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Apr 22, 2009
This week's themeThere is a word for it This week's words perendinate moirologist prosopagnosia xanthodontous borborygmus Add your two cents' ... worth to this week's theme and words. Or, if you wish, use centimes, paise, pence, yen, lire, pesos, piasters, etc. Log on at our bulletin board Wordsmith Talk 
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with Anu Gargprosopagnosia
PRONUNCIATION:
(pros-uh-pag-NO-see-uh)
MEANING:
noun: Inability to recognize familiar faces.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek prosopon (face, mask), from pros- (near) + opon (face), from ops
(eye) + agnosia (ignorance). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gno-
(to know) that is also the source of know, recognize, acquaint, ignore,
diagnosis, notice, and normal.
NOTES:
Prosopagnosia is also known as face blindness, usually a result of brain
injury. People suffering from it cannot recognize familiar faces, even their
own. A book on this and related topics is neurologist Oliver Sacks's
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.Prosopagnosiacs' motto: We don't take people at face value. USAGE:
"Rob Cross, 25, acquired prosopagnosia four years ago when a virus attacked
his brain. For years, he has hidden his condition by avoiding calling his
co-workers at a Burnaby manufacturing company by name, or acting slightly
aloof. 'Every morning people say, "Hi Rob," and the majority of the time
I don't know who it is,' said Mr. Cross."Hayley Mick; We Know Each Other, But Who Are You?; Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Jan 10, 2008. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
When a nation gives birth to a man who is able to produce a great thought, another is born who is able to understand and admire it. -Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)
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