Eddie Heinrich
Mrs. Bosch
English 10 Honors
14 April 2007

Phenomenal Woman

Throughout human history there have lived countless people, all contributing to the development of mankind in a unique way. Although each individual is only a mere drop in the vast ocean of life, their significance can often be measured through their actions and the courses they took in life. Commonly, such notable significance and usually intriguing aspects can be observed in the lives of poets. A poet is by definition a person who writes poetry, but with this title often associates harsh lifestyles and emotional distress. One most spectacular woman and contemporary poet worthy of great recognition is Maya Angelou. This extraordinary person is commonly acknowledged as one of the greatest African American writers of all time, and the most famous black female writer of all time. Growing up as a poor, African American girl in southern United States, Angelou lived a difficult and extremely discriminated early life. As Angelou endured many hardships, she turned to poetry as an outlet and used many aspects of her personal life as inspirations for her numerous writings. In response to the difficult times in her life, Angelou rose up and went on to accomplish many things, along with contributing a great deal to society. It is through this hard life and great achievements along with the extreme passion of her works that Maya Angelou can be recognized as a truly amazing individual.

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Ann Johnson on April 4, 1928. Hard times did not spare Angelou, even at a young age, as her parents divorced when she was only three years old. Little Maya and her then four year-old brother, Bailey, were “sent alone, by train, to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas” (Maya Angelou). With the split of her parents at such an early age, this played a great emotional toll on Angelou, although it led to a strengthened relationship with her brother. While living with her grandmother, Angelou was encompassed in deep religious and traditional African American culture, and “credits her grandmother and her extended family with instilling in her the values that informed her later life and career” (America’s Renaissance Woman). Even as a youth, Angelou was passionate for creative arts, and attended a variety of dance classes including foxtrot, jazz, tap, and salsa. After living in Stamps for four years with their grandmother, the children were sent back to their mother. At age seven Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. Completely shaken, she confided in her brother. As she later learned that her uncle had beaten the man to death, she believed that "the power of [her] words led to someone's death,” and became a mute (Maya Angelou). Unable to cope, Angelou’s mother sent the children back to live with their grandmother. It was during these silent five years in Stamps that Angelou became friends with Mrs. Flowers, of whom she credits for helping her "refind her voice" (Maya Angelou). At age thirteen, Angelou began speaking again, and rejoined her mother in San Francisco. With such a seemingly harsh and complicated childhood, it wouldn’t have seemed likely (especially in the segregated southern United States) that Angelou would find the motivation or opportunity to become so well-rounded and successful, but this unique and driven woman took every opportunity in life to eventually become the distinguished figure that she did.
Angelou attended Mission High school in San Francisco, and was granted a scholarship to attend the California Labor School, where she “was exposed to the progressive ideals that animated her later political activism” (America’s Renaissance Woman). In her teens, Angelou dropped out of high school to be San Francisco’s first African American female cable car operator. She later re-entered high school, but became pregnant during her senior year, giving birth to her son, Clyde (nicknamed Guy) only a few weeks after graduation. Angelou was now a single mother entering the work force. After a couple years on her own, Angelou fell in love with and married the Greek Sailor, Tosh Angelos in 1949. Angelou describes this period of her life in her autobiographical novel Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas in which Angelos provided a “temporary source of stability for her and her son, but after three years of marriage they fell out of love” and divorced (Maya Angelou). During this marriage, however, Angelou was able to find work as a singer at the Hungry i San Francisco night club, which is when she adapted the name “Maya Angelou” as a combination of her childhood nickname and an alternative of her husband’s last name. This was an extraordinary turning point in Angelou’s life; she was able to establish herself as an independent woman, earning her own wages, and allowed her to do it while doing something she loved – singing. From here, Angelou’s performing career flourished and she even went on to record an album, Calypso Lady, in 1957 (America’s Renaissance Woman). Angelou’s career in creative and performing arts endured for about eight years from 1952, starting with a scholarship granted to her to study dance with Pearl Primus. Two years later, she would go on to star in her first professional performance at the Purple Onion, and then tour with and star in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Her later works include appearances in the off-Broadway play, Calypso Heat Wave in 1957, writing, producing, and starring in a Godfrey Cambridge collaboration “Cabaret for Freedom” in 1960, along with a performance in Genet’s The Blacks (Maya Angelou 1928-). As many blacks were still struggling for equal rights and better work opportunities at this time, Maya Angelou had already set a successful, well-rounded path in her life, doing what she loved. Despite her success, Angelou didn’t achieve all of this without the common struggle, and would later take action against the unjust and degrading society in which she had for so long lived – a period that would greatly influence many of her most outstanding and well-renowned works.

Angelou hit another turning point in her life when she traveled to London and Africa with the political activist, Vasumzi Make, and moves with him and her son to Cairo, Egypt in 1961 (Maya Angelou 1928-). Angelou found work as the “editor of the English language weekly The Arab Observer” (America’s Renaissance Woman). Angelou continued a writing career as she moved to Ghana and worked at the Ghanian Times while teaching at the School of Music and Drama and University of Ghana from 1963 - 1966. The period in which Angelou resided in Africa had a deep impact on her perspective and her belief on how others value life, as demonstrated in her poem, Televised:
certainly nothing will follow, save
the sad-eyed faces of
bony children,
distended bellies making
mock at their starvation. (Lines 6 - 10)
During her stay in Africa, Angelou worked with the American dissident leader, Malcolm X, and planned on aiding his effort in the US. This effort was soon shot down with Malcolm X’s assassination in 1968 (America’s Renaissance Woman). Angelou also worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the American Civil Rights movement. Angelou had strong feelings and was greatly moved during this time in her life. Having experienced segregation since childhood, she developed a great spirit in progressing the movement toward equal rights, as expressed in her poem, Equality:
You do own to hear me faintly
as a whisper out of range,
while my drums beat out the message
and the rhythms never change.
Equality, and I will be free.
Equality, and I will be free. (Lines 5 - 10)
It is clear, as the topic of race and unjust biased opinion is the topic of many of her poems, that this issue played a huge influential role in her life. Having decided to extend her career toward a more literary path, Angelou took up writing and published her first autobiographical novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in 1970 (Maya Angelou 1928-). A year later, Angelou went even further and published her first book of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Diiie. Up until 1995, Angelou would continue to write until eight more books of her poetry and six of her autobiographies had been published (Maya Angelou 1928-). Angelou also continued to act and appeared as Kunta Kinte’s grandmother in the television series, Roots. Angelou’s works have been recognized far and wide and has even earned political respect considering that “President Ford appointed her to the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission and President Carter invited her to serve on the Presidential Commission for the International Year of the Woman” and later even “President Clinton requested that she compose a poem to read at his inauguration in 1993" (America’s Renaissance Woman). Not only has Angelou been appreciated by many others, but she herself has recognized the unshakable spirit that lies within her, as she expresses in her poem Phenomenal Woman:
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me. (Lines 46 - 60)
Clearly, Maya Angelou had led the life of no ordinary woman. Her tough spirit pulled her through hard times, and as a result this single black female rose up in a society filled with horrible segregation to accomplish more, with so many restrictions, than most people do with opportunities right in front of them. This remarkable woman did not lead just one life, but lived the life of a novelist, a poet, a political activist, a mother, a worker, a performer, and through it all became an inspiration. Through her many remarkable accomplishments and overall take on life, we can see what a true modern renaissance woman is, we can see how motivation and inspiration leads to magnificent things, and we can see what it truly means to live.

Works Cited

“America’s Renaissance Woman.” Academy of Achievement: A Museum of Living History. 29 August 2005. Academy of Achievement. 14 April 2007 .
Holland, Kelly. “Maya Angelou 1928-.” UNCP. 1998.University of North Carolina at Pembroke. 14 April 2007 .
"Maya Angelou." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 13 April 2007. 14 April 2007 .

EXTRA CREDIT POEM

Too many walk
The world in dark
Not because the sun is not risen
But because they refuse
To open their eyes

So as they live on
They do not see
Maybe just a wink
But never any more
It isn’t pleasing enough

Too many walk
The world in deaf
Not because there the world does not sing
But because they refuse
To unplug their ears

So as they live on
They do not hear
Maybe just a peep
But never any more
It isn’t pleasing enough

As a tear falls
It is not seen

A heart cries out
It is not heard

The world is crumbling away
Yet it is ignored
Everyone turns their cheek
It does not concern them
But as they turn
They will soon turn a circle
Then as it hits them
It will be too late

Night Questions

1. Wiesel’s childhood home is in Sighet, Transylvania, near the Transylvanian Alps in central Romania.

2. The Jewish Cabala interprets the Hebrew Bible and Jewish texts as concerning an all powerful, hard-to-understand being that is experienced through the living world.

3. The truths of the world Elie was referring to involve those concerning God and his works – God’s influence on life and the purpose for everything. The truth, I believe, Elie was ignorant of was that things happen for a reason.

4. Moshe the Beadle is a significant character because, aside from being a bum, he was the embodiment of Elie’s childhood dream. He tells Elie that you must ask the right questions to get the right answers, in which lies the truth. Moshe is prescient in his admonition to Elie because it gives Elie a right question to seek the answer to.

5. The people of Sighet ignore Moshe after he returns from escape because they do not trust his total sanity and believe that he has made up a story. They don’t listen to him because they do not believe him, and feel that they have more important matters in life to worry about than a seemingly-fictitious tale.

6. Madame Schachter is a woman that went insane when she was separated from her husband who, on the ride to the camp, envisioned illusions of flames in the distance. She is similar to Moshe that they both had warnings or premonitions to tell about the future that were ignored, in the sense that there were flames at their destination in the furnace.

7. Consider this passage on pg. 32:
Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desires to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God himself. Never.

8. The context of this passage is that Elie has realized this situation and with it everything he believed in seems lost and all of his dreams and wishes have fled. Even if he survived the ordeal, things would be different forever and he was never going to be the same. The young Elie’s theology has changed from an enthusiastic youth with plans to study his faith in the future to being a lost soul without hope of any future, especially one with God.

9. Elie’s attitude toward God changes many times throughout the novel. This change occurs as the events in his life worsen or better. He is most angry with God when the little boy is hung and during the Jewish New Year. He isn’t angry at all when the camp is bombed.

10. In Night, night refers to a world without God, as it was in the creation of the earth when on the first day night was cast upon it.

11. Night is such a slim book because Wiesel had written a 900-page text in Yiddish titled Un di Velt Hot Geshvign (And the World Remained Silent) which was later shortened and translated to the French La Nuit and the English Night.

12. Night is both a story of tragedy and triumph. Although Eliezer escaped physical torture, he could never gain back the emotional scarring he endured.

Journal

1-10 (January 5, 2007)

The novel starts off describing a typical human lifestyle. It could even be seen as a typical plot for a movie – a young boy, the only one in the family, with a passion for Judaism and a father that has other wishes for him. This familiarity reinstates the fact that these people were human beings and could have been any one of us. It is hard to believe that the minor difference that set them apart from the rest of humanity could have driven the Germans to do such a thing. It surprises me how sudden it all happened, especially to the foreign Jews – How could an entire nation be won over by the evil thoughts and words of one man? I also do not understand why the rest of the Jews did not heed the warnings and take action or flee the area. Something as terrible as this is hard to believe, but it also strikes a question: how low can the possibility of something similar to this happening nowadays really be? It could happen just as sudden, at any moment (even as I am writing this). I mean, these events only took place just over sixty years ago.

11-20 (January 5, 2007)

It’s hard to imagine how these people lived – how they went on so optimistically, always waiting for a miracle. Their homes were ransacked, barred, gated – then they were taken away completely. I would have lost all faith and probably gone insane, especially reflecting back on what Moshe the Beadle had told about the Forest of Galicia. Why didn’t they all flee the small ghetto with no gates on it? Why didn’t they hide until the front was close enough so they would be safe? I also wonder what the soldiers responsible for this could have thought. . .did they have no morals or conscience or compassion? Did they believe they were serving a higher good? These people were treated like cattle – rallied, lined up, herded into an overstuffed building, and shipped away in groups. I can’t imagine that there would be people able to do that to a human being. No matter how many times you hear it, how many facts are presented, it is still hard to believe that all of this happened.

21-30 (January 6, 2007)

The Jews were treated like soulless, heartless animals and packed into transport cars of eighty people a piece. Elie Wiesel stated “The lucky ones who happened to be near a window could see the blossoming countryside roll by” (Pg 21). It’s hard to think that anyone in that situation could be considered lucky. All of these people were stuck with no room to even sit for days while they were brought closer and closer to hell. They couldn’t escape or even try, as they were warned “If anyone is missing, you’ll all be shot, like dogs. . .” (Pg 22) And if the Jews were dogs, what did it make the Germans? – Rats. And people did go crazy, like Madame Schachter who kept seeing flames about as if she was in hell itself (which she wasn’t far from). “Her little boy was crying, hanging onto her skirt trying to take hold of her hands. ‘It’s alright, Mummy! There’s there. . .Sit down. . .’” (Pg 23) It’s horrible to see this – a boy who is worse than alone, because he has a mother that can’t acknowledge his existence. When they got to the camp, I read the word “Auschwitz” and became literally disgusted by it. That place is truly hell. To separate families forever, enslave people, and burn them, murder them, abuse them – like less than animals.

31-40 (January 6, 2007)

When they were marching towards the furnace, Elie said “I’m going to run to the electric wire. That would be better than slow agony in the flames” (Pg 31). This was sort of smart thinking of him (If he was going to be burned), but if he had gone through with it, imagine what we would not know or have today? Elie also starts to doubt his faith, which is always horrible. At a time like that I could imagine losing hope, but it is all you have to hold on to. His quote “Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever,” (Pg 32) I thought, was very powerful. But with the word “forever” does that mean that to this day, he still does not have faith? All of the men seem happy when they meet. The joy that is shown by them to have one another shows a very powerful connection between these people. I believe that having loved ones around them was the only way anyone made it through – having the support and comfort of others. I didn’t really understand what was meant by the sign that said “Work is liberty! Auschwitz”. I really liked the encouraging speech from the head of Block 17 where Elie stayed. It was a real message of hope and probably comforted many of the distraught men there.

41-50 (January 6, 2007)

It seems that everyone there works really hard to make other people feel better. Like when Elie lied to Stein and told him that his mother “had heard news from [his] family. Reizel is very well. The children too. . . “(Pg 41) when he really didn’t know anything. And I could also see it in Stein when he brought Elie bread when he was very skinny himself. It must have been horrible for the Jewish people to be paraded through town only to be scorned at wile being transported. I’ve noticed that Wiesel describes all of the Germans as ugly or evil-looking, such as he describes one with “an assassin’s face, fleshy lips, wolf’s paws” (Pg 45). I can’t help but wonder if they really looked like that or if he psychologically related such evil deeds done by the most grotesque beings and so creates and image for them. I thought it was really nice that the French girl Elie worked next to helped him with his wounds even though she was probably risking a beating herself. I wonder if her and Elie will become involved.

51-60 (January 7, 2007)

It was nice to know that the French girl survived through the end of the war along with Elie. She made a lot of smart moves before and during her capture. The affect the concentration camp has on its victims is not only great physically but emotionally and psychologically as well. With his father, Elie even becomes “angry with him, not knowing how to avoid Idek’s outbreak” (Pg 52) instead of sympathizing for him. When Elie got whipped, it was very horrible to read about. In his condition, it’s surprising that he didn’t nearly die from 25 whips. I thought the part where everyone was gathered around the unguarded cauldrons was very sad. Those people were so hungry that they were almost willing to risk their life for some food, but too afraid of the torture they would get for attempting it. Elie referred to it as “A feast for kings” (Pg 56) when many people would see it as inedible gruel. It also puzzled me why the bombing of the camp was so short, and didn’t fulfill much. Why weren’t rescue troops sent in?


61-70 (January 7, 2007)

When they hung the little boy – the angel with the sad eyes – it was like killing hope. Like taking away all that was holy in the camp. When he died, Eliezer’s god went with him. It’s a shame that Elie gave up on his faith and despised God, but who could blame him, being in such a situation. He had lived a life passionate about religion, then he entered hell. It’s hard to know what Elie’s dad was thinking. I don’t believe that he had faith either, but only stuck around and tried to survive for his son. Selection is disgusting. Imagine the fear felt to be stripped down, lined up, and examined like sick animals, knowing that you could be chosen to be killed right then and there.

71-80 (January 7, 2007)

It made me happy to read that Elie’s dad had escaped the second selection and they could stay together. I wonder if they will be together until the very end. The man next to Elie in the hospital was very disturbing. How could someone discourage the spirit of another when both are going through the same misery? Elie must have so many regrets for not staying in the hospital – have comfort and warmth until he was rescued. That made me feel even more sorry for him than I already did. Even his father could have been saved. How old is Elie at this point?

81-90 (January 7, 2007)

I can’t believe all those crippled, freezing tired men ran over forty-two miles in the snow. I could not imagine myself doing that even in good health. What on earth encouraged them to go for so long? Was it fear? Was it hope? Their resting area was very depressing. Cold, lonely men in the middle of a deserted town dying one-by-one. No emotion. No sorrow.

91-100 (January 7, 2007)

Starved. Hopeless. Nowhere to go but into an icy grave. “I tried to distinguished those who were still alive from those who had gone. But there was not difference.” These people were turned savage – they went crazy to get just a bit of food. They killed and robbed their friends and family. Spectators watched as they fought for food. It was like a zoo only the animals watched the people. When they arrived at Buchenwald, “Hundreds of prisoners were crowding there.” – not thousands anymore. I really don’t like it when Elie and his father are about to be separated or about to die. I’m not looking forward to when that happens.

101-109 (January 7, 2007)

His father died so near the end. If only he had held on for a little while. Eliezer’s whole life was gone, ruined, taken from him. What would he do with his life when he was set free? And the rest of the prisoners? This shows tremendous effort and courage to put a lost soul to a great cause as Elie Wiesel did. “And even when we were no longer hungry, there was still no one who thought of revenge” (Pg 109). Does Elie still feel this way? Does he have regrets? Does he now feel sorry for all of the corpses he would pass daily? Or has the affect of the concentration camps scarred him forever?

acous-, acou-, -acoustical, -acusis-, -acusia
(Greek: hearing, listening, of or for hearing)
acouasm
In psychiatry: a nonverbal auditory hallucination, such as a ringing or hissing in the ears; acousma; also known as tinnitus.
acoubouy
Used by military ordnance, a listening device dropped by parachute onto land and water, used to detect sounds of enemy movements and transmit them to orbiting aircraft or land stations.
acouesthesia
The sense of hearing; auditory perception.
"You can hear cow bells but you can't hear cow horns.
—Evan Esar
"We hear what we listen for.
—Anonymous
"A good listener is one who can give you his full attention without hearing a word you say. "
—Anonymous
acoumeter
An instrument used for estimating the power or extent of the sense of hearing before the introduction of audiometers. Variant spellings include these words: acouometer, acoumeter, acousmeter, acousmetric, acousmometric, acoumetry, and acoumetric.
acouophone
An obsolete term for an electric hearing aid.
acouophonia
"Auscultatory percussion" or the act of listening to sounds produced within the body; especially, the chest and abdomen, as a means of detecting evidence of disorders or pregnancy.
acousia
This is now spelled acusis.
acousma
A simple auditory hallucination, such as ringing or buzzing sounds "in the ears"; also acouasm.
acousmata
Things received (heard) on authority; a technical word for a school of philosophy.
acousmatagnosis
In psychology, an abnormal inability to understand spoken words and to recognize meaningful sounds.
acousmatamnesia
1. Failure of the memory to call up the images of sounds.2. The inability to remember certain sounds.
acousmatic
A professed hearer, a class of scholars under Pythagoras, who listened to his teachings, without inquiring into their inner truths or basis.
acoustic, acoustical, acoustically
Pertaining to the sense of hearing; adapted to aid hearing; the science of audible sounds.
acoustic agraphia
The inability to write from dictation (from what is heard).
acousticate
To deny that one has been correctly heard even when one is painfully aware that there has been no mistake, this denial being often supported by the hasty fabrication of a new utterance, similar in sound to the original, but more agreeable in sense.
"I quickly acousticated 'fatuous ass' into 'anfractuous mass,' and nobody noticed a thing."
—In a Word, edited by Jack Hitt; as quoted from Richard Tristman, professor.
acoustic hypoesthesia (hypoacusis)
Partial loss of hearing.
acoustician
A specialist in acoustics.
acousticofacial
Relating to both the eighth (auditory) and seventh (facial) cranial nerves.
acousticomotor
A motor response to sound.
acousticon
An instrument for helping the hearing impaired to hear.
acousticopalpebral
Relating to both the acoustic part of the eighth cranial nerve and the eyelids. The orbicularis oculi muscle, which closes the eyelids, is innervated by the seventh (facial) nerve.
acousticophobia, akousticophobia
An abnormal fear of hearing noises in general or specific noises or sounds. This phobia goes beyond just being startled by sudden loud noises. Some people fear specific noises, such as whistling, balloons popping, or sonic booms.
acoustics
1. The science of sound and the phenomena of hearing. 2. In physics, the science and study of sound, including its production, transmission, and effects. 3. In architecture: a. The sum of the qualities, as absence of echo or reverberation, that determine the value of a room, enclosure, or auditorium with respect to distinct hearing. b. The science of planning and building an enclosure so that sound will be perfectly transmitted within it. 4. In psychology: the part of psychology dealing with hearing. Acoustics is usually construed as a singular noun, except in the sense with reference to the science of sound qualities for buildings as in "3.a" above.
acoustimeter
A portable electronic device for measuring noise levels, especially those of traffic.
acoustoelectric effect
In electronics, the generatioin of a DC voltage in a crystal or in a metallic material, due to acoustic waves traveling along the surface of the material.
acoustoelectronics
The use of acoustic energy to create electromagnetic waves, usually with crystals or metals that react when bombarded with acoustic waves, and the processing of such waves prior to reproduction of the original sound.
acoustogram, acoustigram
The graphic tracing of the curves, delineated in frequencies per second and decibel levels, of sounds produced by motion of a joint. Applied to the knee joint, an acoustogram will show the sound of the moving semilunar cartilages, the moving contact between the articular surfaces of the femur and tibia, and the circulation of the synovia.
acousto-optics, acousto-optic, acousto-optical, acousto-optically
The science and technology of the interactions between sound waves and light waves passing through solid materials, especially as applied to the modulation and deflection of laser beams by ultrasonic waves; important in laser and holographic technologies.
acoutometer
An instrument for measuring the level of sounds.
acusis
1. The ability to perceive sounds normally; normal hearing. 2. Hearing, used in combination to denote a specified kind of hearing, as in presbyacusis, hypoacusis, etc.

acro-, acr-
(Greek: high, highest, highest point; top, tip end, outermost; extreme; extremity of the body)
acroagnosia
Lack of sensory recognition of a limb.
acroagnosis
Lack of sensory recognition of a limb (arms and/or legs); also, acragnosis.
acroanesthesia
Loss of sensation in the extremities; such as the hands, fingers, toes, and feet.
acroarthritis
Arthritis affecting the extremities (hands or feet).
acroasphyxia
1. An obsolete term for acrocyanosis. 2. Neurosis marked by asphyxia of the extremities. 3. Impaired digital circulation, possibly a mild form of Raynaud’s disease, marked by a purplish or waxy white color of the fingers, with subnormal local temperature and paresthesia. Also known as “dead fingers”, or “waxy fingers”.
acroataxia
Ataxia affecting the distal portion of the extremities; such as, hands and fingers, feet, and toes.
Ataxia is the inability to coordinate muscle activity during voluntary movement, so that smooth movements occur.
acrobat, acrobatic
A performer on the trapeze, tightrope, etc.
acroblast
A body in the spermatid from which arises the acrosome.
acrobrachycephaly
A condition resulting from fusion of the coronal suture, causing abnormal shortening of the anteroposterior diameter of the skull.
acrobryous
Growing only at the tip.
acrobystitis
Inflammation of the prepuce (foreskin).
Acrocanthosaurus
A “high-spined lizard” from Early Cretaceous Oklahoma , Utah, and Texas, USA. Named by U.S paleotologists John Willis Stovall and Wann Langston, Jr. in 1950.
acrocarpous
Bearing fruit at the end of the stalk, as some mosses.
acrocentric
A type of chromosome having the centromere near one end of the replicating chromosome, so that one arm is much longer than the other.
acrocephalia, acrocephalic, acrocephalous, acrocephaly
Denoting a head that is pointed and conelike; also known as, oxycephaly, oxycephalous.

aesth-, esth-, aesthe-, esthe-, aesthesio-, esthesio-, aesthesia-, -esthesia
(Greek: feeling, sensation, perception)
aesthacyte
A sensory cell of primitive animals such as sponges.
aesthesia, esthesia
The ability to feel sensations; perception.
aesthesic, esthesic
A reference to the mental perception of sensations.
aesthesiogenic
Producing or causing sensation.
aesthesiometer
An instrument for the purpose of determining the degree of tactile sensibility possessed by the patient.
aesthesis
The perception of the external world by the senses.
aesthesodic
Of nerves that provide a path for sensory impulses; conveying sensations from the external organs to the brain or nerve center.
aesthetasc
An olfactory receptor on the small antennae of some crustaceans; such as, Daphnia (water fleas, some species of which are commonly used as food for aquarium fish).
aesthete, esthete
1. A person who is highly sensitive to art and beauty.2. One who has an acute delight in the beauty of color, line, sound, and texture with a violent distaste for the ugly, shapeless, and discordant. 3. A person who artificially cultivates artistic sensitivity or makes a cult of art and beauty.
aesthetes, esthetes
A reference to sense organs or the plural of esthete.

alcoholo-, alcohol-, alcoho-
(Arabic > Latin: alcohol, originally an "essence or very fine powder", from Arabic al-kuhl which is from al-, "the", and kohl or kuhl, "antimony sulfide" )
alcholimetric
A reference to a device, called a alcoholometer, that measures the quantity of alcohol contained in a liquid.
alcholizer
An alcohol breath-test screening instrument; a breathalyzer with an analyzer cell used in police units worldwide to check drivers suspected of excessive drinking.
alcholometrical
A reference to the use of an alcoholometer.
alcogel
A gelatinous precipitate from a colloidal solution in alcohol.
alcohol
1. A colorless, volatile, pungent liquid; synthesized or derived from fermentation of sugars and starches, it can be burned as fuel, is used in industry and medicine, and is the intoxicating element of whiskey, wine, beer, and other fermented or distilled liquors. It is also called "ethyl alcohol". 2. Any of a series of hydroxyl compounds, the simplest of which are derived from saturated hydrocarbons, and include ethanol and methanol.
alcoholate
A tincture or other preparation containing alcohol.
alcoholature
An alcoholic tincture prepared with fresh plants.
alcoholemia, hyperalcoholemia
The presence of ethanol in the blood.
alcohol-ether
A chemical compound used in shampoos, bubble baths, body wash, liquid soaps.
alcohol fuel
A motor fuel of gasoline blended with 5-25% of amhydrous ethyl alcohol; used particularly in Europe; gasohol.
alcoholic
1. Relating to, containing, or produced by alcohol. 2. One who suffers from alcoholism. 3. One who abuses or is dependent upon alcohol.
O God! That men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains.
—Cassio, in Othello by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
alcoholica
Spanish word for alcohol.
alcoholicity
The degree of alcoholic content.
alcoholimeter
A device, such as a form of hydrometer, that measures the quantity of alcohol contained in a liquid.
alcoholism
1. Chronic alcohol abuse, dependence, or addiction; chronic excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages resulting in impairment of health and/or social or occupational functioning, and increasing adaptation to the effects of alcohol requiring increasing doses to achieve and sustain a desired effect; specific signs and symptoms of withdrawal usually are shown when one stops such drinking. 2. "Alcohol dependence" (currently the preferred term); "alcohol addiction". The terms refer to a variety of disorders associated with the repetitive consumption of alcohol, usually over a long period of time, in amounts that the drinker is unable to handle physiologically, emotionally, or socially.
People who drink to drown their sorrow should be told that sorrow knows how to swim.
—Ann Landers

andro-, andr-, -ander, -andry
(Greek: man, men, male, masculine; also, stamen or anther as used in botany)
andragogy, andragogue
1. The methods or techniques used to teach adults. Mistakenly used to refer to adult education for both male and female learners. “Mistakenly” because andro, -andra- refers only to males. 2. Another erroneous definition is, the art and science of helping adults learn.
andranatomy
1. The dissection of the male body. 2. The physical structure of the male body.
andriatry, andriatrics
1. Medical science relating to the treatment of diseases of male genital organs and of men in general.2. The branch of medicine dealing with diseases of men; such as, those of the male genitalia.
andric
Male, like a male, male characteristics.
andrium
The male portion of a flower.
androblastoma
A rare, benign tumor of the testis that histologically resembles the fetal testis, with varying proportions of tubular and stromal elements; the tubules contain Sertoli cells, which may cause feminization.
androcentric, androcentricity
1. Dominated by or emphasizing masculine interests or points of view; as an androcentric society. 2. Having a man, or the male, as the center of importance.
The four stages of man are: infancy, childhood, adolescence, and finally obsolescence.
—Art Linkletter
androcephalous
Having a man’s head (upon an animal’s body).
androchorous, androchory, androchore
Dispersed by the agency of man.
androconium, androconial
Scales on the wings of certain male Lepidoptera (butterflies) from which the attractive scent of the male is diffused.
androcracy, androcratic
The political rule by men or males; male supremacy.
androcyte
Male sex cell, especially of an immature stage; spermatid.
philander, philanderer
1. To carry on a sexual affair, especially an extramarital affair, with a woman one cannot or does not intend to marry. 2. To engage in many love affairs, especially with a frivolous or casual attitude. 3. Philanderer actually means "a lover of men" or of "one's husband", but a mistake was made in the adoption from the Greek and a different meaning was applied (according to David Muschell.)
polyandrous, polyandry
1. A reference to a female who mates with several males; having more than one husband or having several husbands. 2. Literally having many male sexual partners. 3. In botany, having numerous stamens.
protandrous, protandry, protandric
The condition of a hermaphrodite in which the male portion develops first or which is first male, and later sex reversed to female. 2. Said of a flower in which the pollen matures before the stigma is receptive.
proterandrous, proterandry
1. In botany, having the stamens or male organs mature before the pistil or female organ. 2. In zoology, a hermaphrodite animal; or a colony of zooids, having the male organs, or individuals, sexually mature before the female.
pseudandrous, pseudandry
Use of a masculine name by a woman as a pseudonym

angio-, angi-, -angium
(Greek > Latin: [receptacle], vessel, often a blood vessel; "covered by a seed or vessel", a seed vessel; a learned borrowing from Greek meaning "vessel", "container")
adenoangiosarcoma
An angiosarcoma involving gland structures.
anangioid
Seemingly without blood vessels.
anangioplasia, anangioplastic
1. The imperfect vascularization (formation of new blood vessels) of a part due to poorly formed or unformed blood vessels.2. Imperfect vascularization of a part due to nonformation of vessels, or vessels with inadequate caliber (diameter of a hollow tubular structure).
androgametangium (antheridium [s], antheridia [pl])
1. A male reproductive structure producing gametes, occurring in ferns, mosses, fungi, and algae.2. The male sex organ of spore-producing plants; produces antherozoids; equivalent to the anther in flowers.
angialgia, angialgistic
Pain in a blood vessel.
angiasthenia
Instability or loss of tone in the vascular system.
angiectasia
Dilation of a lymphatic or blood vessel.
angiectasis, angioectatic
Abnormal, usually gross dilatation and often lengthening of a blood or lymphatic vessel.
angiectatic
1. Marked by the presence of dilated blood vessels.2. A reference to or characterized by angiectasis.
angiectid
An abnormal intradermal venous dilatation, consisting of a circumscribed conglomerate mass of venules, which causes a frequently tense and tender elevation of the skin.
angiectomy
1. The excision or resection of a vessel.2. Excision of all or part of a blood vessel; also known as, arteriectomy or a venectomy.
angiectopia, angiectopic
1. An abnormal position or course of a vessel.2. Displacement or an abnormal location of a blood vessel.
angiitis, angiitides
Inflammation of a blood or lymph vessel.
angina
1. Any of various diseases or conditions characterized by painful or cramping spasms.2. Any attack of painful spasms characterized by sensations of choking or suffocating.3. Chest pain due to an inadequate supply of oxygen to the heart muscle. The chest pain of angina is typically severe and crushing. There is a feeling just behind the breastbone (the sternum) of pressure and suffocation.4. Any spasmodic, choking, or suffocating pain.5. An old term for a sore throat.
anginal
1. Angina pectoris.2. A condition, such as severe sore throat, in which spasmodic attacks of suffocating pain occur.

arena [harena], areni-
(Latin: harena; sand, sandy place, sea-shore; place of combat [literally, "place strewn with sand"])
arena
1. An indoor or outdoor area, surrounded by seating for spectators, where shows or sports events take place.2. A group of adjoining mating territories of a species.
arenaceo
A prefix that can be attached to other words with the meaning of sandy, mixed with sand; as with arenaceo-argillaceous: of the nature of sandy clay.
arenaceous
1. Used to describe rocks or deposits that are composed of sand grains or have a sandy texture. 2. A reference to plants that grow best in sandy soil. 3. Derived from or containing sand; having the properties of sand; growing in sand; sandy.4. Resembling sand in texture, sandy, or gritty.
arenavirus
A reference to the dense granules resembling sand inside their virion.
arenicole
1. Living or growing in sand.2. Any organism that thrives in sandy areas.
arenicolite
A worm-hole made originally in sand and preserved in a sandstone rock.
arenicolous
Occurring or growing and developing in sandy areas.
arenilitic
Of or pertaining to sandstone.
arenoid
1. Like or similar to sand.2. Resembling grains of sand.

auto-, aut-
(Greek: self, same, spontaneous; directed from within)
autacoid, autacoidal
An organic substance formed by cells of an organ and carried by the circulatory system to a remote site where it affects another organ.
autaesthesy, autesthesy
Self-consciousness.
autagonistophilia
A sexual perversion in which sexual arousal and orgasm are contingent upon displaying one’s self in a live show, i.e. being observed performing on stage or on camera. The observer’s condition (if the stage or camera performance by the partner is a necessity for sexual arousal) is termed scoptophilia, [scopophilia], not voyeurism.
—Psychiatric Dictionary, 7th ed., by Robert J. Campbell]
autantonym
A word that means its opposite.
An example is the word fast, which when referring to a fast runner means a runner who runs rapidly or swiftly; but when it refers to a fast color, it means a color that doesn't run at all.
autarcesiology
The scientific study of natural immunity.
autarcesis
Natural immunity.
autarch
An absolute ruler; autocrat; a tyrant.
autarchy
1. Absolute sovereignty, despotism. 2. Self-government; an autocratic government by one person with unlimited authority over others.
autarkist
Someone who rules a nation that has a policy of economic independence.
autarky, autarkic, autarkical
1. The condition of self-sufficiency; especially, economic, as applied to a nation.2. A national policy of economic independence.
autassasinophilia
Stage-managing one’s own murder, reported as an extreme form of masochism.
autechoscope
An instrument for self-auscultation.
autecology, autoecology, autecological, autoecological
1. The ecology of an individual organism or species.2. The study of the ecology of an individual plant or species; the opposite of synecology.
autemesia
1. Idiopathic or functional vomiting.2. Vomiting that is self-induced by provoking the gag reflex.3. Vomiting induced by autosuggeston, as observed in certain mental patients.
autism
1. Mental introversion in which the attention or interest is fastened on the patient's own ego; a self-centered mental state from which reality tends to be excluded.2. A mental disorder characterized by severely abnormal developments of social interaction and verbal and nonverbal communication skills.3. A tendency to view life in terms of one's own needs and desires.
Affected individuals may adhere to inflexible, nonfunctional rituals or routine. They may become upset with even trivial changes in their environment. They often have a limited range of interests but may become preoccupied with a narrow range of subjects or activities. They appear unable to understand others' feelings and often have poor eye contact with others.
Unpredictable mood swings may occur. Many demonstrate stereotypical motor mannerisms; such as, hand or finger flapping, body rocking, or dipping. The disorder is probably caused by organically based central nervous system dysfunction, especially in the ability to process social or emotional information or language.

Latin/Greek Roots

a-, ab-, abs-
(Latin: from, away, away from; used as a prefix)
This prefix is normally used with elements of Latin and French origins (abs- usually joins elements beginning with c, q or t).
The form ab- is regularly used before all vowels and h; and it becomes a- before the consonants m, p, and v. The prefix apo- has similar meanings.
This list is a very small sample of the multitude of a-, ab-, abs- prefixes that are available in dictionaries and they are meant to provide as examples; not as all of those that exist.
ab absurdo
From the absurd.
When a person argues ab absurdo, he/she tries to establish the validity of her/his position by pointing out the ridiculousness (absurdity) or foolishness of the opponents' arguements.
Although an argument ab absurdo may "demolish" an opponent's position in debate, it does not necessarily prove the validity of that person's position. The only thing that may be accomplished is that the ab absurdo argument may make the other party seem to be foolish or illogical.
Ab actu ad posse valet illatio.
Inference from what has happened to what will happen is valid.
ab aeterno
Since the beginning of time.
Literally, "from eternity" or of "no date of origin."
ab agendo
Out of action; obsolete or retired.
Ab alio expectes, alteri quod feceris.
Expect from others what you have done to them.

a-, an-

(Greek: a prefix meaning: no, absence of, without, lack of, not)

These prefixes are normally used with elements of Greek origin, a- is used before consonants and an- is used before vowels. It affects the meanings of hundreds of words.

abacterial

Free of bacteria; without bacteria.

abaptism

The absence of baptism; no baptism.

abarognosis

1. Loss of ability to appreciate the weight of objects held in the hand, or to differentiate objects of different weights.
2. Loss of the sense of weight; unaware of weight.
3. When the primary senses are intact, caused by a lesion of the contralateral parietal lobe.

abasia

The inability to walk due to a limitation or absence of muscular coordination; not able to walk.

abiocoen, abiocen

The sum of all the nonliving components of an environment or habitat.

a, an: Grammatical Articles

(confusion exists about usage of "a" and "an" in front of other words)

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The Inconsistent Articles "a" and "an"

Everyone who has a desire to improve his/her English skills should strive to develop fluency and accuracy by having access to information that presents a better understanding of the many confusing words that exist in English.

Learning about confusing words is essential to better communication.

The proper use of "a" and "an"

There is an article on the proper use of "a" and "an" in just about every usage book ever written, although apparently few native speakers of English have any difficulty with them; in fact rarely does anyone think about them in speech.

If there is any difficulty, it is to be found in writing. The basic rules are as follows: Use "a" before a consonant sound; use "an" before a vowel sound. Before a letter or an acronym or before numerals, choose "a" or "an" according to the way the letter or numeral is pronounced: an FDA directive, a United Nations' resolution, a $50.00 bill.

As we might expect, actual usage is more complex than the simple rules tend to lead us to expect. Here are some of the things that actual usage shows:

In line with the basic rule, before words with an initial consonant sound, "a" is the usual application in speech and writing.

Before "h" in an unstressed or weakly stressed syllable, "a" and "an" are both used in writing (an historic, a historic) but an is more usual in speech, whether the "h" is pronounced or not. This variation exists as a result of historical development; in unstressed and weakly stressed syllables, "h" was formerly not pronounced in many words as it is currently pronounced by many people. A few words; such as, historic and (especially in England) hotel, are in transition, and may be found with either a or an. Apparently, people may now choose the article that suits their personal pronunciation preferences with several h words.

Occasionally in modern writing and speech and regularly in the King James Version of the Bible, an is used before "h" in a stressed syllable, as in an hundred. Again, we have the same historical change: many more words were pronounced with a silent initial "h" in the past than are in the present. A few words; such as, heir, hour, and honest, generally have silent "h"; some others, like herb or humble are pronounced both ways. Use a or an according to your personal pronunciation preferences.

Before words beginning with a consonant sound but an orthographic vowel, an is sometimes used in speech and writing (an unique and such an one). This use is less frequent now than in the past.

Before words with an initial vowel sound, an is usual in speech and writing. This is in line with the basic rule.

abacus

(Hebrew > Greek > Latin > Middle English: dust)

The Abacus, a History

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The source of our word abacus, the Greek word abax, is thought to come from Hebrew 'abaq, "dust", although the details of such a transmission are obscure. In postbiblical usage 'abaq meant "sand used as a writing surface". The Greek word abax has as one of its senses "a board sprinkled with sand or dust for drawing geometric diagrams." The difference in form between the Middle English word abacus and its Greek source abax is explained by the fact that Middle English actually borrowed Latin abacus, which came from the Greek genitive form (abakos) of abax.

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abacus (s); abaci (pl)

1. A manual computing device consisting of a frame holding parallel rods strung with movable counters.
2. In architecture, a slab on the top of the capital of a column.

abdomino-, abdomin-, abdomen-

(Latin: belly, venter [the use of "stomach" is considered incorrect for this element])

abdomen

That portion of the body which lies between the lower thorax (chest) and the pelvis; or "the region of the trunk below the diaphragm, containing the largest cavity in the body". Also called belly (popular), venter, and stomach (incorrect). Derived from abdo, abdere, "to hide", and so probably originally referred to the "hidden part of the body".

abdominal, abdominally

Pertaining to the abdomen.

A stomach ache has been defined as an abominable pain in the abdominal area.

—Anonymous

"The stomach (which is in the abdominal area) is lined with thirty-five million glands that produce about three quarts (2.85 liters) of gastric juices daily. Hydrochloric acid makes up roughly five percent of these juices and, together with other acids and various enzymes, constantly works to digest food particles."

—Neil McAleer in his The Body Almanac

abdominalgia

Pain in the abdomen; a belly ache.

abdominoanterior

With the abdomen forward [denoting a position of the fetus in utero].

abdominocentesis

Paracentesis (surgical puncture of the abdominal wall cavity for the aspiration [removal by suction] of peritoneal fluid); i.e., puncturing of the abdomen with a hollow needle or trocar, usually for the purpose of withdrawing fluid.

abdominopelvic

Relating to the abdomen and pelvis, especially the combined abdominal and pelvic cavities.

abdominoplasty

An operation ["belly tuck"] performed on the abdominal wall for esthetic purposes and self esteem; an operation performed on the abdominal wall for esthetic purposes.

-ability

(Latin: a suffix )

Just a few examples out of hundres of words presented as the noun forms of -able; forming nouns of quality from, or corresponding to, adjectives in -able; the quality in an agent that makes an action possible. The suffix -ible has related meanings.

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absorbability

The state or quality of being absorbable; capability of being absorbed.

accountability

1. The state of being accountable, liable, or answerable.
2. Responsibility to someone or for some activity.
3. In education: a policy of holding schools and teachers accountable for students' academic progress by linking such progress with funding for salaries, maintenance, etc.

achievability

The state or condition of being achievable.

affability, affableness

The quality of being affable; readiness to converse or be addressed; especially, by inferiors or equals; courteousness, civility, openness of manner.

applicability

Relevance by virtue of being applicable to the matter at hand.

-able

(Latin: a suffix; capable of, able to, can do)

A suffix that forms adjectives. The suffix -ible has related meanings; expressing ability, capacity, fitness; capable of, fit for, able to be done, can be done, inclined to, tending to, given to.

This list is only a small sample of the thousands of -able words that exist in Englsh.

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abominable

A bad omen; nasty and disgusting; vile; loathsome.

acidifiable

Capable of being converted into, or of combining so as to form, an acid.

acquaintable

Easy to be acquainted with; affable.

affable

Easy of conversation or address; civil and courteous in receiving and responding to the conversation or address of others; especially, inferiors or equals; accostable, courteous, complaisant, benign.

agglutinable

Capable of agglutilnation (the process of union in the healing of a wound).

Ablutions or Bathing, Historical Perspectives

(Latin: abluere, to wash away)

Ablutions from the Past to the Present

• In a leading public health textbook of 1908, W.T. Sedgwick noted that because personal hygiene is a means to control infectious diseases, “the absence of dirt is not merely an esthetic adornment.” He added that cleanliness is “doubtless an acquired taste.”
• Sedgwick’s comment came at a time of transition, when personal hygiene wasn’t a widespread habit.
• Through great periods of European and much of U.S. history, clieanliness was inconvenient, religiously restricted, or just plain out of fashion.
• Living unwashed were saints, the masses, and monarchs alike.
• In response to the debauchery of Roman baths, the early Christian church frequently discouraged cleanliness. “To those that are well, and especially to the young,” Saint Benedict in the sixth century commanded, “bathing shall seldom be permitted.”
• Saint Francis of Assisi considered an unwashed body a stinking badge of piety. Queen Isabella of Castile boasted that she had had only two baths in her life—at birth and before her marriage.
• Colonial America’s leaders deemed bathing impure, since it promoted nudity, which could only lead to promiscuity.
• Laws in Pennsylvania and Virginia either banned or limited bathing. For a time in Philadelphia, anyone who bathed more than once a month faced jail.

Bathing facilities often were not available

• The English of that era really couldn’t bathe even if they wanted to, notes V. W. Greene, a professor of epidemiology at the Ben Gurion Medical School in Beersheva, Israel. “There was no running water, streams were cold and polluted, heating fuel was expensive, and soap was hard to get or heavily taxed. There just weren’t facilities for personal hygiene. Cleanliness wasn’t a part of the folk culture.”
• Through much of the 19th century, adds Greene, Europeans and Americans lived in wretched filth, and many died young of associated diseases.
• Archaeological evidence suggests 5,000-year-old bathing facilities in Gaza. Soaplike material found in clay jars of Babylonian origin has been dated to about 2800 B.C.
• Before the time of Abraham in Middle Eastern desert climes, custom dictated that hosts offer washing water to guests to clean their feet.
• One of the first known bathtubs comes from Minoan Crete that was found in the palace at Knossos and is dated about 1700 B.C.
• The palace plumbing system had terra-cotta pipes that were jointed and cemented together and were tapered at one end to give water a shooting action to prevent the buildup of clogging sediment. Their technology put Minoans in the hydrological vanguard.

The ancients had their hygienic practices

• The ancient Egyptians didn’t develop such plumbing, but they definitely liked hygiene which was evident in their use of fresh linen and body ointments, skin condioners, and deodorants of the day.
• The Greeks apparently prized cleanliness. Although they apparently didn’t use soap, Greeks anointed their bodies with oil and ashes, scrubbed with blocks of pumice or sand, and scraped themselves clean with a curved metal instrument called a “strigil”. Immersion in water and anointment with olive oil followed their ablutions.
• At its peak of ablutive excess, it may have seemed that all of Rome indulged in the baths. In the fourth century A.D., the city had eleven large and magnificent public bathhouses, more than 1,350 public fountains and cisterns, and many hundreds of private baths.
• Served by thirteen aqueducts, Rome’s per-capita daily water consumption averaged about 300 gallons, nearly what an American family of four uses today.
• Roman baths usually opened at midday, just as sportsmen finished their games or exercises. A bather first entered the “tepidarium”, a moderately warm room for sweating and lingering.
• Next came the “calidarium”, a hotter room for greater sweating, or perhaps the ultrahot "laconicum".
• In these the bather doused himself with copious quantities of warm, tepid, or cold water.
• Scraped off with a strigil, sponged and reanointed, the Roman concluded the process by plunging into the cool and refreshing pool of the “frigitarium”.
• Rome’s obsession with bathing is said to be a factor that helped send the empire down the drain.

Early Christian leaders condemned bathing as unspiritual

• “The father’s of the early church equated bodily cleanliness with the luxuries, materialism, paganism and what’s been called ‘the monstrous sensualities’ of Rome,” explains Professor Greene.
• Within a few centuries, the public and private sanitation practices of Greece and Rome were forgotten; or, as Greene adds, were “deliberately repressed.”
• Europe during the Middle Ages, it’s often been said, went a thousand years without a bath.
• Gregory the Great, the first monk to become pope, allowed Sunday baths and even commended them, so long as they didn’t become a “time-wasting luxury.”
• Guardians of culture and knowledge during the Dark Ages, Europe’s monasteries also preserved some of Rome’s hydrological technology and cleanliness habits.
• Elaborate plumbing laid in 1150 served the Christchurch Monastery at Canterbury, with settling tanks to purify water, and branches that fed the kitchen, the laver, and the washouse.
• Greene stated, “People always talk about the good old days, before pesticides and pollution; but in the good old days of Europe and the United States, people lived in filth, with human and animal fecal matter all around. The rivers were filthy. Clothing was infested with vermin.”

Cleanliness leads to better health

• Although scholars point to advances in medical science; such as, vaccines and antibiotics, as the major factors in turning the tide against disease, the changes in personal and domestic hygiene should be given considerable credit for improvements in better health conditions.
• “For one thing,” Greene explains, “pasteurization and vaccines didn’t really come along until the mortality decline was well established. That’s not to say vaccines weren’t important. But nearly 40 diseases are transmitted by feces, urine, and other secretions on contaminated hands or other objects. The greatest cause of fatal infant diarrhea came from mothers who went to the toilet, didn’t wash their hands and passed along intestinal bacteria to their babies.”
• Body ordor is not caused by the human body or sweat itself. The skin has more than two million sweat glands, and the perspiration that comes from the abundant eccrine sweat glands is fundamentally clear and odorless.
• Common skin flora, consisting of several kinds of benign bacteria, feed off the secretions and skin particles on the body and clothing. In the process of eating and eliminating waste, the bacteria cause the stench.
• Most people rely on soap and water to get rid of the sweat that bacteria eat. Since soap contains fats, oils, and alkali; it loosens the bonds that hold dirt, oil, and bacteria to the skin and suspends them in water.
• Some experts say that the way to get really clean is to soak and to wash in a bathtub and then to shower off the “floating soap and body-oil slick” that clings to the body when a person stands up in the tub.
• Even in our “modern age”, too many people who should know better, do not wash their hands after using a toilet.
• Cleanliness, via ablutions, is one of the most important ways to maintain good health.

abluto-, ablut-

(Latin: washing; especially as a ritual; cleansing)

From Latin ab- and luere, "to wash" which is related to lavare, "to wash"

abluent

1. Serving to cleanse.
2. A cleansing agent; a detergent.

ablution

1. A cleansing of the body, especially in a religious ceremony.
2. The liquid used in such a washing.

ablutionary

1. Of or pertaining to washing the body, or parts of it.
2. Cleansing the body by washing; especially, ritual washing of the hands, etc.

ablutions

This may refer to the practice of removing sins, diseases or earthly defilements through the use of ritual washing, or the practice of using ritual washing as one part of a ceremony to remove sin or disease.

ablutomania

1. An obsessional preoccupation with cleanliness, washing, or bathing, often accompanied by compulsive rituals.

-ably, a suffix;

(able manner, capably)

In an able manner, or capably; forming adverbs corresponding to adjectives in -able.

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adorably

amiably

Friendly and agreeable in disposition; good-natured and likeable.

amicably

comfortably

comparably

conceivably

creditably

despicably

determinably

durably

Capable of withstanding wear or decay.

formidably

habitably

incomparably

justifiably

laudably

Deserving praise.

abort-, aborti-

(Latin: miscarry, pass away, perish by an untimely birth)

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abort, aborted, aborting

1. To give birth before the fetus is viable; have a miscarriage; to fail to be completed.
2. To cut short because of some failure in equipment: "To abort a flight because of radio failure."
3. Originally, "to set" or "to disappear" (as the sun). Composed of ab-, "from" and oriri- "to arise"; the part of the sky, or the world, in which the sun rises; the East.

aborticide

The killing of a fetus during an abortion.

aborticide, feticide

The killing of a fetus.

abortifacient

A drug or device that causes an abortion or kills the fetus before birth.

abortion, abortional

1. Expulsion of a fetus from the womb before it is viable; however, medical personnel will also use this term for a miscarriage, which is involuntary, calling it a "spontaneous abortion".
2. Induced termination of pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent survival.
3. Anything that fails to develop, progress, or mature; such as, a design, project, or a badly developed plan, etc.
4. To miscarry, to disappear.
4. Etymology: ab-, "from, away from" and oriri, "to come into being, to rise, to be born".

aboulo-, aboul-, abulo-, abul-

(Greek: irresolution, indecision, loss or defect of the ability to make decisions)

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aboulia, abulia

1. Loss or impairment of the ability to perform voluntary actions or to make decisions.
2. Loss of will-power, as a mental disorder.
3. Reduction in speech, movement, thought, and emotional reaction; a common result of bilateral frontal lobe disease.

aboulias, abulias

Loss or impairment of the ability to make decisions or act independently.

aboulic, abulic

Relating to or suffering from aboulia/abulia.

aboulomania, abulomania

A mental disorder in which there is a loss of will-power.

abulia, abulic

1. Absence of willpower or wishpower; the term implies that the subject has a desire to do something but the desire is without power or energy.
2. A disorder marked by the partial or total inability to make decisions.

EXPERT TOPIC:
Patricians: Patricians are privelaged groups of families of a certain class who are dominant in political, religious, and military leadership. Compared to the common people, the patricians weren't much more privaledged except that they had reduced military obligations and opportunities to serve into certain priesthoods. The Patrician son learned poetry, literature, mythology, history, geography, Greek, and most importantly public speaking.

Senators: Consisted of 600 men who were either the sons of senators or Roman citizens 25 years or older. They were nominated by the ruler of Rome and elected by its citizens. In order to become a senator, you needed a certain wealth and status, and there were limits to occupation that didn't allow involvement in trade so that focus on civil duties wouldn't be distracted. A senator could be elected into various states of power where the ruler of Rome is at the top.


Topic Questions:
1. What were Patricians?
- Patricians were the elite families in political, religious, and military ways.

2. How were Senators appointed and what were the limits?
- Senators went through gradual stages of power that were elected. They had to have a certain status and wealth.

Additional Questions:
1. What did Caesar, Pompea, and Crassus form?
-The first political union dealt a death blow to Rome's republican system of government.

2. The Romans govern most of what?
-Coast of the mediterranean with exception of Egypt.

3. Who made Ceaser's heir and took up the political legacy of Ceasar and entered the mainstream of Roman politics?
-Keith Bradley.

4. What did Augustus eventually become?
-A very strong dictatory leader.

5. What were the different classes of designators?
-Senators, patricians, equestrians, plebians, slaves, freedmen, and non-roman citizens.

6. What visually separated the classes?
-Clothing visually separated the classes.

7. TOPIC QUESTION

8. TOPIC QUESTION

5. How did Antony and Cleopatra affect Augustus?
-Lost to Augustus at Egypt, launched a period of vitality, religious renewal, and economic well-being.

6. What are the different classes of designators?
-Senators, patricians, equestrians, plebians, slaves, freedmen, and non-roman citizens.

11. What did the equestrian class form?
-Cavalry then grew to businessmen.

12. What were some appropriate jobs?
- Tax collectors, miners, exporters, administrators of public contracts.

13. What is a Plebian?
- Free Roman citizens who are not part of the patritian equestrian class.

14. What do they do?
- They were farmers, bakers, builders and artisans.

15. When was Julius Caesar assassinated?
- 44 b.c.

16. When did the conquest of Britian begin?
- 43 b.c.

The Mission

Respected Elders and Colonists,


You have shared with my group members a controversial topic involving the colonization of Africa by the British. As you have asked of us, we have collaborated and come up with a decision. Before we actually began any research or arguments, we had put aside our personal western views/thoughts in order to come up with an honest solution. My fellow friends have done research in your time period, what, how, when, where, this problem occurred and how it affected everyone as a whole. After many discussions and arguments over the evidence and facts that were revealed in our research, we’ve agreed on the answer to your question: We all strongly believe that the African society would be better off without colonialism; we have provided three specific points to support our answer.

One of the major topics that both cultures will argue about, mostly anyway, is religion and traditions. The English believe in only one god, God (Jesus), whom created everything that surrounds us. To them, we are all children, brother/sisters, of the lord above us who sent missionaries to convert non-Christians to Christianity before those who didn’t believe in God die and burn in hell. However, your people, have many small gods, like wood, and they slowly grow higher in importance until you reach the ultimate god, Chukwu. The Ibo believe that the smaller gods are the supreme god’s messengers so you could get approach Him through them. We won’t lie, there will be some Ibo that will willingly convert to Christianity without realizing that they are also converting to the English ways. Others will be against it because of their cultural/ancestral religions. The many different views on the new religion will tear families apart, like any other family, making your village vulnerable, weak enough for the English to take over the ones whom opposed.

Another reason for opposing to colonialism is the cultural difference. The English only believe in having one wife in a marriage, they don’t think that wife beating is acceptable, have a wide variety of showing honor, have worship their god for many other things besides fortune. Your people believe in having many wives at once, think that wife beating is acceptable, can only have honor with titles, and worship your gods and ancestors for good fortune. Both cultures also have different customs or traditions, like the English have a funeral when someone dies and the Ibo celebrate what the dead person has done for the village while they were alive, like a ceremonial party for them. If you both were to switch cultures for a day, you’d either find their culture pointless or maybe even offensive.

The last point to prove our position is the great difference in government between both backgrounds. The English have a king/ queen that is chosen for their divine right, were sent by God to rule the country, the people don’t get to vote for their ruler who makes all the rules and choices for their country. The Ibo have elders, and honored men whom had to prove to their people that they were worthy enough, that they had the wisdom out of the many challenges, to make the decisions. Even though the Ibo do have “representatives,” the people of the village are allowed to voice their opinions and thoughts freely. The Ibo wouldn’t be used to the strict government of the English, having someone else whom you may not believe in or trust make all of the decisions for them.

Our group of time travelers has already listed the facts and some predictions as to what may happen if the Ibo do support colonialism. We leave with you this letter and choice, we all hope that you think of it thoroughly before making a move. Look at all of the pros and cons, evaluate your choice twice before making it, for afterwards you may not be able to change it, because it will be too late.



Research Questions

1. Colonialism-When a nation either extends or continues their control over foreign dependencies. An example of foreign dependency, a poor country provides natural resources to a richer country, while the richer country gives them cheap labor. The main colonization period was the 1900s.

2. European inperialists justified their return to Africa as colonizers by stating that the ways of the native people including their religious beliefs, society, and form of government was evil and barbaric. They claimed that what they were doing to these people was saving them.

3. The Berlin Conference affected Africa because it divided up the South of the Sahara, which made it easier to conquer. The population of France and Germany grew because of Africa, and eventually approximately ninety percent of Africa was conquered by Europe.

4. The direct rule sect of government had centralized administrators. Most of its policies revolved around "civilizing" the African people so it could be more like Europe. Indirect government used African rulers instead of the usual European men, which resulted in a tribe-like government.

5. The main purpose in the education was to get the African people into a false sense of security so they could colonize there, as well as getting Africa to meet the same standards of education like in Europe. The newly found education in Africa helped the society evolve more intellectually and even religiously.

6. The role missionaries played in the provision of colonial education in Africa was replacing the traditional way of learning with the ideas that they thought were right. They focused on making more people literate, mainly so that they could read the Bible and teach the people of the meaning of church and its importance. They basically focused on anything Christian. The Europeans' colonialism completely changed Africa.

7. Chinua Achebe got his inspiration for Things Fall Apart­ from the poem “The Second Coming”. In the poem, it talks about how the chaos is beginning. The evil is more evil and Christ is coming back. The peacefulness is over and now comes either the second coming of Satan or Christ. In Things Fall Apart, the clan was peaceful until the white men came into the town. Then slowly, everyone began to fall apart. Instead of Satan of Christ coming into the town, it was hate and controversy.

8. "Things Fall Apart" was set in the 1890's, in Umuofia, and through the culture of the Igbo people. In social life, men gain honor by taking titles. They eventually earn these titles if they are strong warriors, and fearless leaders. Women are not very high on the social ladder and are mostly around to do the housework and bare children. Some inportant celebrations are "the week of peace" and "feast of the yam." The roles of war and religion are very important to the Igbo people and are held in high regards. If you are a good warrior you are successful and if you go against the religion you will be punished. The arts on the other hand are reagarded very lowly and anyone who dedicates their life to the arts are pretty useless.

9. Okonkwo's home is very divided which doesn't make for much of a family life. All of his children live in huts with their various mothers; Okonkwo has his own hut away from all of his wives' huts. Okonkwo's relationship with most of his wives and children is distant, they basically bring him food or go to him when he calls. Okonkwo has a bad relationship with Ekwefi, even though he took her in he often gets angry at her and once almost shot her. Okonkwo actually likes his daughter Ezinma and cares for her but does not show his feelings, he thinks she would make a fine son. He thinks of his son Nwoye as weak like Okonkwo's father was and tries to beat sense into him. In the Igbo society the men are the big workers and they can hold titles, while wieves stay at home taking care of the children, cooking, and cleaning.

10. In chapter four Okonkwo makes the mistake of beating his wife, Ojlungo during the week of peace. This shows that the value of their culture is very important because, since he broke the peace he was punished which shows that the culture is important to the Igbo people. Eseani says wife beating is wrong because it disturbs the earth goddess.

11. The white men are intorduced in the story first as rumors that came from a neighboring clan. The white men were at first precieved to be strange, and feared so in turn they were eliminated. After the devastation of the clan which killed a white man, the people had a different kind of fear of them, but most of the villagers were indifferent of their prescence. Africans supposed that the white men had no toes because they wore shoes.

12. The town had a very big effect on Okonkwo. Such an effect that he had hung himself at the end of the novel. He hung himself because his beloved town was not the same as it was when he left. The white men had caused hate and controversy in his town. He realized that the town would not be the same again. He was not able to handle the problem instead he hung himself.

13. "Heart of Darkness" is much more sympathetic than "Things Fall Apart." Achebe shows the pride African people did and should have, while Conrad basically gives sympathy for anyone who lives in the "heart of darkness," or Africa. He does so because of the way it changes people. He depicts the Africans as pathetic natives who are extremely primitive. They are prisoners and are seen as lower life forms or beasts.



Article

African Myths and Folklore

Most peoples' definition of a myth is something that isn't true. A definition more related to this topic is a story or concept used to explain the world around us. Africa is well known for using myths in their religious and natural beliefs. African myths may vary from how a god came to be to tales involving animals and their creation or behavior. An example of one of these animal stories is that of the Lion and the Fox. A little fox tied up the king lion in his sleep, and when the lion woke, he asked all the animals who did it. The fox confessed and as the lion started chasing him, the jackal procclaimed that the fox will never be caught, and so he didn't. Such stories were created and told in Africa for both an explanation for a natural phenomenon and as entertainment. Without a written form of their language, the people relied on memory and the telling of stories from generation to generation. Folk tales are also a means of explanation among Africans, such as the coming of the different clans and people of Africa. An example of this kind of story is that of the Origin of the Difference In Modes of Life Between Hottentots and Bushmen. This story explains the two clans was started by two people: one who was blind and the other who was always hunting. The hunter came upon a hole one day from which game proceeded, and as the blind man felt and smelled this, he concluded it was not game but cattle. The man was granted his sight and built a kraal around them and annointed himself (in the ways of the Hottentots). The hunter wished to do the same, but the other told gave him some bad advice which ended up burning him. With this, the latter told the hunter to run into the hills with a knobstick and search for honey which sprang the Bushmen. As it is clear, many of these stories seem to be unbelievable to our Western minds, but as an African, this was, not unlike the stories in the Bible, a way of explaining something which was otherwise irrelivent to them.