Island Mom is going Greek! I’m a wild and crazy gal that way. Thus far, I’ve focused on Latin roots. Now, I’m going to start mixing it up with a little Greek. I may even get all hog wild and start throwing in prefixes and suffixes eventually, who knows?
But for now, I’m gonna stick with roots.
And so, that brings us to Greek root #1: DEMO
Meaning: people or citizens
Words:
1. democracy (n) (-cracy = rule or government): rule or government by the people
The Island Family is not a democracy. The small people keep voting for this form of family government, forgetful of the fact that voting is fruitless in a monarchy. The ballots keep them busy for a few minutes, however, when the monarchs need a moment of peace and quiet, or just a good, sadistic laugh.
2. demographics (n) (graph = write, describe, or record): record of the people, data of a group of people
According to the small people, the demographics of the Island Family include a wide age range. A recurring theme of late with my middle child is how thankful he is to not be living during the time of the dinosaurs. His eyes get saucer-like every time he says this and you can just imagine the mental pictures going through his mind at the moment. Two days ago, he suddenly hesitated mid-sentence and said to me, “There weren’t any dinosaurs still around when you were a little girl, were there?â€
3. pandemic (adj) (pan- = all): pertaining to all the people, over a large area, affecting a large group, or even the world
The obsession with chocolate is almost an Island Family pandemic, affecting all members except Loquacious Cabana Boy. Don’t worry, as I write, we’re staging an intervention for him. My eldest is convinced he just needs to try more dark chocolate. Smart boy, that one.
Note: My definition of pandemic is general and my usage is highly manipulated. Anyone in the science fields, for instance, makes definite distinctions between pandemic, endemic (more of a constant condition in a group), and epidemic (often used for diseases that hit a population harder than expected, for instance), as did I when I taught etymology as a “serious†class. Given that my blog is usually anything but serious, I took the “lighter†road, which will likely consternate some, but…oh, well. If the masses cause an uproar, I’ll happily do a post outlining the three in more detail.
An intervention for LCB is definitely in order. Who doesn’t have an obsession with chocolate? My SIL came to visit near the end of our Greek/Latin roots spelling bee this week. She mentioned that her daughter was able to take an etymology class as a high school elective. She says it has been exceedingly helpful to have that foundation in college.
I know. When I met him, I didn’t even believe it at first.
Yes, my students took the class as an elective, oftentimes in hopes of improve college entrance test scores. Others took it because English was their second language, and they wanted a better understanding of it. And some were just extremely high achievers.