A.Word.A.Day -- AWADmail Issue 799

A.Word.A.Day

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AWADmail Issue 799

A Weekly Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Tidbits about Words and Language

From: Michael Chirico (michaelchirico4 gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--kleptomania

You wrote:

This week we’ll see five such words, coined from the combining forms:
klepto- (theft), steno- (narrow), panto- (all), hagio- (holy), endo- (inside)
with
-logy (study), -genous (producing), -phagous (feeding on), -mania (madness), and -phobia (fear),
though not necessarily in that order.

Of course, this lends itself to exploring all 25 possible words from this week’s combining forms:

kleptology: AKA “casing” a place
stenogenous: Look for this on a fad diet pill in the near future
pantophagous: A step beyond omnivorous, such people also eat inorganic materials as well (think of your dog eating toys)
hagiomania: See also: Middle East
endophobia: AKA “wanderlust”
kleptogenous: See also: Broken windows theory
stenophagous: AKA “picky eater”
pantomania: Since we already have pandemonium, let’s call this “Black Friday at Levi’s Outlets”
hagiophobia: See Bill Maher or Richard Dawkins
stenology: An apt description of most PhD dissertations
pantogenous: “If you wish to make apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.” -Carl Sagan
hagiophagy: e.g., seders, holy communion, suhur, etc.
endomania: That feeling that sets in just as you turn out the lights and are trapped awake in the dark
kleptophagous: See AnimalsBeingJerks, e.g.
stenomania: Yes, such a convention exists
pantophobia: Have you seen the movie Bubble Boy?
pantology: Bachelor of the Arts, not Bachelor of Science
hagiogenous: An apt descriptor of the best parents
endophagous: practice encouraged by Caviar, GrubHub, etc.
kleptomania: (today’s word)
stenophobia: characteristic of those who prefer to see the forest through the trees, who take the 10,000-foot view of things
hagiology: practice at theological seminaries
endogenous: the primary undermining factor of most bogus scientific studies
kleptophobia: what are you hiding behind such a door?
endology: See also: psychotherapy

Michael Chirico, Singapore

From: Ariel (via website comments)
Subject: kleptomania

Some 60 years ago my father explained it to me: “When a poor man steals, he is a thief. When a rich man steals, he suffers from kleptomania”.

Ariel, Haifa, Israel

From: John D. Laskowski (john.laskowski mothman.org)
Subject: Kletomaniac

Years ago I invented a new word -- maniokleptiac -- one who sneaks newly purchased items back onto store shelves.

John D. Laskowski, Carsonville, Pennsylvania

From: Dave Horsfall (dave horsfall.org)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--kleptomania

You wrote: “If it’s wire/wiry, why isn’t it fire/firy? Or at least firey?”

Interesting; in Australian slang fire-fighters are known as firies (the singular is firey).

Dave Horsfall, North Gosford, Australia

From: Richard Heck (rheck1301 gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--kleptomania

You wrote: “Eventually, the noun form took one spelling while the adjectival form took another.”

Why don’t we say the nounival form? Or simply, perhaps, adjective form?

Richard Heck, Enfield, New Hampshire

From: Dave Marks (dmarks gate.net)
Subject: Organic

You wrote: “Because English is a human language, not a computer language. A human language takes shape organically...”

Computer languages *also* take shape organically... they are written by humans, you know, not computers! And they have as many warts and inconsistencies and maddening flaws as any human language (if not more), at least on a percentage basis.

Dave Marks, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

From: Aston Clulow (leukorrivore gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--kleptomania

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
A lexicographer’s business is solely to collect, arrange, and define the words that usage presents to his hands. He has no right to proscribe words; he is to present them as they are. -Noah Webster, lexicographer (16 Oct 1758-1843)

That Noah Webster quotation is rich, coming from the man who invented the word “aluminum”!

Aston Clulow, Sydney, Australia

From: Katy Hall (mezzkat msn.com)
Subject: Pantophobia

I read this word and, in my head, all I can hear is Lucy talking to Charlie Brown. (video, 1 min.)

Katy Hall, Lakewood, Colorado

From: Ray Newman (thayray gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--pantophobia

No, no, the man in the picture clearly suffers pants-o-phobia. ;)

Ray Newman, Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam

From: Khaleel Mohib (khaleel.mohib gmail.com)
Subject: Hagiology

I don’t know why but hagiology somehow reminded me of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. I obviously knew that there was some etymological correlation between the two after reading the meaning of the hagiology. Turkey’s location on the map makes it a unique melting pot of culture and societies. So I am not surprised that the roots of the name Hagia Sophia lie in Greek since Turkey shares a border with Greece. The Hagia Sophia (holy wisdom, from Greek) is a monument that has withstood the test of time for centuries, which lends to its rich history. After serving three different religions (Paganism, Orthodox Christianity, and Sunni Islam), they finally decided to make it museum. Which serves well for it now since everyone can experience the allure of the centuries gone by.

Khaleelullah Mohib, Long Beach, California

Email of the Week: Brought to you by One Up! -- House Rules rule. Side bets welcome!
From: Sam Long (gunputty comcast.net)
Subject: hagiology

I enjoy learning about unusual or “appropriate” saints. The following are all real saints, though the patronages I list here may be -- but are not always -- fictitious:

St Bibiana or Vivian - patron of hangovers^*
St Colman - patron of mustard and camping
St Expeditus - patron of when it absolutely positively has to get there overnight^*
St Cubi - patron of Wrigley Field
St Martin of Tours - patron of travel agents
St Petroc - patron of fads
St Phocas - patron of opticians
St Tikhon - patron of Timex
St Rita - patron of traffic wardens and meter maids
St Chad - patron of disputed elections
St Lull - he actually did precede St Storm by a few years
St Martian - patron of extraterrestrials

^*real patronage

Sam Long, Springfield, Illinois

From: Jamie Diamandopoulos (jdiamandopoulos yahoo.com)
Subject: endogenous

Boy, did the Gershwin brothers miss a bet when they wrote about potato/potahto and tomato/tomahto. Instead, I can just hear Fred and Ginger singing “You say endogenous, and I say indigenous ... let’s call the whole thing off.” But none of the former words can compare to the glorious ancient tones of autochthonous, meaning “of the land itself”. That’s an impressive kind of “native”. If I had a T-shirt company, I would invest in printing T-shirts for every state: “Autochthonous Texan”, “Autochthonous New Yorker”, etc. Pride and vocabulary -- all at once.

Jamie Diamandopoulos, Houston, Texas

From: Peter Armstrong-See (armstrong-see dlgtele.dk)
Subject: This week’s theme?

We live in Denmark, but regularly visit my wife’s native New York. On one such occasion, walking up 14th St., we saw on a corner a man holding up a cardboard sign: “Please donate to help my studies of Oenology!” I simply had to donate 10 bucks for his wit!

Peter Armstrong-See, Grevinge, Denmark

From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com)
Subject: stenophagous & hagiology

Arguably, Dickens’s gamin, Oliver Twist, could well be deemed the “poster child” for our word “stenophagous”, i.e., “feeding on a limited variety of food”. Sadly, a daily diet of soupy, grayish gruel for little Oliver and his fellow workhouse lads was the “gruel”, and hardly the exception (groan), at the dawn of the Industrial Age in Britain.

Clearly I’m having a little fun with 8th-century cleric/hagiographer, The Venerable Bede, whose scholarly, revered five-volume tome, “An Ecclesiastical History of the English People”, chronicled the panoply of Roman Catholic Church history in Britain. I’m surmising that, on occasion, his oft working under candlelight into the wee hours of the night left him “beady-eyed”... the strain of scribing this voluminous hagiology assuredly taking its physical and mental toll on this saintly man.

Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California

From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Anagrams of this week’s words

1. kleptomania 2. stenophagous 3. pantophobia 4. hagiology 5. endogenous	=	1. paying nought 2. oh, eat son! 3. anguish 4. book on good people 5. metaplasia
		-Dharam Khalsa, Burlington, North Carolina (dharamkk2 gmail.com)

From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: limericks

At the checkout we find miscellanea:
Lighters, markers, and other extranea.
But mostly it’s candy
That seems much too handy,
In light of my kid’s kleptomania.
-Phyllis Morrow, Fairbanks, Alaska (phyllismorrow1gmail.com)

He stole a bra fringed with lace;
She stole a hockey leg brace;
They didn’t know why,
But they had to try:
Kleptomania’s fault in each case!
-Marcia Sinclair, Newmarket, Canada (marciasinclair rogers.com)

The professor, a veiled kleptomaniac,
At the bookstore would fill a whole gunnysack.
“I don’t care how they’re bound
If the words are profound,”
He’d say, “Leather or cloth, even paperback.”
-Janice Power, Cleveland, Ohio (janicepower25 gmail.com)

A young girl from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania,
Had a great urge toward kleptomania.
Despite all of her squealing,
The cops booked her for stealing
On all grounds of pubescent insania.
-Judith Marks-White, Westport, Connecticut (joodthmw gmail.com)

The day we chose Trump’s kleptomania,
Said the Irish, “Begorrah, insane o’ ya!”
The French shouted, “Merde!”
Kim Jong-Un, “I’m not scared,”
And the English, “You’re out of your crania!”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

‘Tis the season for Halloween treats,
Those unhealthful, irresistible eats,
When factors endogenous
Bring out the hog in us,
And we all become dietary cheats.
-Vara Devaney, Damascus, Maryland (varadevaney att.net)

That cow that jumped over the moon
While the dish ran away with the spoon,
Got her milk quite homogenous,
That concoction endogenous,
While the cat played a fine fiddler’s tune
-Kathy Deutsch, Melbourne, Australia (kathy deutsch.net.au)

With a hair-do of yellow confection
He searches the menu’s selection.
With hunger enslaving
His stenophagous craving
Is swelling his growing mid-section.
-Gayle Tremblay, Saint John, Canada (gayletremblay hotmail.com)

For humanity here’s my hypothesis:
When it comes to ideas we’re stenophagous.
From our heads are soon kicked
Any truths that conflict
Lower down, though, we’re not as monogamous.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

If you’re scared of the number thirteen,
or the world’s end, and all in between,
to avoid pantophobia
view works by della Robbia,
skip the news and lay off the caffeine.
-Zelda Dvoretzky, Haifa, Israel (zeldahaifa gmail.com)

On the opposite side of the globe is a
doctor who never says no to ya.
For a million a year
he’ll address ev’ry fear,
and he’s pleased when he sees pantophobia.
-Anne Thomas, Sedona, Arozona (antom earthlink.net)

There was once a pantophobic Turk
Endogenously that seemed to irk.
His diet was stenophagic,
He became kleptomanic,
But it appeared that nothing would work.
-Monica Broom, Morogoro, Tanzania (monicabroom2015 gmail.com)

“You fear Muslims, small hands, and Clintonia,”
Said the doc, “It’s severe pantophobia.”
“And there’s Corker and Cruz,”
Moaned the patient, “fake news,
And what NATO is owed by Estonia.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

In reading about hagiology
I know I’m appraising mythology.
If believing I deign to,
Please send my old brain to
An expert MD of proctology.
-Anna C Johnston, Coarsegold, California (ajohnston13 gmail.com)

Hagiology had no appeal,
Since she did not consider saints real.
Why spend time with
A book based on myth?
For her, reading one was an ordeal.
-Lois Mowat, Orinda, California (loscamil aol.com)

I’m so obsessed with Saint Joan,
Since her name I share with my own.
I have read faithfully
Her hagiology,
A first feminist milestone.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

In Rome they just love hagiology,
While in Egypt it’s all archaeology.
Toronto likes hockey
And Tokyo, sake,
The White House, abnormal psychology.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Eat your heart out, be jealous.
I’ve again won the Miss Venus.
For those who think that I am fat,
I have this answer quick and pat :
True beauty is endogenous.
-Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India (mukherjis hotmail.com)

If it’s true that our longings erogenous
arise from our organs endogenous,
‘twould seem then, that sex
should be nothing to vex,
be we male, female, or (gads!) androgynous.
-Brenda J. Gannam, Brooklyn, New York (gannamconsulting earthlink.net)

“Endogenous and unknown”
Was the cause of his kidney stone.
He’s glad he detects
No long-term effects
Upon his erogenous zone.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

There’s one thing that’s never monotonous:
Caressing a zone that’s erogenous.
It’s measure for measure
The world’s greatest pleasure,
Far better with two than endogenous.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

From: Phil Graham (pgraham1946 cox.net)
Subject: If you’re in Tulsa, combine see me!

I didn’t kleptomania the courses offered by the College Boards.

Sten and Augie were lovers; it was hard to get stenophagous.

Do Scots wear kilts because they have pantophobia?

My first semester in college I hagiology and made an ‘A.’

Their punt returner broke seven tackles and, endogenous, scored a touchdown.

Phil Graham, Tulsa, Oklahoma

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Think for yourself and question authority. -Timothy Leary, psychologist and writer (22 Oct 1920-1996)

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