English grammar, an artificial distinction was drawn between farther and further, to wit: farther refers to space, further means to a greater extent or additional. Today, as a result, many teachers who are still under the forbidding influence of nineteenth-century restrictions insist that it is incorrect to use one word for the other.

To check on current attitudes toward this distinction, I sent the test sentence above to a number of dictionary editors, authors, and professors of English, requesting their opinion of the acceptability of further in reference to actual distance. Sixty out of eightyseven professors, over two thirds of those responding, accepted the

usage without qualification. Of twelve dictionary editors, eleven accepted further, and in the case of the authors, thirteen out of twenty-three accepted the word as used. A professor of English at Cornell University remarked: “I know of no justification for any present-day distinction between further and farther”; and a consulting editor of the Funk and Wagnails dictionary said, “There is nothing controversial here. As applied to spatial distance, further and farther have long been interchangeable.”

Perhaps the comment of a noted author and columnist is most to the point: “I like both further and farther, as I have never been able to tell which is which or why one is any farther or further than the other.”

2. Some people admit that their principle goal in life is to become wealthy.

Wrong. In speech, you can get principal and principle confused as often as you like, and no one will ever know the difference—both words are pronounced identically. In writing, however, your spelling will give you away.

There is a simple memory trick that will help you if you get into trouble with these two words. Rule and principle both end in -le—and a principle is a rule. On the other hand, principal contains an a, and so does main—and principal means main. Get these points straight and your confusion is over.

Heads of schools are called principals, because they are the main person in that institution of learning. The money you have in the bank is your principal, your main financial assets. And the stars of a play are principals—the main actors.

Thus, “Some people admit that their principal (main) goal in life is to become wealthy,” but “Such a principle (rule) is not guaranteed to lead to happiness.”

3. What a nice thing to say!

Right. Purists object to the popular use of nice as a synonym for pleasant, agreeable, or delightful. They wish to restrict the word to its older and more erudite meaning of exact or subtle. You will be happy to hear that they aren’t getting anywhere.

When I polled a group of well-known authors on the acceptability in everyday speech of the popular meaning of nice, their opinions were unanimous; not a single dissenting voice, out of the twenty-three authors who answered, was raised against the usage. One writer responded: “It has been right for about 150 years

Editors of magazines and newspapers questioned on the same point were just a shade more conservative. Sixty out of sixty-nine accepted the usage. One editor commented: “I think we do not have to be nice about nice any longer. No one can eradicate it from popular speech as a synonym for pleasant, or enjoyable, or kind, or courteous. It is a workhorse of the vocabulary, and properly so.”

The only valid objection to the word is that it is overworked by some people, but this shows a weakness in vocabulary rather than in grammar.

As in the famous story of the editor who said to her secretary: “There are two words I wish you would stop using so much. One is ’nice’ and the other is ’lousy.’”

“Okay,” said the secretary, who was eager to please. “What are they?”

4. He’s pretty sick today.

Right. One of the purist’s pet targets of attack is the word pretty as used in the sentence under discussion. Yet all modern dictionaries accept such use of pretty, and a survey made by a professor at the University of Wisconsin showed that the usage is established English.

5. 1 feel awfully sick.

Right. Dictionaries accept this usage in informal speech and the University of Wisconsin survey showed that it is established English. .

The great popularity of awfully in educated speech is no doubt due to the strong and unique emphasis that the word gives to an adjective—substitute very, quite, extremely, or severely and you considerably weaken the force.

On the other hand, it is somewhat less than cultivated to say “I feel awful sick,” and the wisdom of using awfully to intensify a pleasant concept (“What an awfully pretty child”; “That book is awfully interesting”) is perhaps still debatable, though getting less and less so as the years go on.

6. Are you going to invite Doris and I to your party?

Wrong. Some people are almost irresistibly drawn to the pronoun I in constructions like this one. However, not only does such use of I violate a valid and useful grammatical principle, but, more important, it is rarely heard in educated speech. The meaning of the sentence is equally clear no matter which form of the pronoun is employed, of course, but the use of I, the less popular choice, may stigmatize the speaker as uneducated.

Consider it this way: You would normally say, “Are you going to invite me to your party?” It would be wiser, therefore, to say, “Are you going to invite Doris and me to your party?”