Etymology or Entomology, Bugged by Words

"The difference between etymology and entomology bugs me in ways I can't put into words."

When I read that little pun, I laughed and thought, "Perfect! That's perfect!"

I've always been fascinated with words. It started when I was a toddler. Mom said, "Pam, go wash the hall wall."

"Huh?" I stopped playing.

"What did I do, why?" I really couldn't bring to mind why she was telling me, me of all the kids, to go clean the wall.

"Those are your pencil marks, go wash it off." Mom insisted.

"How'd you know?" I doubted.

Her finger pointed to the three childish penciled letters there, which plain as day spelled my name, "P, A, M." I cleaned the wall.

Then Mom talked in code to Dad, "Honey, please bring me home a p, o, p."

"Hey, that spells pop," I piped up.

Then Mom spelled in brand names, "Honey, please bring me home a P, e, p, s, i."

"You mean a Pepsi, I want some." I chimed in.

Then Mom got clever, "Honey, please bring me home an i, s, p, e, p."

"Oh, I get it, that's Pepsi spelled backwards!" I felt smart!

Yet, she had one more trick up her sleeve, "Honey, please bring me home a epsipay"

And thus, I learned the language of Pig Latin, LOL. What fun.

Mom built the fire of word fascination.

If we didn't know the word, we were told "Go look it up." Mom threw out decrepit. What a thing to say about our aged dog Mustard! One time we overheard her telling Dad as a woman it was her prerogative. To me she said, "Go look it up."

When high school offered an elective on Newswriting Derivatives, of course I took it. It was all about word origination, their base, and words evolved from that base. Fascinating.

ambulare

ambulatory

ambulance

perambulator

pram

See how it goes.

Somewhere in my school years I began reading the Bible, but first the dictionary, oh the salacious words in there! "Hold up the back cover, don't let anyone see over your shoulder." Good advise.

The Bible has some tough words, lascivious, concupiscence. Not only is the meaning obscure to a young mind, but so is the pronunciation.

Ah, pronunciation. As an avid reader I knew and saw the same big words over and over again but sometimes didn't know the pronunciation, hadn't heard them spoken aloud. If I dared speak them aloud, jeering laughter was my reward. Superfluous was super-flew-us. Penelope was pen-a-lope. And, seriously, do you spell vittles like victuals?

Oh, ho, there are surprising words in the Bible, words I thought were modern, such as suburb.

Sometimes I wonder if all the dictionary words are in the Bible because furniture, heaves and beeves are in there.  So are blasting and mold.  

Then there's the "Wonderful World of Color", to quote Disney.  These are fancy words for crayon colors:

burnt Sienna - red brown

cerise - deep red

chartreuse - yellow green

xanthous - yellow

And fruit by any other name is still a fruit:
geoluhread - orange 

naranga - lemon

Interesting, isn't it?

Well, we've gone this whole time without exploring the "Bugs Show" and that's not the bunny.  Let's go there for a minute.

Palmetto bug doesn't sound too bad, does it?  Humpth, gotcha, it's a roach!  A grasshopper is a locust, did you know that?  Lampyris...here I'll be the teacher...what's the core word?  Lamp.  Now think about the topic, etymology or bugs, so what's lamp + bug?  You got it, a glowworm or lightning bug!  

Bugs aren't really my thing, unless they are a word or words that stir the mind.  Parasitic Transmission, you think that's a bug in your vehicles mechanics?   Nah, it's a disease spread between animals and people; a zoonotic disease!

Zoonotic diseases can also be known as zoonoses.  Which leads me to the zoo and how animal noses can slip between the bars and suck up your peanuts, or drool drool all over "yule" and how Dr. Seuss made up words and they brungs so much funs!

Hopefully, this was fun.  Now, enjoy your readings and go make up your own words.

By the way, the trick to remembering the difference between etymology and entomology?  Et is for etymology (word) and ant is for entomology (insects).  "She et the ant."

Sigh, oh, okay, there's that discord with proper pronunciation.  I guess you just have to be a gal raised by a southern gal and use her southern accent to get it.

"Honey, would you please bring me home a container of half-dozen of caramel hued amorphous-solid vessels of liquids for hydration?"