Word Power Made Easy - Norman Lewis 2014

7 How to talk about liars and lying (Sessions 14-17)
Part one. Getting off to a good start

Teaser preview

What kind of liar are you if you:

✵ have developed a reputation for falsehood?

✵ are particularly skillful?

✵ cannot be reformed?

✵ have become habituated to your vice?

✵ started to lie from the moment of your birth?

✵ always lie?

✵cannot distinguish fact from fancy?

✵ suffer no pangs of conscience?

✵ are suspiciously smooth and fluent in your lying?

✵ tell vicious lies?

Session 14

It was the famous Greek philosopher and cynic Diogenes who went around the streets of Athens, lantern in hand, looking for an honest person.

This was over two thousand years ago, but I presume that Diogenes would have as little success in his search today. Lying seems to be an integral weakness of mortal character—I doubt that few human beings would be so brash as to claim that they have never in their lives told at least a partial untruth. Indeed, one philologist goes so far as to theorize that language must have been invented for the sole purpose of deception. Perhaps so. It is certainly true that animals seem somewhat more honest than humans, maybe because they are less gifted mentally.

Why do people lie? To increase their sense of importance, to escape punishment, to gain an end that would otherwise be denied them, out of long-standing habit, or sometimes because they actually do not know the difference between fact and fancy. These are the common reasons for falsification. No doubt there are other, fairly unique, motives that impel people to distort the truth. And, to come right down to it, can we always be certain what is true and what is false?

If lying is a prevalent and all-too-human phenomenon, there would of course be a number of interesting words to describe different types of liars.

Let us pretend (not to get personal, but only to help you become personally involved in the ideas and words) that you are a liar.

The question is, what kind of liar are you?

Ideas

1. you don’t fool even some of the people

Everybody knows your propensity for avoiding facts. You have built so solid and unsavory a reputation that only a stranger is likely to be misled—and then, not for long.

A notorious liar

2. to the highest summits of artistry

Your ability is top-drawer—rarely does anyone lie as convincingly or as artistically as you do. Your skill has, in short, reached the zenith of perfection. Indeed, your mastery of the art is so great that your lying is almost always crowned with success—and you have no trouble seducing an unwary listener into believing that you are telling gospel truth.

A consummate liar

3. beyond redemption or salvation

You are impervious to correction. Often as you may be caught in your fabrications, there is no reforming you—you go right on lying despite the punishment, embarrassment, or unhappiness that your distortions of truth may bring upon you.

An incorrigible liar

4. too old to learn new tricks

You are the victim of firmly fixed and deep-rooted habits. Telling untruths is as frequent and customary an activity as brushing your teeth in the morning, or having toast and coffee for breakfast, or lighting up a cigarette after dinner (if you are a smoker). And almost as reflexive.

An inveterate liar

5. an early start

You have such a long history of persistent falsification that one can only suspect that your vice started when you were reposing in your mother’s womb. In other words, and allowing for a great deal of exaggeration for effect, you have been lying from the moment of your birth.

A congenital liar

6. no letup

You never stop lying. While normal people lie on occasion, and often for special reasons, you lie continually—not occasionally or even frequently, but over and over.

A chronic liar

7. a strange disease

You are not concerned with the difference between truth and falsehood; you do not bother to distinguish fact from fantasy. In fact, your lying is a disease that no antibiotic can cure.

A pathological liar

8. no regrets

You are completely without a conscience. No matter what misery your fabrications may cause your innocent victims, you never feel the slightest twinge of guilt. Totally unscrupulous, you are a dangerous person to get mixed up with.

An unconscionable liar

9. smooth!

Possessed of a lively imagination and a ready tongue, you can distort facts as smoothly and as effortlessly as you can say your name. But you do not always get away with your lies.

Ironically enough, it is your very smoothness that makes you suspect: your answers are too quick to be true. Even if we can’t immediately catch you in your lies, we have learned from unhappy past experience not to suspend our critical faculties when you are talking. We admire your nimble wit, but we listen with a skeptical ear.

A glib liar

10. outstanding!

Lies, after all, are bad—they are frequently injurious to other people, and may have a particularly dangerous effect on you as a liar. At best, if you are caught you suffer some embarrassment. At worst, if you succeed in your deception your character becomes warped and your sense of values suffers. Almost all lies are harmful; some are no less than vicious.

If you are one type of liar, all your lies are vicious—calculatedly, predeterminedly, coldly, and advisedly vicious. In short, your lies are so outstandingly hurtful that people gasp in amazement and disgust at hearing them.

An egregious liar

In this chapter the ten basic words revolve rather closely around a central core. Each one, however, has a distinct, a unique meaning, a special implication. Note the differences.

These ten expressive adjectives, needless to say, are not restricted to lying or liars. Note their general meanings:

With the exception of consummate and congenital, all ten adjectives have strongly derogatory implications and are generally used to describe people, characteristics, or conditions we disapprove of.

Using the words

Can you pronounce the words?

Can you work with the words?

1. notorious

2. consummate

3. incorrigible

4. inveterate

5. congenital

6. chronic

7. pathological

8. unconscionable

9. glib

10. egregious

a. beyond reform

b. continuing over a long period of time; recurring

c. diseased

d. from long-standing habit

e. suspiciously smooth

f. without conscience or scruples

g. outstandingly bad or vicious

h. unfavorably known

i. from birth

j. finished, perfect, artistic

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

Do you understand the words?

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

Can you recall the words?

1. outstandingly vicious; so bad as to be in a class by itself

2. starting at birth

3. happening over and over again; continuing for a long time

4. widely and unfavorably known (as for antisocial acts, character weaknesses, immoral or unethical behavior, etc.)

5. beyond correction

6. smooth and persuasive; unusually, almost suspiciously, fluent

7. long addicted to a habit

8. perfect in the practice of an art; extremely skillful

9. unscrupulous; entirely without conscience

10. diseased

1. E ...

2. C ...

3. C ...

4. N ...

5. I ...

6. G ...

7. I ...

8. C ...

9. U ...

10. P ...

Key: 1-egregious, 2-congenital, 3-chronic, 4-notorious, 5-incorrigible, 6-glib, 7-inveterate, 8-consummate, 9-uncon-scionable, 10-pathological

Can you use the words?

As a result of the tests you are taking, you are becoming more and more familiar with these ten valuable and expressive words. Now, as a further check on your learning, write the word that best fits each blank.

1. This person has gambled, day in and day out, for as long as anyone can remember—gambling has become a deep-rooted habit.

1. An ... gambler

2. Bom with a clubfoot

2. A ... deformity

3. Someone known the world over for criminal acts

3. A ... criminal

4. An invading army kills, maims, and tortures without mercy, compunction, or regret.

4. ...acts of cruelty

5. The suspect answers the detective’s questions easily, fluently, almost too smoothly.

5. ... responses

6. A person reaches the acme of perfection as an actress or actor.

6. A ... performer

7. No one can change someone’s absurdly romantic attitude toward life.

7. An ... romantic

8. A mistake so bad that it defies description

8. An ... blunder

9. Drunk almost all the time, again and again and again— periods of sobriety are few and very, very far between

9. A ... alcoholic

10. Doctors find a persistent, dangerous infection in the bladder

10. A ... condition

Key: 1-inveterate, 2-congenital, 3-notorious, 4-unconscionable, 5-glib, 6-consummate, 7-incorrigible, 8-egregious, 9-chronic, 10-pathological

(End of Session 14)

Session 15 Origins and related words

1. well-known

“Widely but unfavorably known” is the common definition for notorious. Just as a notorious liar is well-known for unreliable statements, so a notorious gambler, a notorious thief, or a notorious killer has achieved a wide reputation for some form of antisocial behavior. The noun is notoriety

The derivation is from Latin notus, known, from which we also get noted. It is an interesting characteristic of some words that a change of syllables can alter the emotional impact. Thus, an admirer of certain business executives will speak of them as "noted industrialists”; these same people’s enemies will call them “notorious exploiters.” Similarly, if we admire a man’s or a woman’s unworldliness, we refer to it by the complimentary term childlike; but if we are annoyed by the trait, we describe it, derogatively, as childish. Change “-like” to “-ish” and our emotional tone undergoes a complete reversal.

2. plenty of room at the top

The top of a mountain is called, as you know, the summit, a word derived from Latin summus, highest, which also gives us the mathematical term sum, as in addition. A consummate artist has reached the very highest point of perfection; and to consummate a marriage, a business deal, or a contract is, etymologically, to bring it to the highest point; that is, to put the final touches to it, to bring it to completion.

[Note how differently consummate the adjective, is pronounced from the verb to consummate

Nouns are formed from adjectives by the addition of the noun suffix -ness: sweet—sweetness; simple—simpleness; envious—enviousness; etc.

Many adjectives, however, have alternate noun forms, and the adjective consummate is one of them. To make a noun out of consummate, add either -ness or -асу; consummateness or consummacy

Verbs ending in -ate invariably tack on the noun suffix -ion to form nouns: create—creation; evaluate—evaluation; etc.

Can you write the noun form of the verb to consummate?

3. no help

Call people incorrigible if they do anything to excess, and if all efforts to correct or reform them are to no avail. Thus, one can be an incorrigible idealist, an incorrigible criminal, an incorrigible optimist, or an incorrigible philanderer. The word derives from Latin corrigo, to correct or set straight, plus the negative prefix in-. (This prefix, depending on the root it precedes, may be negative, may intensify the root, as in invaluable, or may mean in.)

The noun is incorrigibility or, alternatively, incorrigibleness.

4. veterans

Inveterate, from Latin vetus, old,* generally indicates disapproval.

Inveterate gamblers have grown old in the habit, etymologically speaking; inveterate drinkers have been imbibing for so long that they, too, have formed old, wellestablished habits; and inveterate liars have been lying for so long, and their habits- are by now so deep-rooted, that one can scarcely remember (the word implies) when they ever told the truth.

The noun is inveteracy or inveterateness.

A veteran as of the Armed Forces, grew older serving the country; otherwise a veteran is an old hand at the game (and therefore skillful). The word is both a noun and an adjective: a veteran at (or in) swimming, tennis, police work, business, negotiations, diplomacy—or a veteran actor, teacher, diplomat, political reformer.

* Latin senex, source of senile and senescent, also, you will recall, means old. In inveterate, in- means in; it is not the negative prefix found in incorrigible.

5. birth

Greek genesis, birth or origin, a root we discovered in discussing psychogenic (Chapter 5), is the source of a great many English words.

Genetics is the science that treats of the trans mission of hereditary characteristics from parents to offspring. The scientist specializing in the fieldis a geneticist the adjective is genetic The particle in the chromosome of the germ cell containing a hereditary characteristic is a gene (JEEN).

Genealogy is the study of family trees or ancestral origins (logos, study). The practitioner is a genealogist Can you form the adjective? ... (And can you pronounce it?)

The genital or sexual, organs are involved in the process of conception and birth. The genesis of anything—a plan, idea, thought, career, etc.—is its beginning, birth, or origin, and Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, describes the creation, or birth, of the universe.

Congenital is constructed by combining the prefix con-, with or together, and the root genesis, birth.

So a congenital defect, deformity, condition, etc. occurs during the nine-month birth process (or period of gestation, to become technical). Hereditary characteristics, on the other hand, are acquired at the moment of conception. Thus, eye color, nose shape, hair texture, and other such qualities are hereditary; they are determined by the genes in the germ cells of the mother and father. But a thalidomide baby resulted from the use of the drug by a pregnant woman, so the deformities were congenital.

Congenital is used both literally and figuratively. Literally, the word generally refers to some medical deformity or abnormality occurring during gestation. Figuratively, it wildly exaggerates, for effect, the very early existence of some quality: congenital liar, congenital fear of the dark, etc.

Review of etymology

Using the words

Can you pronounce the words?

Can you work with the words?

1. notoriety

2. to consummate (v.)

3. consummacy

4. incorrigibility

5. inveteracy

6. genetics

7. genealogy

8. genital

9. genesis

10. hereditary

11. gene

a. state of artistic height

b. state of being long established in a habit

c. beginning, origin

d. science of heredity

e. bring to completion; top off

f. study of ancestry

g. referring to characteristics passed on to offspring by parents

h. referring to reproduction, or to the reproductive or sexual organs

i. ill fame

j. particle that transmits hereditary characteristics

k. state of being beyond reform or correction

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

Do you understand the words?

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

Can you recall the words?

1. sexual; reproductive

2. to complete

3. wide and unfavorable reputation

4. particle in the chromosome of a cell that transmits a characteristic from parent to offspring

5. completion

6. inability to be reformed

7. the science that deals with the transmission of characteristics from parents to children

8. referring to a quality or characteristic that is inherited (adj.)

9. beginning or origin

10. student of family roots or origins

11. height of skill or artistry

12. transmitted by heredity

13. quality of a habit that has been established over many years

14. a person long experienced at a profession, art, or business

15. pertaining to a study of family origins (adj.)

1. G ...

2. C ...

3. N ...

4. G ...

5. C ...

6. I ...

7. G ...

8. H ...

9. G ...

10. G ...

11. C ... or C ...

12. G ...

13. I ... or I ...

14.V ...

15. G ...

Key: 1-genital, 2-consummate, 3-notoriety, 4-gene, 5-consummation, 6-incorrigibility, 7-genetics, 8-hereditary, 9-genesis, 10-genealogist, 11-consummacy or consummateness, 12-genetic, 13-inveteracy or inveterateness, 14-veteran, 15-genealogical

(End of Session 15)

Session 16 Origins and related words

1. of time and place

A chronic liar lies constantly, again and again and again; a chronic invalid is ill time after time, frequently, repeatedly. The derivation of the word is Greek chronos, time. The noun form is chronicity .

An anachronism is someone or something out of time, out of date, belonging to a different era, either earlier or later. (The prefix ana- like a-, is negative.) The adjective is anachronous or anachronistic

Wander along Fifty-ninth Street and Central Park in Manhattan some Sunday. You will see horse-drawn carriages with top-hatted coachmen—a vestige of the 1800s. Surrounded by twentieth-century motorcars and modern skyscrapers, these romantic vehicles of a bygone era are anachronous.

Read a novel in which a scene is supposedly taking place in the nineteenth century and see one of the characters turning on a TV set. An anachronism!

Your friend talks, thinks, dresses, and acts as if he were living in the time of Shakespeare. Another anachronism!

Science fiction is deliberately anachronous—it deals with phenomena, gadgetry, accomplishments far off (possibly) in the future.

An anachronism is out of time; something out of place is incongruous a word combining the negative prefix in-, the prefix con-, with or together, and a Latin verb meaning to agree or correspond.

Thus, it is incongruous to wear a sweater and slacks to a formal wedding; it is anachronous to wear the wasp waist, conspicuous bustle, or powdered wig of the eighteenthcentury. The noun form of incongruous is incongruity

Chronological in correct time order, comes from chronos. To tell a story chronologically is to relate the events in the time order of their occurrence. Chronology is the science of time order and the accurate dating of events (loses. science)—the expert in this field is a chronology —or a list of events in the time order in which they have occurred or will occur.

A chronometer combining chronos with metron, measurement, is a highly accurate timepiece, especially one used on ships. Chronometryis the measurement of time—the adjective is chronometric

Add the prefix syn-, together, plus the verb suffix-ize, to chronos, and you have constructed synchronize etymologically to time together, or to move, happen, or cause to happen, at the same time or rate. If you and your friend synchronize your watches, you set them at the same time. If you synchronize the activity of your arms and legs, as in swimming, you move them at the same time or rate. The adjective is synchronous the noun form of the verb synchronize is synchronization

2. disease, suffering, feeling

Pathological is diseased (a pathological condition)—this meaning of the word ignores the root logos, science, study.

Pathologyis the science or study of disease —its nature, cause, cure, etc. However, another meaning of the noun ignores logos, and pathology may be any morbid, diseased, or abnormal physical condition or conditions; in short, simply disease, as in “This case involves so many kinds of pathology that several different specialists are working on it.”

A pathologist is an expert who examines tissue, often by autopsy or biopsy, to diagnose disease and interpret the abnormalities in such tissue that may be caused by specific diseases.

Pathos occurs in some English words with the additional meaning of feeling. If you feel or suffer with someone, you are sympathetic — sym- is a respelling before the letter p of the Greek prefix syn-, with or together. The noun is sympathy the verb sympathize Husbands, for example, so the story goes, may have sympathetic labor pains when their wives are about to deliver.

The prefix anti-, you will recall, means against. If you experience antipathy to people or things, you feel against them—you feel strong dislike or hostility. The adjective is antipathetic as in “an antipathetic reaction to an authority figure.”

But you may have no feeling at all—just indifference, lack of any interest, emotion, or response, complete listlessness, especially when some reaction is normal or expected. Then you are apathetic a-, as you know, is a negative prefix. The noun is apathy as in voter apathy, student apathy, etc.

On the other hand, you may be so sensitive or perceptive that you not only share the feelings of another, but you also identify with those feelings, in fact experience them yourself as if momentarily you were that other person. What you have, then, is empathy you empathize you are empathetic or, to use an alternate adjective, empathic Em- is a respelling before the letter p of the Greek prefix en-, in.

Someone is pathetic who is obviously suffering —such a person may arouse sympathy or pity (or perhaps antipathy?) in you. A pathetic story is about suffering and, again, is likely to arouse sadness, sorrow, or pity.

Some interesting research was done many years ago by Dr. J. B. Rhine and his associates at Duke University on extrasensory perception; you will find an interesting account of Rhine’s work in his book The Reach of the Mind. What makes it possible for two people separated by miles of space to communicate with each other without recourse to messenger, telephone, telegraph, or postal service? It can be done, say the believers in telepathy also called mental telepathy, though they do not yet admit to knowing how. How can one personread the mind of another? Simple—by being telepathic but no one can explain the chemistry or biology of it. Telepathy is built by combining pathos, feeling, with the prefix tele-, distance, the same prefix we found in telephone, telegraph, telescope.

Telepathic communication occurs when people can feel each other’s thoughts from a distance, when they have ESP.

Review of etymology

Using the words

Can you pronounce the words? (I)

Can you pronounce the words? (II)

Can you work with the words? (I)

1. chronicity

2. anachronism

3. incongruity

4. chronology

5. chronometer

6. chronometry

7. synchronization

8. pathology

9. sympathy

10. telepathy

a. something, or state of being, out of place

b. timepiece; device that measures time very accurately

c. condition of continual or repeated recurrence

d. act of occurring, or of causing to occur, at the same time

e. calendar of events in order of occurrence

f. something, or someone, .out of time

g. measurement of time

h. a sharing or understanding of another’s feeling

i. ESP; communication from a distance

j. disease; study of disease

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

Con you work with the words? (II)

1. pathologist

2. antipathy

3. apathy

4. empathy

5. synchronize

6. empathize

7. anachronous

8. incongruous

9. synchronous

10. pathetic

11. telepathic

a. identification with another’s feelings

b. share another’s feelings so strongly as to experience those feelings oneself

c. out of time

d. one who examines tissue to diagnose disease

e. occurring at the same time or rate

f. relating to extrasensory perception

g. suffering; arousing sympathy or pity

h. lack of feeling; non-respon-siveness

i. out of place

j. happen, or cause to happen, at the same time or rate

k. hostility; strong dislike

Key: 1-d, 2-k, 3-h, 4-a, 5-j, 6-b, 7-c, 8-i, 9-e, 10-g, 1.1-f

Do you understand the words?

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

Can you recall the words?

1. in order of time

2. out of place

3. 4. out of time (two forms)

5. something, or state of being, out of place

6. lack of feeling

7. measurer of time

8. study of disease

9. feeling of hostility or dislike

10. to occur, or cause to occur, at the same time or rate

11. evoking sorrow or pity

12. something out of time

13. state of recurring again and again

14. extransensory perception

15. one who examines tissue to diagnose disease

16. identification with the feelings of another

17. happening at the same time or rate (adj.)

18. skillful at thought transference without sensory communication

19. calendar of events in time sequence

20. referring to the measurement of time (adj.)

1. C ...

2. I ...

3. A ...

4. A ...

5. I ...

6. A ...

7. C ...

8. P ...

9. A ...

10. S ...

11. P ...

12. A ...

13. C ...

14. T ...

15. P ...

16. E ...

17. S ...

18. T ...

19. C ...

20. C ...

Key: 1-chronological, 2-incongruous, 3, 4-anachronous, anachronistic, 5-incongruity, 6-apathy, 7-chronometer, 8-pathology, 9-antipathy, 10-synchronize, 11-pathetic, 12-anachronism, 13-chronicity, 14-telepathy, 15-pathologist, 16-empathy, 17-synchronous, 18-telepathic, 19-chronology, 20-chronometric

(End of Session 16)

Session 17 Origins and related words

1. knowing

Psychopaths commit antisocial and unconscionable acts—they are not troubled by conscience, guilt, remorse, etc. over what they have done.

Unconscionable and conscience are related in derivation—the first word from Latin scio, to know, the second from Latin sciens, knowing, and both using the prefix con-, with, together.

Etymologically, then, your conscience is your knowledge with a moral sense of right and wrong; if you are unconscionable, your conscience is not (un-) working, or you have no conscience. The noun form is unconscionableness or unconscionability

Conscious, also from con- plus scio, is knowledge or awareness of one’s emotions or sensations, or of what’s happening around one.

Science, from sciens, is systematized knowledge as opposed, for example, to belief, faith, intuition, or guesswork.

Add Latin omnis, all, to sciens, to construct omniscient all-knowing, possessed of infinite knowledge. The noun is omniscience

Addthe prefix pre-, before, to sciens, to construct prescient —knowing about events before they occur, i.e., psychic, or possessedof unusual powers of prediction. The noun is prescience

And, finally, add the negative prefix ne- to sciens to produce nescient not knowing, or ignorant. Can you, by analogy with the previous two words, write the noun form of nescient? ... (Can you pronounce it?)

2. fool some of the people . . .

Glib is from an old English root that means slippery. Glib liars or glib talkers are smooth and slippery; they have ready answers, fluent tongues, a persuasive air—but, such is the implication of the word, they fool only the most nescient, for their smoothness lacks sincerity and conviction.

The norm is glibness.

3. herds and flocks

Egregious (remember the pronunciation? is from Latin grex, gregis, herd or flock. An egregious lie, act, crime, mistake, etc. is so exceptionally vicious that it conspicuously stands out (e-, a shortened form of the prefix ex-, out) from the herd or flock of other bad things.

The noun is egregiousness

A person who enjoys companionship, who, etymologically, likes to be with the herd, who reaches out for friends and is happiest when surrounded by people—such a person is gregarious

Extroverts are of course gregarious—they prefer human contact, conversation, laughter, interrelationships, to solitude.

The suffix -ness, as you know, can be added to an adjective to construct a noun form. Write the noun for gregarious:

Add the prefix con-, with, together, to grex, gregis, to get the verb congregate add the prefix se-, apart, to build the verb segregate add the prefix ad-, to, toward (ad- changes to ag- before a root starting with g-), to construct the verb aggregate

Let’s see what we have. When people gather together in a herd or flock, they (write the verb) ... The noun is congregation one of the meanings of which is a religious “flock.”

Put people or things apart from the herd, and you (write the verb) ... them. Can you construct the noun by adding the suitable noun suffix? ...

Bring individual items to or toward the herd or flock, and you (write the verb) ... them. What is the noun form of this verb?...

The verb aggregate also means to come together to or toward the herd, that is, to gather into a mass or whole, or by extension, to total or amount to. So aggregate, another noun form, pronounced is a group or mass of individuals considered as a whole, a herd, or a flock, as in the phrase “people in the aggregate. . .”

Review of etymology

Using the words

Can you pronounce the words?

Can you work with the words?

1. unconscionability

2. omniscience

3. prescience

4. nescience

5. glibness

6. egregiousness

7. gregariousness

8. congregation

9. segregation

10. aggregate (n.)

a. ignorance

b. outstanding badness or viciousness

c. religious group; a massing together

d. total; mass; whole

e. exclusion from the herd; a setting apart

f. infinite knowledge

g. friendliness; enjoyment of mixing with people

h. lack of conscience

i. suspiciously smooth fluency

j. foreknowledge

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

Do you understand the words?

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

Can you recall the words?

1. enjoying groups and companionship

2. ignorant

3. state of not being held back from antisocial behavior by one’s conscience

4. having knowledge of an event before it occurs (adj.)

5. a religious “flock”

6. a total, whole, or mass

7. to separate from the rest

8. suspiciously smooth fluency

9. all-knowing (adj.)

10. to come together into a group or mass

1. G ...

2. N ...

3. U … or U ...

4. P ...

5. C ...

6. A ... or A ...

7. S ...

8. G ...

9. О ...

10. C ...

Key: 1-gregarious, 2-nescient, 3-unconscionability or unconscionableness, 4-prescient, 5-congregation, б-aggregate or aggregation, 7-segregate, 8-glibness, 9-omniscient, 10-congregate

Chapter review

A. Do you recognize the words?

1. Highly skilled:

(a) consummate, (b) inveterate, (c) notorious

2. Beyond reform:

(a) inveterate, (b) incorrigible, (c) glib

3. Dating from birth:

(a) inveterate, (b) congenital, (c) psychopathic

4. Outstandingly bad:

(a) egregious, (b) unconscionable, (c) chronic

5. Science of heredity:

(a) pathology, (b) genetics, (c) orthopedics

6. Out of time:

(a) incongruous, (b) anachronous, (c) synchronous

7. Study of disease:

(a) pathology, (b) telepathy, (c) antipathy

8. Fond of company, friends, group activities, etc.:

(a) apathetic, (b) gregarious, (c) chronological

9. Indifferent:

(a) antipathetic, (b) pathetic, (c) apathetic

10. Long accustomed in habit:

(a) incorrigible, (b) notorious, (c) inveterate

11. Study of family ancestry:

(a) genealogy, (b) genetics, (c) genesis

12. To complete, finish, top off:

(a) synchronize, (b) consummate, (o) empathize

13. Accurate timepiece:

(a) anachronism, (b) chronology, (c) chronometer

14. Identification with the feelings of another:

(a) sympathy, (b) apathy, (c) empathy

15. Thought transference; extrasensory perception:

(a) telepathy, (b) empathy, (c) omniscience

16. Ignorance:

(a) omniscience, (b) prescience, (c) nescience

17. To gather into a group:

(a) congregate, (b) segregate, (c) synchronize

Key: 1-a, 2-b, 3-b, 4-a, 5-b, 6-b, 7-a, 8-b, 9-c, 10-c, 11-a, 12-b, 13-c, 14—c, 15-a, 16-c, 17-a

В. Can you recognize roots?

Key: 1-known, 2-highest, 3-to correct, set straight, 4-old, 5-old, 6-birth, 7-science, study, 8-time, 9-measurement, 10-disease, suffering, feeling, 11-herd, flock, 12-to know, 13-knowing, 14-all       .

Teaser questions for the amateur etymologist

1. “She was one of many notables who attended the convention.” Recognizing that the italicized word is built on the root notus, can you define the noun notable in the context of known?

2. Notify and notice derive from the same root. Can you define these two words, again in the context of known? Notify: ...Notice: ...

What do you supose the verb suffix -fy of notify means? (Think also of simplify, clarify, liquefy, etc.) ...

3. You are familiar with the roots chronos and graphein. Suppose you came across the word chronograph in your reading. Can you make an educated guess as to the meaning? ...

4. Recognizing the root genesis in the verb generate, how would you define the word? ...

How about regenerate? ...

What do you suppose the prefix re- means? ...

5. Recognizing the root omnis in omnipotent and omnipresent, can you define the words?

Omnipotent: ...

Omnipresent: ...

Recalling how we formed a noun from the adjective omniscient, write the noun forms of:

Omnipotent: ...

Omnipresent: ...

6. Think of the negative prefix in anachronism; think next of the noun aphrodisiac. Can you construct a word for that which reduces or eliminates sexual desire?...

(Answers in Chapter 18)

Four lasting benefits

You know by now that it is easy to build your vocabulary if you work diligently and intelligently. Diligence is important—to come to the book occasionally is to learn new words and ideas in an aimless fashion, rather than in the continuous way that characterizes the natural, uninterrupted, intellectual growth of a child. (You will recall that children are top experts in increasing their vocabularies.) And an intelligent approach is crucial—new words can be completely understood and permanently remembered only as symbols of vital ideas, never if memorized in long lists of isolated forms.

If you have worked diligently and intelligently, you have done much more than merely learned a few hundred new words. Actually, I needn’t tell you what else you’ve accomplished, since, if you really have accomplished it, you can fed it for yourself; but it may be useful if I verbalize the feelings you may have.

In addition to learning the meanings, pronunciation, background, and use of 300-350 valuable words, you have:

1. Begun to sense a change in your intellectual atmosphere. (You have begun to do your thinking with many of the words, with many of the ideas behind the words. You have begun to use the words in your speech and writing, and have become alert to their appearance in your reading.)

2. Begun to develop a new interest in words as expressions of ideas.

3. Begun to be aware of the new words you hear and that you see in your reading.

4. Begun to gain a new feeling for the relationship between words. (For you realize that many words are built on roots from other languages and are related to other words which derive from the same roots.)

Now, suppose we pause to see how successful your learning has been.

In the next chapter, I offer you a comprehensive test on the first part of your work.

(End of Session 17)